New International Version NIV
GOD'S WORD Translation GW
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
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You were once dead because of your failures and sins.
2 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.
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You followed the ways of this present world and its spiritual ruler. This ruler continues to work in people who refuse to obey God.
3 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.
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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.
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
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But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us.
5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
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We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive together with Christ. (It is God's kindness that saved you.)
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
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God has brought us back to life together with Christ Jesus and has given us a position in heaven with him.
7 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.
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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.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
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God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God.
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
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It's not the result of anything you've done, so no one can brag about it.
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
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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.
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)—
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Remember that once you were not Jewish physically. Those who called themselves "the circumcised" because of what they had done to their bodies called you "the uncircumcised."
12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
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Also, at that time you were without Christ. You were excluded from citizenship in Israel, and the pledges [God made in his] promise were foreign to you. You had no hope and were in the world without God.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
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But now through Christ Jesus you, who were once far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
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So he is our peace. In his body he has made Jewish and non-Jewish people one by breaking down the wall of hostility that kept them apart.
15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,
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He brought an end to the commandments and demands found in Moses' Teachings so that he could take Jewish and non-Jewish people and create one new humanity in himself. So he made peace.
16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
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He also brought them back to God in one body by his cross, on which he killed the hostility.
17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
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He came with the Good News of peace for you who were far away and for those who were near.
18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
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So Jewish and non-Jewish people can go to the Father in one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,
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That is why you are no longer foreigners and outsiders but citizens together with God's people and members of God's family.
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
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You are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone.
21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
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In him all the parts of the building fit together and grow into a holy temple in the Lord.
22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
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Through him you, also, are being built in the Spirit together with others into a place where God lives.
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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.