Ephesians 1-3

Ephesians 1

¹Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the purpose of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and those who have faith in Christ Jesus:

²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us every blessing of the Spirit in the heavens in Christ:

⁴Even as he made selection of us in him from the first, so that we might be holy and free from all evil before him in love:

⁵As we were designed before by him for the position of sons to himself, through Jesus Christ, in the good pleasure of his purpose,

⁶To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely gave to us in the Loved One:

⁷In whom we have salvation through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins, through the wealth of his grace,

⁸Which he gave us in full measure in all wisdom and care;

⁹Having made clear to us the secret of his purpose, in agreement with the design which he had in mind, to put into his hands

¹⁰The ordering of the times when they are complete, so that all things might come to a head in Christ, the things in heaven and the things on the earth; in him, I say,

¹¹In whom we have a heritage, being marked out from the first in his purpose who does all things in agreement with his designs;

¹²So that his glory might have praise through us who first had hope in Christ:

¹³In whom you, having been given the true word, the good news of your salvation, and through your faith in him, were given the sign of the Holy Spirit of hope,

¹⁴Which is the first-fruit of our heritage, till God gets back that which is his, to the praise of his glory.

¹⁵For this cause I, having had news of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and which you make clear to all the saints,

¹⁶Give praise without end for you, keeping you in mind in my prayers;

¹⁷That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;

¹⁸And that having the eyes of your heart full of light, you may have knowledge of what is the hope of his purpose, what is the wealth of the glory of his heritage in the saints,

¹⁹And how unlimited is his power to us who have faith, as is seen in the working of the strength of his power,

²⁰By which he made Christ come back from the dead, and gave him a place at his right hand in heaven,

²¹Far over all rule and authority and power and every name which is named, not only in the present order, but in that which is to come:

²²And he has put all things under his feet, and has made him to be head over all things to the church,

²³Which is his body, the full measure of him in whom all things are made complete.

Ephesians 2

¹And to you did he give life, when you were dead through your wrongdoing and sins,

²In which you were living in the past, after the ways of this present world, doing the pleasure of the lord of the power of the air, the spirit who is now working in those who go against the purpose of God;

³Among whom we all at one time were living in the pleasures of our flesh, giving way to the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and the punishment of God was waiting for us even as for the rest.

⁴But God, being full of mercy, through the great love which he had for us,

⁵Even when we were dead through our sins, gave us life together with Christ (by grace you have salvation),

⁶So that we came back from death with him, and are seated with him in the heavens, in Christ Jesus;

⁷That in the time to come he might make clear the full wealth of his grace in his mercy to us in Christ Jesus:

⁸Because by grace you have salvation through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is given by God:

⁹Not by works, so that no man may take glory to himself.

¹⁰For by his act we were given existence in Christ Jesus to do those good works which God before made ready for us so that we might do them.

¹¹For this reason keep it in mind that in the past you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are looked on as being outside the circumcision by those who have circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands;

¹²That you were at that time without Christ, being cut off from any part in Israel's rights as a nation, having no part in God's agreement, having no hope, and without God in the world.

¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who at one time were far off are made near in the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For he is our peace, who has made the two into one, and by whom the middle wall of division has been broken down,

¹⁵Having in his flesh put an end to that which made the division between us, even the law with its rules and orders, so that he might make in himself, of the two, one new man, so making peace;

¹⁶And that the two might come into agreement with God in one body through the cross, so putting an end to that division.

¹⁷And he came preaching peace to you who were far off, and to those who were near;

¹⁸Because through him the two of us are able to come near in one Spirit to the Father.

¹⁹So then you are no longer as those who have no part or place in the kingdom of God, but you are numbered among the saints, and of the family of God,

²⁰Resting on the base of the Apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief keystone,

²¹In whom all the building, rightly joined together, comes to be a holy house of God in the Lord;

²²In whom you, with the rest, are united together as a living-place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 3

¹For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles,

²If that ordering of the grace of God has come to your knowledge, which was given to me for you,

³How by revelation the secret was made clear to me, as I said before in a short letter,

⁴By the reading of which you will be clear about my knowledge of the secret of Christ;

⁵Which in other generations was not given to the sons of men, but the revelation of it has now been made to his holy Apostles and prophets in the Spirit;

⁶Which is that the Gentiles have a part in the heritage, and in the same body, and in the same hope in Christ through the good news,

⁷Of which I was made a preacher, through that grace of God which was given to me in the measure of the working of his power.

⁸To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, was this grace given, so that I might make clear to the Gentiles the good news of the unending wealth of Christ:

⁹And make all men see what is the ordering of the secret which from the first has been kept in God who made all things;

¹⁰So that now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavens might be made clear through the church the wide-shining wisdom of God,

¹¹Which is seen in his eternal purpose in Christ Jesus our Lord:

¹²By whom we come near to God without fear through faith in him.

¹³For this reason it is my prayer that you may not become feeble because of my troubles for you, which are your glory.

¹⁴For this cause I go down on my knees before the Father,

¹⁵From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

¹⁶That in the wealth of his glory he would make you strong with power through his Spirit in your hearts;

¹⁷So that Christ may have his place in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and based in love,

¹⁸May have strength to see with all the saints how wide and long and high and deep it is,

¹⁹And to have knowledge of the love of Christ which is outside all knowledge, so that you may be made complete as God himself is complete.

²⁰Now to him who is able to do in full measure more than all our desires or thoughts, through the power which is working in us,

²¹To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations for ever and ever. So be it.