Ephesians 3-6

The Voice

3 All this is exactly why I, Paul, am a prisoner of Jesus the Anointed, His representative to the outsider nations. ² You have heard, haven’t you, how God appointed me to bring you His message of grace? ³ And how the mystery was made known to me in a revelation? I briefly wrote about it earlier. ⁴ When you read what I have written, you will be better able to understand the depth of my insight into the mystery of the Anointed One, ⁵ a mystery that has never before been shown to past generations. Only now are these secrets being revealed to God’s chosen emissaries^[a] and prophets through the Holy Spirit. ⁶ Specifically, the mystery is this: by trusting in the good news, the Gentile outsiders are becoming fully enfranchised members of the same body, heirs alongside Israel, and beneficiaries of the promise that has been fulfilled through Jesus the Anointed.

⁷ I became a servant and preacher of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace as He exercised His amazing power over me. ⁸ I cannot think of anyone more unworthy to this cause than I, the least of the least of the saints. But here I am, a grace-made man, privileged to be an echo of His voice and a preacher to all the nations of the riches of the Anointed One, riches that no one ever imagined. ⁹ I am privileged to enlighten all of Adam’s descendants to the mystery concealed from previous ages by God, the Creator of all, through Jesus the Anointed. ¹⁰ Here’s His objective: through the church, He intends now to make known His infinite and boundless wisdom to all rulers and authorities in heavenly realms. ¹¹ This has been His plan from the beginning, one that He has now accomplished through the Anointed One, Jesus our Lord. ¹² His faithfulness^[b] to God has made it possible for us to have the courage we need and the ability to approach the Father confidently. ¹³ So I ask you not to become discouraged because I am jailed for speaking out on your behalf. In fact, my suffering is something that brings you glory.

¹⁴ It is for this reason that I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ after whom all families in heaven above and on earth below receive their names, and pray:

²⁰ Now to the God who can do so many awe-inspiring things, immeasurable things, things greater than we ever could ask or imagine through the power at work in us, ²¹ to Him be all glory in the church and in Jesus the Anointed from this generation to the next, forever and ever. Amen.

4 As a prisoner of the Lord, I urge you: Live a life that is worthy of the calling He has graciously extended to you. ² Be humble. Be gentle. Be patient. Tolerate one another in an atmosphere thick with love. ³ Make every effort to preserve the unity the Spirit has already created, with peace binding you together.

⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were all called to pursue one hope. ⁵ There is one Lord Jesus, one living faith, one ceremonial washing through baptism,^[c] and ⁶ one God—the Father over all who is above all, through all, and in all. ⁷ This God has given to each of us grace in full measure according to the Anointed’s gift ⁸ as the Scripture says,

⁹ (Well, when it says “He ascended,” then that must mean that He had descended earlier to the lower levels, that is, to the earth. ¹⁰ The One who descended is the same One who rose from the dead to ascend far above all the heavens so that He could fill all things.)

¹¹ It was the risen One who handed down to us such gifted leaders—some emissaries,^[e] some prophets, some evangelists, as well as some pastor-teachers— ¹² so that God’s people would be thoroughly equipped to minister and build up the body of the Anointed One. ¹³ These ministries will continue until we are unified in faith and filled with the knowledge of the Son of God, until we stand mature in His teachings and fully formed in the likeness of the Anointed, our Liberating King. ¹⁴ Then we will no longer be like children, tossed around here and there upon ocean waves, picked up by every gust of religious teaching spoken by liars or swindlers or deceivers. ¹⁵ Instead, by truth spoken in love, we are to grow in every way into Him—the Anointed One, the head. ¹⁶ He joins and holds together the whole body with its ligaments providing the support needed so each part works to its proper design to form a healthy, growing, and mature body that builds itself up in love.

¹⁷ Therefore, as a witness of the Lord, I insist on this: that you no longer walk in the outsiders’ ways—with minds devoted to worthless pursuits. ¹⁸ They are blind to true understanding. They are strangers and aliens to the kind of life God has for them because they live in ignorance and immorality and because their hearts are cold, hard stones. ¹⁹ And now, since they’ve lost all natural feelings, they have given themselves over to sensual, greedy, and reckless living. They stop at nothing to satisfy their impure appetites.

²⁰ But this is not the path of the Anointed One, which you have learned. ²¹ If you have heard Jesus and have been taught by Him according to the truth that is in Him, ²² then you know to take off your former way of life, your crumpled old self—that dark blot of a soul corrupted by deceitful desire and lust— ²³ to take a fresh breath and to let God renew your attitude and spirit. ²⁴ Then you are ready to put on your new self, modeled after the very likeness of God: truthful, righteous, and holy.

²⁵ So put away your lies and speak the truth to one another because we are all part of one another. ²⁶ When you are angry, don’t let it carry you into sin.^[f] Don’t let the sun set with anger in your heart or ²⁷ give the devil room to work. ²⁸ If you have been stealing, stop. Thieves must go to work like everyone else and work honestly with their hands so that they can share with anyone who has a need. ²⁹ Don’t let even one rotten word seep out of your mouths. Instead, offer only fresh words that build others up when they need it most. That way your good words will communicate grace to those who hear them. ³⁰ It’s time to stop bringing grief to God’s Holy Spirit; you have been sealed with the Spirit, marked as His own for the day of rescue. ³¹ Banish bitterness, rage and anger, shouting and slander, and any and all malicious thoughts—these are poison. ³² Instead, be kind and compassionate. Graciously forgive one another just as God has forgiven you through the Anointed, our Liberating King.

5 So imitate God. Follow Him like adored children, ² and live in love as the Anointed One loved you—so much that He gave Himself as a fragrant sacrifice, pleasing God.

