2 And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you once lived following this world’s present age,[1192] following the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who now energizes the children of disobedience.  3 Among them we all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, following the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we were by nature children of fury,[1193] just like everyone else.  4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,  5 even though we were dead in our sins, made us alive together with Messiah. It is by grace that you have been saved and are being saved.  6 He raised us up with him and seated us with him in heavenly places in Messiah Jesus. [1194] 7 This is so that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness to us in Messiah Jesus.  8 For by grace you have been saved and are being saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God,  9 not from works,[1195] so that no one can boast.  10 For we are His handiwork, created in Messiah Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we would conduct our lives in them.
    11 So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, who are called “uncircumcision” by those called “circumcision” — which is physical and done by human hands —  12 at that time you were separate from Messiah, aliens from the community of Israel and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God[1196] in the world.  13 But now in Messiah Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah.  14 For he himself is our peace, the one who made both groups into one and broke down the middle wall of separation, the hostility between us,  15 by making void in his flesh the Law of commandments contained in decrees. He did this in order to create in himself one new person in place of the two, so making peace,  16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it killing that hostility.  17 So he came and proclaimed the Gospel of peace[1197] to you who were far off and also to those who were near,  18 because through him both of us have access in one spirit to the Father.  19 So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are citizens along with all the saints and you are members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, Messiah Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone.  21 In him the entire structure is closely joined together and is growing into a holy temple in the lord. 22 In him you too are being built together into a place where God lives in the spirit.