From Death to Life

2 In the past you were spiritually dead because of your sins and the things you did against God. ² Yes, in the past your lives were full of those sins. You lived the way the world lives, following the ruler of the evil powers^[a] that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God. ³ In the past all of us lived like that, trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. Like everyone else in the world, we deserved to suffer God’s anger just because of the way we were.

⁴ But God is rich in mercy, and he loved us very much. ⁵ We were spiritually dead because of all we had done against him. But he gave us new life together with Christ. (You have been saved by God’s grace.) ⁶ Yes, it is because we are a part of Christ Jesus that God raised us from death and seated us together with him in the heavenly places. ⁷ God did this so that his kindness to us who belong to Christ Jesus would clearly show for all time to come the amazing richness of his grace.

⁸ I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. ⁹ You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about. ¹⁰ God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.