Therefore remember, those of you who are Gentiles physically, that formerly you were called “uncircumcised” by those who were known for being circumcised by human hands. Remember that at that time you were apart from Christ, alienated from the people of Israel, strangers of the covenant of promise, without hope, and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus all of you who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, the one who made the two groups into one and broke down the barrier, the separating wall of hostility, and in His flesh invalidated the law of commandments contained in decrees so that He might make in Himself the two into one new person, thus making peace and so that He might reconcile both groups in one body to God through the cross, by which He killed the hostility. And when He came He preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near so that through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
As a result you are no longer strangers and foreigners but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s family, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom also all of you are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
[- Grasping the Cross -] 