Ephesians 2

1 You yourselves were once dead because of your offenses and sins.

To you Gentiles also, who were dead through your offences and sins,

2 For at one time you lived in sin, following the ways of the world, in subjection to the Ruler of the powers of the air – the Spirit who is still at work among the disobedient. (aiōn g165)

which were once habitual to you while you walked in the ways of this world and obeyed the Prince of the powers of the air, the spirits that are now at work in the hearts of the sons of disobedience--to you God has given Life. (aiōn g165)

3 And it was among them that we all once lived our lives, indulging the cravings of our earthly nature, and carrying out the desires prompted by that earthly nature and by our own thoughts. Our nature exposed us to the divine wrath, like the rest of humanity.

Among them all of us also formerly passed our lives, governed by the inclinations of our lower natures, indulging the cravings of those natures and of our own thoughts, and were in our original state deserving of anger like all others.

4 Yet God, in his abundant compassion, and because of the great love with which he loved us,

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the intense love which He bestowed on us,

5 even though we were dead because of our offenses, gave life to us in giving life to the Christ. (By God’s loving kindness you have been saved.)

caused us, dead though we were through our offences, to live with Christ--it is by grace that you have been saved--

6 And, through our union with Christ Jesus, God raised us with him, and caused us to sit with him on high,

raised us with Him from the dead, and enthroned us with Him in the heavenly realms as being in Christ Jesus,

7 in order that, by his goodness to us in Christ Jesus, he might display in the ages to come the boundless wealth of his loving kindness. (aiōn g165)

in order that, by His goodness to us in Christ Jesus, He might display in the Ages to come the transcendent riches of His grace. (aiōn g165)

8 For it is by God’s loving kindness that you have been saved, through your faith. It is not due to yourselves; the gift is God’s.

For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves. It is God's gift, and is not on the ground of merit--

9 It is not due to obedience to Law, so that no one can boast.

so that it may be impossible for any one to boast.

10 For we are God’s handiwork, created, by our union with Christ Jesus, for the good actions in doing which God had pre-arranged that we should spend our lives.

For we are God's own handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works which He has pre-destined us to practise.

11 Remember, therefore, that you were once Gentiles yourselves, as your bodies showed; you were called ‘the Uncircumcised’ by those who were called ‘the Circumcised’ – circumcised only by human hands!

Therefore, do not forget that formerly you were Gentiles as to your bodily condition. You were called the Uncircumcision by those who style themselves the Circumcised--their circumcision being one which the knife has effected.

12 Remember that you were at that time far from Christ; you were shut out from the citizenship of Israel; you were strangers to the covenants founded on God’s promise; you were in the world without hope and without God.

At that time you were living apart from Christ, estranged from the Commonwealth of Israel, with no share by birth in the Covenants which are based on the Promises, and you had no hope and no God, in all the world.

13 But now, through your union with Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have, by the shedding of the blood of the Christ, been brought near.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were so far away have been brought near through the death of Christ.

14 He it is who is our peace. He made the two divisions of humanity one, broke down the barrier that separated them,

For He is our peace--He who has made Jews and Gentiles one, and in His own human nature has broken down the hostile dividing wall,

15 and in his human nature put an end to the cause of enmity between them – the Law with its injunctions and ordinances – in order to create, through union with himself, from Jew and Gentile, one new humanity and so make peace.

by setting aside the Law with its commandments, expressed, as they were, in definite decrees. His design was to unite the two sections of humanity in Himself so as to form one new man,

16 And when, on the cross, he had destroyed their mutual enmity, he sought by means of his cross to reconcile them both to God, united in one body.

thus effecting peace, and to reconcile Jews and Gentiles in one body to God, by means of His cross--slaying by it their mutual enmity.

17 He came with the good news of peace for you who were far off, and of peace for those who were near;

So He came and proclaimed good news of peace to you who were so far away, and peace to those who were near;

18 for it is through him that we, the Jews and the Gentiles, united in the one Spirit, are now able to approach the Father.

because it is through Him that Jews and Gentiles alike have access through one Spirit to the Father.

19 It follows, then, that you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but are fellow citizens with Christ’s people and members of God’s household.

You are therefore no longer mere foreigners or persons excluded from civil rights. On the contrary you share citizenship with God's people and are members of His family.

20 You have been built up on the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

You are a building which has been reared on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus Himself,

21 United in him, every part of the building, closely joined together, will grow into a temple, consecrated by its union with the Lord.

in union with whom the whole fabric, fitted and closely joined together, is growing so as to form a holy sanctuary in the Lord;

22 And, through union in him, you also are being built up together, to be a place where God lives through the Spirit.

in whom you also are being built up together to become a fixed abode for God through the Spirit.