³ Listen, don’t let any kind of immorality be breathed among you. Any demoralizing behaviors (perverse sexual acts, uncleanliness, greediness, and the like) are inappropriate topics of conversation for those set apart as God’s people. ⁴ Don’t swear or spurt nonsense. Don’t make harsh jokes or clown around. Make proper use of your words, and offer them thankfully in praise. ⁵ This is what we know for certain: no one who engages in loose sex, impure actions, and greed—which is just a form of idolatry—has any inheritance in the kingdom of God and His Anointed.

⁶ Don’t be fooled by people whose sentences are compounded with useless words, empty words—they just show they are empty souls. For, in His wrath, God will judge all the children of disobedience for these kinds of sins. ⁷ So don’t be persuaded into their ignorance; and don’t cast your lot with them ⁸ because, although you were once the personification of darkness, you are now light in the Lord. So act like children of the light. ⁹ For the fruit of the light is all that is good, right, and true. ¹⁰ Make it your aim to learn what pleases our Lord. ¹¹ Don’t get involved with the fruitless works of darkness; instead, expose them to the light of God. ¹² You see, it’s a disgrace to speak of their secrets (so don’t even talk about what they do when no one is looking). ^13-14 When the light shines, it exposes even the dark and shadowy things and turns them into pure reflections of light. This is why they sing,

¹⁵ So be careful how you live; be mindful of your steps. Don’t run around like idiots as the rest of the world does. Instead, walk as the wise! ¹⁶ Make the most of every living and breathing moment because these are evil times. ¹⁷ So understand and be confident in God’s will, and don’t live thoughtlessly. ¹⁸ Don’t drink wine excessively. The drunken path is a reckless path. It leads nowhere. Instead, let God fill you with the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ When you are filled with the Spirit, you are empowered to speak to each other in the soulful words of pious songs, hymns, and spiritual songs; to sing and make music with your hearts attuned to God; ²⁰ and to give thanks to God the Father every day through the name of our Lord Jesus the Anointed for all He has done.

²¹ And the Spirit makes it possible to submit humbly to one another out of respect for the Anointed. ²² Wives, it should be no different with your husbands. Submit to them as you do to the Lord, ²³ for God has given husbands a sacred duty to lead as the Anointed leads the church and serves as the head. (The church is His body; He is her Savior.) ²⁴ So wives should submit to their husbands, respectfully, in all things, just as the church yields to the Anointed One.

^25-26 Husbands, you must love your wives so deeply, purely, and sacrificially that we can understand it only when we compare it to the love the Anointed One has for His bride, the church. We know He gave Himself up completely to make her His own, washing her clean of all her impurity with water and the powerful presence of His word. ²⁷ He has given Himself so that He can present the church as His radiant bride, unstained, unwrinkled, and unblemished—completely free from all impurity—holy and innocent before Him. ²⁸ So husbands should care for their wives as if their lives depended on it, the same way they care for their own bodies. As you love her, you ultimately are loving part of yourself (remember, you are one flesh). ²⁹ No one really hates his own body; he takes care to feed and love it, just as the Anointed takes care of His church, ³⁰ because we are living members of His body. ³¹ “And this is the reason a man leaves his father and his mother and is united with his wife; the two come together as one flesh.”^{[g] 32} There is a great mystery reflected in this Scripture, and I say that it has to do with the marriage of the Anointed One and the church. ³³ Nevertheless, each husband is to love and protect his own wife as if she were his very heart, and each wife is to respect her own husband.

6 Now to you, children, obey your parents in the Lord because this is right in God’s eyes. ² This is the first commandment onto which He added a promise: “Honor your father and your mother, and ³ if you do, you will live long and well in this land.”^[h]

⁴ And, fathers, do not drive your children mad, but nurture them in the discipline and teaching that come from the Lord.

⁵ Slaves, respect and fear your earthly masters. Obey and serve them with the same sincerity of heart as you serve the Anointed One. ⁶ Don’t put on a show just because they are looking (as if you were a people pleaser); but as a slave of the Anointed, do the will of God from your heart. ⁷ Serve them in good faith as if you were serving the Lord, not men, ⁸ because all good deeds are gifted back from the Lord, and they are yours whether you are a slave or not.

⁹ Masters, hear this: act in kind to your slaves. Stop terrorizing and threatening them. Don’t forget that you have a Master in heaven who does not take sides or pick favorites.

¹⁰ Finally, brothers and sisters, draw your strength and might from God. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God to protect yourselves from the devil and his evil schemes. ¹² We’re not waging war against enemies of flesh and blood alone. No, this fight is against tyrants, against authorities, against supernatural powers and demon princes that slither in the darkness of this world, and against wicked spiritual armies that lurk about in heavenly places.

¹³ And this is why you need to be head-to-toe in the full armor of God: so you can resist during these evil days and be fully prepared to hold your ground. ¹⁴ Yes, stand—truth banded around your waist, righteousness as your chest plate, ¹⁵ and feet protected in preparation to proclaim the good news of peace. ¹⁶ Don’t forget to raise the shield of faith above all else, so you will be able to extinguish flaming spears hurled at you from the wicked one. ¹⁷ Take also the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸ Pray always. Pray in the Spirit. Pray about everything in every way you know how! And keeping all this in mind, pray on behalf of God’s people. Keep on praying feverishly, and be on the lookout until evil has been stayed. ¹⁹ And please pray for me. Pray that truth will be with me before I even open my mouth. Ask the Spirit to guide me while I boldly defend the mystery that is the good news— ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains—so pray that I can bravely pronounce the truth, as I should do.

²¹ I am sending to you Tychicus, my dear brother and faithful minister in the Lord. He will tell you everything that has been going on here with me ²² so you will know how I am and what I am doing. He’s coming with news that will hopefully comfort your hearts. ²³ Brothers and sisters, let me leave you with a blessing: