1:1 From Paul, 1 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints [in Ephesus], 2 the faithful 3 in Christ Jesus. 1:2 Grace and peace to you 4 from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
1:3 Blessed 5 is 6 the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed 7 us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. 1:4 For 8 he chose us in Christ 9 before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished 10 in his sight 11 in love. 12 1:5 He did this by predestining 13 us to adoption as his 14 sons 15 through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure 16 of his will – 1:6 to the praise of the glory of his grace 17 that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. 18 1:7 In him 19 we have redemption through his blood, 20 the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 1:8 that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight. 1:9 He did this when he revealed 21 to us the secret 22 of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth 23 in Christ, 24 1:10 toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up 25 all things in Christ – the things in heaven 26 and the things on earth. 27 1:11 In Christ 28 we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, 29 since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will 1:12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope 30 on Christ, 31 would be to the praise of his glory. 1:13 And when 32 you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation) – when you believed in Christ 33 – you were marked with the seal 34 of the promised Holy Spirit, 35 1:14 who is the down payment 36 of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, 37 to the praise of his glory.
1:15 For this reason, 38 because I 39 have heard 40 of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love 41 for all the saints, 1:16 I do not cease to give thanks for you when I remember you 42 in my prayers. 1:17 I pray that 43 the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, 44 may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation 45 in your growing knowledge of him, 46 1:18 – since the eyes of your 47 heart have been enlightened 48 – so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, 49 what is the wealth of his glorious 50 inheritance in the saints, 1:19 and what is the incomparable 51 greatness of his power toward 52 us who believe, as displayed in 53 the exercise of his immense strength. 54 1:20 This power 55 he exercised 56 in Christ when he raised him 57 from the dead and seated him 58 at his right hand in the heavenly realms 59 1:21 far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 1:22 And God 60 put 61 all things under Christ’s 62 feet, 63 and he gave him to the church as head over all things. 64 1:23 Now the church is 65 his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. 66
2:1 And although you were 67 dead 68 in your transgressions and sins, 2:2 in which 69 you formerly lived 70 according to this world’s present path, 71 according to the ruler of the kingdom 72 of the air, the ruler of 73 the spirit 74 that is now energizing 75 the sons of disobedience, 76 2:3 among whom 77 all of us 78 also 79 formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath 80 even as the rest… 81
2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 2:5 even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! 82 – 2:6 and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 2:7 to demonstrate in the coming ages 83 the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward 84 us in Christ Jesus. 2:8 For by grace you are saved 85 through faith, 86 and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 2:9 it is not from 87 works, so that no one can boast. 88 2:10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. 89
2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh – who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body 90 by human hands – 2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, 91 alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, 92 having no hope and without God in the world. 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 93 2:14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one 94 and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, 2:15 when he nullified 95 in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man 96 out of two, 97 thus making peace, 2:16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. 98 2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, 2:18 so that 99 through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 2:19 So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 2:20 because you have been built 100 on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, 101 with Christ Jesus himself as 102 the cornerstone. 103 2:21 In him 104 the whole building, 105 being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 2:22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus 106 for the sake of you Gentiles – 3:2 if indeed 107 you have heard of the stewardship 108 of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3:3 that 109 by revelation the divine secret 110 was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly. 111 3:4 When reading this, 112 you will be able to 113 understand my insight into this secret 114 of Christ. 3:5 Now this secret 115 was not disclosed to people 116 in former 117 generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by 118 the Spirit, 3:6 namely, that through the gospel 119 the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members 120 of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. 3:7 I became a servant of this gospel 121 according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by 122 the exercise of his power. 123 3:8 To me – less than the least of all the saints 124 – this grace was given, 125 to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ 3:9 and to enlighten 126 everyone about God’s secret plan 127 – a secret that has been hidden for ages 128 in God 129 who has created all things. 3:10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that 130 through the church the multifaceted wisdom 131 of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms. 3:11 This was according to 132 the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 3:12 in whom we have boldness and confident access 133 to God 134 because of 135 Christ’s 136 faithfulness. 137 3:13 For this reason I ask you 138 not to lose heart because of what I am suffering for you, 139 which 140 is your glory. 141
3:14 For this reason 142 I kneel 143 before the Father, 144 3:15 from 145 whom every family 146 in heaven and on the earth is named. 3:16 I pray that 147 according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, 3:18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 148 3:19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to 149 all the fullness of God.
3:20 Now to him who by the power that is working within us 150 is able to do far beyond 151 all that we ask or think, 3:21 to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.