1You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins, 2in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience. 3We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus; 8for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not of works, that no one would boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
11Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “uncircumcision” by that which is called “circumcision” (in the flesh, made by hands), 12that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ. 14For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of separation, 15having abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace, 16and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility through it. 17He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near. 18For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, 20being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone; 21in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.
Excursus: Limited versus Unlimited Atonement
Some theologians teach that Jesus died only for the elect. This was once called limited redemption, but in modern times has been called limited atonement. This verse stands in direct contrast to that doctrine and affirms unlimited atonement, as does John 3:16. There, “the world” means all of humanity, not a segment of humanity made up of the elect.
The mistake in thinking with respect to limited atonement is that it is His death that saves. In this thinking, everyone He died for is saved. However, election does not automatically save a person. Paul affirms to the Ephesian Christians that though they were “chosen” by God “before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4), they were still “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1-7) until God “made us alive” in Christ. Jesus’ death does not benefit a person till the Father declares them justified and imputes their sin to Christ and His righteousness to them. God then regenerates them, transfers them from Satan’s kingdom to Christ’s, and makes them His child. This judicial act of God is what saves. He does it based on Christ’s work on the cross, and it could never have happened without Jesus dying for us. However, Jesus died for all people and all their sins. That is what John affirms in 1 John 2:2 when he says, “but also for the whole world.”