Ephesians 2:1-10 - Made Alive In Christ

¹ You too were dead because of the shortcomings and sins ² in which you once lived in accordance with the spirit of this present world, and the mighty prince of the air, who is always at work in the disobedient, among whom all of us, we Jews as well as you heathen, ³ once lived while gratifying the cravings of our lower nature, as we continued to carry out the impulses of our lower nature and its thoughts, and by nature we were exposed to God's wrath, as the rest of mankind. ⁴ But God, who is so rich in mercy on account of the great love He has for us, ⁵ has made us, though dead because of our shortcomings, live again in fellowship with Christ -- it is by His unmerited favor that you have been saved. ⁶ And He raised us with Him and through union with Christ Jesus He made us sit down with Him in the heavenly realm, ⁷ to show, throughout the coming ages, the boundless generosity of His unmerited favor shown us in His goodness to us through Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by His unmerited favor through faith that you have been saved; it is not by anything that you have done, it is the gift of God. ⁹ It is not the result of what anyone can do, so that no one can boast of it. ¹⁰ For He has made us what we are, because He has created us through our union with Christ Jesus for doing good deeds which He beforehand planned for us to do.

⁶ So, just as you once accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue living in vital union with Him, ⁷ with your roots deeply planted in Him, being continuously built up in Him, and growing stronger in faith, just as you were taught to do, overflowing through it in your gratitude.

⁸ Take care that nobody captures you by the idle fancies of his so-called philosophy, following human tradition and the world's crude notions instead of Christ. ⁹ For it is in Him that all the fullness of Deity continues to live embodied, ¹⁰ and through union with Him you too are filled with it. He is the Head of all principalities and dominions. ¹¹ And through your union with Him you once received, not a hand-performed circumcision but one performed by Christ, in stripping you of your lower nature, ¹² for you were buried with Him in baptism and raised to life with Him through your faith in the power of God who raised Him from the dead. ¹³ Yes, although you were dead through your shortcomings and were physically uncircumcised, God made you live again through fellowship with Christ. He graciously forgave us all our shortcomings, ¹⁴ canceled the note that stood against us, with its requirements, and has put it out of our way by nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ He thus stripped the principalities and dominions of power and made a public display of them, triumphing over them by the cross.