Beginning

1 From: Sha’ul, by God’s will an emissary of the Messiah Yeshua

To: God’s people living in Ephesus, that is, those who are trusting in the Messiah Yeshua:

² Grace to you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

³ Praised be Adonai, Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who in the Messiah has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven. ⁴ In the Messiah he chose us in love before the creation of the universe to be holy and without defect in his presence. ⁵ He determined in advance that through Yeshua the Messiah we would be his sons — in keeping with his pleasure and purpose — ⁶ so that we would bring him praise commensurate with the glory of the grace he gave us through the Beloved One.

⁷ In union with him, through the shedding of his blood, we are set free — our sins are forgiven; this accords with the wealth of the grace ⁸ he has lavished on us. In all his wisdom and insight ⁹ he has made known to us his secret plan, which by his own will he designed beforehand in connection with the Messiah ¹⁰ and will put into effect when the time is ripe — his plan to place everything in heaven and on earth under the Messiah’s headship.

¹¹ Also in union with him we were given an inheritance, we who were picked in advance according to the purpose of the One who effects everything in keeping with the decision of his will, ¹² so that we who earlier had put our hope in the Messiah would bring him praise commensurate with his glory.

¹³ Furthermore, you who heard the message of the truth, the Good News offering you deliverance, and put your trust in the Messiah were sealed by him with the promised Ruach HaKodesh, ¹⁴ who guarantees our inheritance until we come into possession of it and thus bring him praise commensurate with his glory.

¹⁵ For this reason, ever since I heard about your trust in the Lord Yeshua and your love for all God’s people, ¹⁶ I have not stopped giving thanks for you. In my prayers I keep asking ¹⁷ the God of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the glorious Father, to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you will have full knowledge of him. ¹⁸ I pray that he will give light to the eyes of your hearts, so that you will understand the hope to which he has called you, what rich glories there are in the inheritance he has promised his people, ¹⁹ and how surpassingly great is his power working in us who trust him. It works with the same mighty strength he used ²⁰ when he worked in the Messiah to raise him from the dead and seat him at his right hand in heaven, ²¹ far above every ruler, authority, power, dominion or any other name that can be named either in the ‘olam hazeh or in the ‘olam haba. ²² Also, he has put all things under his feet^[a] and made him head over everything for the Messianic Community, ²³ which is his body, the full expression of him who fills all creation.

2 You used to be dead because of your sins and acts of disobedience. ² You walked in the ways of the ‘olam hazeh and obeyed the Ruler of the Powers of the Air, who is still at work among the disobedient. ³ Indeed, we all once lived this way — we followed the passions of our old nature and obeyed the wishes of our old nature and our own thoughts. In our natural condition we were headed for God’s wrath, just like everyone else.

⁴ But God is so rich in mercy and loves us with such intense love ⁵ that, even when we were dead because of our acts of disobedience, he brought us to life along with the Messiah — it is by grace that you have been delivered. ⁶ That is, God raised us up with the Messiah Yeshua and seated us with him in heaven, ⁷ in order to exhibit in the ages to come how infinitely rich is his grace, how great is his kindness toward us who are united with the Messiah Yeshua. ⁸ For you have been delivered by grace through trusting, and even this is not your accomplishment but God’s gift. ⁹ You were not delivered by your own actions; therefore no one should boast. ¹⁰ For we are of God’s making, created in union with the Messiah Yeshua for a life of good actions already prepared by God for us to do.

¹¹ Therefore, remember your former state: you Gentiles by birth — called the Uncircumcised by those who, merely because of an operation on their flesh, are called the Circumcised — ¹² at that time had no Messiah. You were estranged from the national life of Isra’el. You were foreigners to the covenants embodying God’s promise. You were in this world without hope and without God.

¹³ But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah’s blood. ¹⁴ For he himself is our shalom — he has made us both one and has broken down the m’chitzah which divided us ¹⁵ by destroying in his own body the enmity occasioned by the Torah, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances. He did this in order to create in union with himself from the two groups a single new humanity and thus make shalom, ¹⁶ and in order to reconcile to God both in a single body by being executed on a stake as a criminal and thus in himself killing that enmity.

¹⁷ Also, when he came, he announced as Good News shalom to you far off and shalom to those nearby,^{[b] 18} news that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

¹⁹ So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s family. ²⁰ You have been built on the foundation of the emissaries and the prophets, with the cornerstone being Yeshua the Messiah himself. ²¹ In union with him the whole building is held together, and it is growing into a holy temple in union with the Lord. ²² Yes, in union with him, you yourselves are being built together into a spiritual dwelling-place for God!

3 It is a consequence of this that I, Sha’ul, am a prisoner of the Messiah Yeshua on behalf of you Gentiles. ² I assume that you have heard of the work God in his grace has given me to do for your benefit, ³ and that it was by a revelation that this secret plan was made known to me. I have already written about it briefly, ⁴ and if you read what I have written, you will grasp how I understand this secret plan concerning the Messiah. ⁵ In past generations it was not made known to mankind, as the Spirit is now revealing it to his emissaries and prophets, ⁶ that in union with the Messiah and through the Good News the Gentiles were to be joint heirs, a joint body and joint sharers with the Jews in what God has promised. ⁷ I became a servant of this Good News by God’s gracious gift, which he gave me through the operation of his power. ⁸ To me, the least important of all God’s holy people, was given this privilege of announcing to the Gentiles the Good News of the Messiah’s unfathomable riches, ⁹ and of letting everyone see how this secret plan is going to work out. This plan, kept hidden for ages by God, the Creator of everything, ¹⁰ is for the rulers and authorities in heaven to learn, through the existence of the Messianic Community, how many-sided God’s wisdom is. ¹¹ This accords with God’s age-old purpose, accomplished in the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord. ¹² In union with him, through his faithfulness, we have boldness and confidence when we approach God. ¹³ So I ask you not to be discouraged by the troubles I endure on your behalf — it is all for your glory.

¹⁴ For this reason, I fall on my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth receives its character. ¹⁶ I pray that from the treasures of his glory he will empower you with inner strength by his Spirit, ¹⁷ so that the Messiah may live in your hearts through your trusting. Also I pray that you will be rooted and founded in love, ¹⁸ so that you, with all God’s people, will be given strength to grasp the breadth, length, height and depth of the Messiah’s love, ¹⁹ yes, to know it, even though it is beyond all knowing, so that you will be filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰ Now to him who by his power working in us is able to do far beyond anything we can ask or imagine, ²¹ to him be glory in the Messianic Community and in the Messiah Yeshua from generation to generation forever. Amen.