Ephesians 2

₁Before you started believing in Christ, you were spiritually_dead because of all the wrong things and sins that you did. ₂You lived like the sinful people of this world, and you did what the devil wanted you to do. The devil is the leader of the evil_spirits. He wants to rule the people of the world and he is the one who works in the hearts of the people who do not want to listen to God. ₃We all lived like those people who want to do bad things. We did bad things and we made plans to do the bad things that we wanted to do. We were bad from the day that we were born. We are just as bad as all the other people and God will punish bad people.

₄But God has a lot of grace that He wants to give. He loves us and He has shown it to us. ₅We were spiritually_dead because we did things that were wrong. But God made Christ live again and gave us new life. You must remember that God has saved you because He is good to you. ₆We belong to Christ Jesus and just like God made Christ live again, He has also given us a new life. God gave Christ a place in heaven and He has also given us a place in heaven. ₇God did this because He wants to show that He is very good to us and that He will always love us. That is why He sent Jesus Christ to the world.

₈Yes, God has saved you who believe in Christ, because God is very good, and He wants to be good to you. You did not save yourselves. No, it is God who has saved you because He wanted to be good to you. ₉God has saved you, but He did not do it because you have done good things. This is why no one may boast and say that he is good. ₁₀Because it is God who has made us who we are now. He sent Jesus Christ to the world so that we can become new people and do the good things that He planned for us to do. He planned those things long ago.

₁₁You must remember that you were Gentiles. The Jews said you were not circumcised. It is true that the Jews are circumcised, but it is only their bodies that have changed. ₁₂Remember that you did not belong to Christ before. The people of Israel were the people of God, not you. God made covenants with the people of Israel, not with you. God promised a lot of things to the people of Israel, not to you. You did not hope to be saved and you did not belong to God. ₁₃You were far away from God, but now you have come near to Him because Jesus Christ died for you and He brought you to God.

₁₄Christ is our peace and He gave his peace to us. The Jews and the Gentiles never loved one another. It was like there was a wall of hate between them that made them enemies. But Christ has broken down that wall and He has made the Jews and Gentiles into one people who are no longer enemies. ₁₅Christ has stopped the laws and the rules of the Jews which said that the Jews may not be with the Gentiles. He took the 2 groups and He made them like one new person with Himself, and now there is peace between them. ₁₆When Christ died on the cross, He took away the sin of the Jews and the Gentiles and He brought them back to God and also back to each other, so that they are now like one body and are no longer enemies of one another. ₁₇Christ came and He told the Good_News that there is now peace for you Gentiles who were far from God and there is peace for the Jews who were near to God. ₁₈Yes, Christ has died and now all of us can come to God the Father, the Jews and Gentiles. We can all come to Him because He gave his Holy_Spirit to all of us and there is only one Holy_Spirit.

₁₉That is why you are no longer strangers or visitors. You now belong to God, and you are part of his family. ₂₀You are the church. You are like a building. The foundation of this building is the apostles and prophets, and Christ Himself is the most important stone in the building. ₂₁Christ holds the building together and He makes it strong so that it becomes a holy temple for the Lord. ₂₂Christ has sent the Holy_Spirit and his Spirit makes you a part of this building where God lives.