Kudwa mu lufu kungina mu butjilo
1 Imwi makabe makafa mu kutjinya kwenyu ne mu zwibi 2 zwamakabe mutjilila muzwili mutobela zila dze shango iyeyi ne dze mbusi we tjibombo tje phepo, iyo meya inoshinga ngwenu muna ibabo basingahwe nlayo. 3 Tose takatongo tjililabo mazwiwo e tjinyama, titobela njemulo dze mibili ne mikumbulo yedu. Ndizo nge mbumbiko yedu, takabe takafanilo delukigwa nge bushongola gwe Ndzimu se bathu bose.
4 Koga Ndzimu, iwo una mahwilo zogwadza kwazo, nge ludo gwawo lukulu gwawakatida ndigo, 5 ne patakabe takafa nge matjinyo edu, wakathama kuti titjile tose na Kirisiti. Makatjidziwa nge ngoni. 6 Ngono Ndzimu wakatimusa na Kirisiti, ukatigadza naye kudzimu mu kubhatana na Kirisiti Jesu, 7 kuti ndizo mu misi inozha, unganaukalakidza bunji gwe ngoni dzawo dzisina tjilizanyo nge nzhazho wawo ku tili muna Kirisiti Jesu. 8 Ngobe makatjidziwa nge ngoni nge kugalamoyo, ngono ikoku akuzothamiwa ndimwi, koga tjipo tje Ndzimu, 9 kusi nge mishingo, kuti ndizo kushaye unozwikudza. 10 Takathamiwa tjatili itjo nge Ndzimu wakatibumba muna Kirisiti Jesu, kushinga mishingo mibuya, iyo Ndzimu yawakatilulwamisila kale kuti tiilondolodze.
Bung'ompela muna Kirisiti
11 Ndizo kumbulani kuti makati mu tjimwe tjibaka, imwi Bezwitjaba* ngozwagwa, makabe mudang'wa kuyi “basakathumbigwa” ndi ibabo bakabe bezwidana beti “bakathumbigwa,” kwakathamwa mu mbili nge maboko e nthu. 12 Kumbulani kuti mu tjibaka itjetjo makabe makathubukana na Kirisiti, muli bataya mu shango ye Iziraela, kakale muli bazhi basi be zwidumano zwakagadziwabgwe nge Ndzimu ku bathu bawo, musina kugalabgwe, kakale musina Ndzimu mu shango. 13 Koga ngwenu, imwi bamuna Kirisiti Jesu, imwi makatongobe mulikulekule makasedzedziwa pejo nge malopa a Kirisiti. 14 Ngobe Kirisiti i mbakiso yedu, iye wakathama kuti, tose tibe bang'ompela, wakakolomodza tjidzibilidzi, iwo n'gathu unotithubukanya, 15 ngokolomodza nlayo ne milawana yawo kuti ndizo abumbe munli mbumbiko ing'ompela tshwa ye nthu mu bumo gwa idzedzo mbili, kuti ndizo kube ne kunyalala. 16 Kuti ndizo agadzanye bubili nge Ndzimu, mu mbili nng'ompela nge tjileyanyo, kuli kupedza nge tjileyanyo, sahwanana. 17 Wakazha kasumikila ndebo mbuya ye kunyalala kumuli, imwi makabe muli kule ne kuna ibabo bakabe bali pejo. 18 Ngobe ndiye, iswi tose Bajuta ne Bezwitjaba totubula kuzha pana Tate nge Meya ing'ompela.
19 Ndizo amutji bataya kene bazhi, koga mabe beni be shango, imwi mose ne bayengemali ne bagali bose be nsha we Ndzimu, 20 makabakwa pezhugwi kwe thiwa ye batumwa ba Jesu ne balebesambeli, Kirisiti Jesu nge kukwe ali iye bgwe le ndzibo linotambunudza mbako. 21 Munli, mbako yose yakabhatana, ngono ndiye unoipapha kube ng'umba yakayengemala ye Ndzimu muna She. 22 Kakale munli, namwibo makabumbigwanyiwa kube bugalo, Ndzimu gwaunogala muguli mu Meya.
From Death to Life
1 In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins. 2 At that time you followed the world's evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God. 3 Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God's anger.
4 But God's mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, 5 that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace that you have been saved. 6 In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world. 7 He did this to demonstrate for all time to come the extraordinary greatness of his grace in the love he showed us in Christ Jesus. 8-9 For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it. 10 God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.
One in Christ
11 You Gentiles by birth—called “the uncircumcised” by the Jews, who call themselves the circumcised (which refers to what men do to their bodies)—remember what you were in the past. 12 At that time you were apart from Christ. You were foreigners and did not belong to God's chosen people. You had no part in the covenants, which were based on God's promises to his people, and you lived in this world without hope and without God. 13 But now, in union with Christ Jesus you, who used to be far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies. 15 He abolished the Jewish Law with its commandments and rules, in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself, in this way making peace. 16 By his death on the cross Christ destroyed their enmity; by means of the cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God. 17 So Christ came and preached the Good News of peace to all—to you Gentiles, who were far away from God, and to the Jews, who were near to him. 18 It is through Christ that all of us, Jews and Gentiles, are able to come in the one Spirit into the presence of the Father.
19 So then, you Gentiles are not foreigners or strangers any longer; you are now citizens together with God's people and members of the family of God. 20 You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself. 21 He is the one who holds the whole building together and makes it grow into a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord. 22 In union with him you too are being built together with all the others into a place where God lives through his Spirit.