Beginning

The everlasting ordinance and election of God in saving all races through Christ Jesus his Son. We are to be saints and without blame. The dominion of Christ.

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. To the saints who are at Ephesus, and to those who believe on Jesus Christ.

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

³ Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all manner of spiritual blessings in heavenly things by Christ, ⁴ accordingly as he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world was laid, to be holy and without blame before him through love. ⁵ And he predestined us through Jesus Christ to be his heirs, in accordance with his pleasure and will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of the grace with which he has made us accepted in the Beloved, ⁷ by whom we have redemption through his blood; that is, the forgiveness of sins, consonant with the riches of his grace, ⁸ which grace he shed on us abundantly in all wisdom and understanding.

⁹ And as it pleased him, he has made known to us the mystery of his will, ¹⁰ and purposed in himself to have it declared when the time was full come – namely that all things, both the things that are in heaven and also the things that are in earth, will be gathered together in Christ; ¹¹ that is to say, in him in whom we are made heirs. To this we were predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will, ¹² so that we who before believed in Christ will be to the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him also you (after you heard the word of truth, I mean the gospel of your salvation, in which you believed) were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴ which is the earnest of our inheritance to redeem the purchased possession, and that to the laud of his glory.

¹⁵ Therefore I (after I heard of the faith that you have in the Lord Jesus and love to all the saints) ¹⁶ cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. ¹⁷ I ask the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of glory to give to you the spirit of wisdom, and to open to you the knowledge of himself, ¹⁸ and to enlighten the eyes of your minds, so that you may know what that hope is to which he has called you, and what the riches of his glorious inheritance is upon the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the exceeding greatness of his power in us who believe pursuant to the working of that his mighty power, ²⁰ which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him on his right hand in heavenly things, ²¹ above all rule, power, and might, and dominion, and above all names that are named, not in this world only, but also in the world to come. ²² And he has put all things under his feet, and has made him above all things, the head of the congregation, ²³ which is his body, and the fullness of him who fills all in all things.

Paul shows them what manner of people they were before their conversion, and what they are now in Christ. We are ordained for good works.

2 And you he has quickened to life also, who were dead in trespass and sin, ² in which you walked in time past according to the course of this world, and followed the prince that rules in the air – the spirit that now works in the children of unbelief, ³ among whom we also had our living in time past, in the lusts of our flesh, and fulfilled the will of the flesh and of the mind, and were naturally the children of wrath fully as well as others.

⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, through his great love that he loved us with ⁵ even when we were dead by sin, has quickened us to life together in Christ (for by grace you are saved), ⁶ and has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly things through Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order to show in times to come the exceeding riches of his grace, in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you are saved, through faith – and that not of yourselves. For it is the gift of God, ⁹ and does not come by works, lest any man should boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, to which God ordained us before, that we should walk in them.

¹¹ And so remember that you (being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, and called uncircumcision by those who are called the circumcision in the flesh, which circumcision is made by hands) – ¹² remember, I say, that you were at that time without Christ, and were reputed aliens from the community of Israel, and were strangers to the testaments of promise, and had no hope, and were without God in this world. ¹³ But now, in Christ Jesus, you who a while ago were afar off, are made near by the blood of Christ.

¹⁴ For he is our peace, who has made of both one, and has broken down the wall that was a partition between us, ¹⁵ and has also put away through his flesh the cause of hatred (that is to say, the law of observances contained in the written law), to make of the two one new man in himself, so making peace, ¹⁶ and to reconcile both to God in one body through his cross. And he slew hatred thereby, ¹⁷ and came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those that were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have an open way in, in one Spirit, to the Father.

  ¹⁹ Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. ²⁰ And you are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the head cornerstone, ²¹ in whom every structure coupled together grows into a holy temple in the Lord – ²² in whom you also are built together, and made a habitation for God in the Spirit.

He explains the cause of his imprisonment, and more of the revelation of the mystery of Christ. He desires them not to faint because of his trouble, and prays God to make them steadfast in his Spirit.

3 For this then I, Paul, am in the bonds of Jesus Christ, for the sake of you who are heathen – ² if you have heard of the ministration of the grace of God that is given to me for you. ³ For by revelation he showed this mystery to me, as I wrote above in a few words, ⁴ from which, when you read, you may know my understanding in the mystery of Christ. ⁵ This mystery was not in times past opened to the sons of men as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: ⁶ that the Gentiles should be inheritors also, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise that is in Christ by the means of the gospel – ⁷ of which gospel I am made a minister by the gift of the grace of God given to me through the working of his power. ⁸ To me, the least of all saints, is this grace given, to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, ⁹ and to make all men see what the fellowship of the mystery is.

This mystery has from the beginning of the world been hid in God, who made all things through Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ to the intent that now, through the congregation, the manifold wisdom of God may be made known to the rulers and powers in heaven, ¹¹ according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, ¹² by whom we are bold to draw near in the confidence that we have by faith on him.

¹³ Therefore I desire that you faint not because of my tribulations for your sakes, which are worthy to be glorified by you. ¹⁴ For this I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ who is Father over all that is called father in heaven and in earth. ¹⁶ I pray that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ and that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is that breadth and length, depth and height, ¹⁹ and to know what is the love of Christ, which love passes knowledge; that you might be filled with every kind of fullness that comes of God.

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think by the power that works in us, ²¹ be praise in the congregation by Jesus Christ throughout all generations, world without end.

Amen.