1FROM PAUL,
APOSTLE of Christ Jesus, commissioned by the will of God,
to God's people at Ephesus, believers incorporate 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 bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. 4In Christ he chose us before the world was founded, to be dedicated, to be without blemish in his sight, to be full of love, 5and he destined us?such was his will and pleasure?to be accepted as his sons through Jesus Christ, 6in order that the glory of his gracious gift, so graciously bestowed on us in his Beloved, might redound to his praise. 7For in Christ our release is secured and our sins are forgiven through the shedding of his blood. 8Therein lies the richness of God's free grace lavished upon us, imparting full wisdom and insight. 9He has made known to us his hidden purpose—such was his will and pleasure determined beforehand in Christ— 10to be put into effect when the time was ripe: namely, that the universe, all in heaven and on earth, might be brought into a unity in Christ.
11In Christ indeed we have been given our share in the heritage, as was decreed in his design whose purpose is everywhere at work. 12For it was his will that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, should cause his glory to be praised. 13And you too, when you had heard the message of the truth, the good news of your salvation, and had believed it, became incorporate in Christ and received the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14and that Spirit is the pledge that we shall enter upon our heritage, when God has redeemed what is his own, to his praise and glory.
15Because of all this, now that I have heard of the faith you have in the Lord Jesus and of the love you bear towards all God's people, 16I never cease to give thanks for you when I mention you in my prayers. 17I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the all-glorious Father, may give you the spiritual powers of wisdom and vision, by which there comes the knowledge of him. 18I pray that your inward eyes may be illumined, so that you may know what is the hope to which he calls you, what the wealth and glory of the share he offers you among his people in their heritage, 19and how vast the resources of his power open to us who trust in him. They are measured by his strength and the might which he exerted in Christ 20when he raised him from the dead, when he enthroned him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all government and authority, all power and dominion, and any title of sovereignty that can be named, not only in this age but in the age to come. 22 [ Ps.8.6. ] He put everything in subjection beneath his feet, and appointed him as supreme head to the church, 23which is his body and as such holds within it the fullness of him who himself receives the entire fullness of God.
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