Ephesians 2

¹ You were dead. Your sins killed you. Your turning away from God killed you.

⁸ Grace saved you. You got it by trusting. It did not start with you. God gave it as a gift.

¹¹ Remember what it used to be like! You were not born Jewish. Some people called you ugly names. They called you "the not-cut people." They called themselves "the cut people" because of a mark somebody made on their bodies with a knife.

¹⁴ Christ Himself is our peace. He took two groups and smashed them into one. He broke down the wall that kept them away from each other.

¹⁹ So you are not strangers anymore. Not outsiders. You are now citizens right next to God's people. You belong to God's family.