GOD'S WORD Translation GW
New International Version NIV
1 You were once dead because of your failures and sins.
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As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
2 You followed the ways of this present world and its spiritual ruler. This ruler continues to work in people who refuse to obey God.
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in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3 All of us once lived among these people, and followed the desires of our corrupt nature. We did what our corrupt desires and thoughts wanted us to do. So, because of our nature, we deserved God's anger just like everyone else.
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All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
4 But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us.
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But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5 We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive together with Christ. (It is God's kindness that saved you.)
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made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
6 God has brought us back to life together with Christ Jesus and has given us a position in heaven with him.
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And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
7 He did this through Christ Jesus out of his generosity to us in order to show his extremely rich kindness in the world to come.
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in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8 God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God.
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For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9 It's not the result of anything you've done, so no one can brag about it.
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not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do.
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For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.