Beginning

Salutation

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,

To the saints who are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

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

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before Him in love; ⁵ He predestined us to adoption as sons to Himself through Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace which He graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved. ⁷ In Him we have redemption through His blood and the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, ⁸ which He lavished on us in all wisdom and insight, ⁹ making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself, ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, which are in heaven and on earth.

¹¹ In Him also we have received an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His own will, ¹² that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, should live for the praise of His glory. ¹³ In Him you also, after hearing the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and after believing in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Paul’s Prayer

¹⁵ Therefore I also, after hearing of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, ¹⁶ do not cease giving thanks for you, mentioning you in my prayers, ¹⁷ so that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, ¹⁸ that the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance among the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, ²⁰ which He performed in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all principalities, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. ²² And He put all things in subjection under His feet and made Him the head over all things for the church, ²³ which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all things in all ways.

From Death to Life

2 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, ² in which you formerly walked according to the age of this world and according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, ³ among them we all also once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in sins, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and He raised us up and seated us together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, so that no one should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we should walk in them.

One in Christ

¹¹ Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called the “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” in the flesh by human hands, ¹² were at that time apart from Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who were formerly far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

¹⁴ For He is our peace, who has made both groups one and has broken down the barrier of the dividing wall, ¹⁵ by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of the commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and that He might reconcile both to God into one body through the cross, thereby slaying the enmity. ¹⁷ And He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

¹⁹ Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the entire building, tightly framed together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God through the Spirit.

Paul’s Ministry to the Gentiles

3 For this reason I, Paul, am the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.

² You may have heard of the administration of the grace of God which was given me for you, ³ how by revelation He made known to me the mystery, as I have written briefly already, ⁴ by which, when you read it, you may understand my knowledge of the mystery of Christ, ⁵ which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, ⁶ how the Gentiles are fellow heirs, and fellow members, and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel.

⁷ Of this I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. ⁸ To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the incomprehensible riches of Christ, ⁹ and to reveal for all people what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ so that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, ¹¹ according to the eternal purpose which He completed in Christ Jesus our Lord, ¹² in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. ¹³ Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

To Know the Love of Christ

¹⁴ For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, ¹⁶ that He would give you, according to the riches of His glory, power to be strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine, according to the power that works in us, ²¹ to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.