1 When you were in that destructive state of transgression and sin,
2 in which you formerly liv'd, influenc'd by the customs of this world, and by the prince of the aerial powers, the spirits that now actuate the incredulous:
3 of which number we all have formerly been, leading our dissolute lives in gratifying the desires of our sensual imaginations: and were indeed obnoxious to the divine displeasure, as other. Gentiles were:
4 then it was that God, who is rich in mercy, thro' his great love, wherewith he loved us,
5 did raise us all, who were in that deadly state of sin, to life by Christ, for by grace ye are saved:
6 he hath raised us up together, and made us partakers of his heavenly kingdom.
7 that in the ages to come, he might shew the immense riches of his gracious kindness towards us, through Christ Jesus.
8 for by grace are ye saved, thro' faith (and that not from us:
9 it is the gift of God) but not by works, so that no man can boast:
10 for he hath made us a-new, and form'd us by Christ Jesus to do good works, for which God had before prepared us, that we might live in them.
11 Wherefore remember that you were heretofore Gentiles, being denominated the uncircumcised, by those who are the circumcised by a manual operation;
12 that at that time ye were without all knowledge of the Messiah, being aliens from the common-wealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and living in the world without any true knowledge of God.
13 but now you who were formerly at a distance, are brought near by the death of Christ Jesus.
14 for he is our peace-maker, who hath united both Jew and Gentile, and hath by his flesh broken down the middle wall of partition
15 (which kept us at variance) by abolishing the dogmatical injunctions of the law, that having made the peace, he might incorporate the two into one new body under himself;
16 that he might reconcile both in one body unto God by the cross, wherefore he destroyed the enmity that was between them:
17 and being come, he preached the glad tidings of peace to YOU who were afar off, and to US that were nigh.
18 for thro' him both of us have access by the same spirit to the father.
19 Therefore now, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and domesticks of God's family,
20 being built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, whereof Jesus Christ himself is the main stone of the angle:
21 on which the whole structure rises with symmetry into a temple, consecrated by the Lord:
22 who by his spirit has likewise made you a part of this divine mansion.