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Beginning

Read the Bible from start to finish, from Genesis to Revelation.

Duration: 365 days

Ephesians 1-3

Introduction

Chapter 1

Address and Greeting.^[a] ¹Paul, by the will of God an apostle of Christ Jesus, to the saints who are in Ephesus^[b] and are faithful in Christ Jesus. ²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Risen Christ, Lord and Savior of the Whole Human Race^[c]

God’s Glorious Plan of Salvation^[d]

Conceived by the Father

³Blessed be the God,
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.
⁴Before the foundation of the world
he chose us in Christ
to be holy and blameless in his sight
and to be filled with love.
⁵He predestined us
for adoption as his children
through Jesus Christ,
in accordance with his purpose and pleasure,
⁶to the praise of the glory
of his grace
that he so freely bestowed on us
in the Beloved.

Realized by the Son

⁷In Christ
and through his blood
we have redemption^[e]
and the forgiveness of our sins.
In accord with the riches of his grace,
⁸God lavished on us
all wisdom and insight.
⁹He has made known to us
the mystery of his will
in accordance with his good pleasure
that he had predetermined in Christ
¹⁰to be realized when
the fullness of time had been achieved:
namely, the plan to bring all things,
both in heaven and on earth,
together^[f] in Christ
as the head.

Fulfilled by the Holy Spirit

¹¹In Christ we were also chosen,
having been predestined
by the one who accomplishes all things
in accordance with the design of his will,
¹²so that we,
who were the first ones
to place our hopes in Christ,
would devote ourselves
to the praise of his glory.
¹³In Christ
you also heard the message of truth
and the gospel of your salvation,
and you came to believe in him.
In him,
you were marked with the seal
of the Holy Spirit
who had been promised.
¹⁴That Spirit is the down payment^[g] of our inheritance,
which we shall share
when God has redeemed us
as his own possession,
to the praise of his glory.

The Church’s Unity with Christ^[h]

Christ, Head of the Church. Having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and of your love toward all the saints, ¹⁶I therefore never cease to give thanks to God for you as I remember you in my prayers. ¹⁷I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation to know him.

¹⁸I further pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know the hope to which he has called you, how rich and glorious is his inheritance^[i] in the saints, ¹⁹and how immeasurably great is the power that he has exercised toward those who have faith.

Such was his mighty power ²⁰that he exhibited in Christ
when he raised him from the dead
and enthroned him
at his right hand in heaven,
²¹far above
every principality and authority,
power and dominion,
and every other title
that can be named,
not only in this age
but also in the age to come.
²²He has put all things
under Christ’s feet
and has made him
the head of the Church,
²³which is his body,
the fullness of him
who fills the universe
in all its parts.

Chapter 2

Christ Brought Us from Death to Life.^[j] ¹You formerly were dead as a result of your transgressions and sins, ²which were your way of life in this worldly era,^[k] obeying the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit that is now at work among the children of rebellion. ³We too were all numbered among them at one time. We were ruled by our sinful nature, succumbing to the temptations of the flesh and desires. And like all others, we were by nature children of wrath.

⁴But God is rich in his mercy, and because he had such great love for us, ⁵he brought us to life with Christ when we were already dead through sin—it is by grace that you have been saved. ⁶He raised us up in union with Christ Jesus and enthroned us with him in the heavens, ⁷so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace evidenced by his mercy to us in Christ Jesus.

⁸^[l]For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith. This has not come from you but from the gift of God. ⁹It does not come from works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for a life of good works that God had prepared for us to do.

¹¹Jews and Gentiles Reconciled in the Church.^[m] Therefore, do not forget that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcised by those who refer to themselves as the circumcised because of a physical rite. ¹²Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, excluded from the community of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants^[n] of promise. You were in the world without hope and without God.

¹³But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For he is our peace,
who has made the two into one,
by breaking down the barrier of hostility.
In his flesh
¹⁵he has abolished the Law
with its commandments and ordinances,
so that he might create in himself
a single new person^[o] out of the two,
thereby making peace,
¹⁶and that he might reconcile both groups
to God in one body
through the cross,
thereby putting that enmity to death.
¹⁷Therefore, Jesus came
and proclaimed peace
to you who were far away
and peace to those who were near.
¹⁸For through him
we both have access to the Father
in the one Spirit.

¹⁹As a result, you are no longer strangers and foreigners. Rather, you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. ²¹Through him the entire structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²²In him you are also being built together into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit.

Paul’s Commission To Preach the Mystery^[p]

Chapter 3

The Mystery Made Known. ¹This is the reason why I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—^[q] ²For you surely must have heard of the mystery of God’s grace that was entrusted to me on your behalf, ³and how the mystery was made known to me by a revelation, as I have briefly written. ⁴Reading this, you will be able to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ.

⁵It was not disclosed to human beings in previous generations, but now it has been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, ⁶namely that the Gentiles have become coheirs, members of the same body, and sharers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Mission to the Gentiles. ⁷I became its minister by God’s grace bestowed on me through the working of his power. ⁸Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given me: to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ ⁹and to enlighten all concerning the administration of the mystery that had been kept hidden throughout the ages in God, the creator of all things.

¹⁰In this way, the wisdom of God in its infinite variety might be made known through the Church to the principalities and powers in the heavens. ¹¹This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, ¹²in whom we have free access to God in boldness and confidence because of our faith in him. ¹³Therefore, I beg you not to lose heart over my sufferings for you. Truly, they are your glory.

¹⁴Prayer for a Deeper Faith. This is the reason why I kneel in prayer before the Father, ¹⁵from whom every family^[r] in heaven and on earth takes its name. ¹⁶I ask that from the riches of his glory he may grant through his Spirit that you be strengthened with power in your inner being ¹⁷and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

And I pray that, rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸you may have the power to comprehend with all the saints its breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹and know Christ’s love even though it is beyond knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰To him who in all things is able
through the power
that is at work within us
to accomplish abundantly far more
than all we can ask or imagine,
²¹to him be glory in the Church
and in Christ Jesus
through all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.

Footnotes

Ephesians 1:1 For the form used at the beginning of each of Paul’s Letters, see note on Rom 1:1.
Ephesians 1:1 In Ephesus: omitted in many manuscripts.
Ephesians 1:3 The style here becomes solemn and liturgical in the manner of the great Jewish blessings, for the Church is celebrating the plan of God. The stages of the divine plan are set forth in a great movement. To God the Father belongs all the initiative to make human beings his children. Everything is realized “in Christ”: indeed, the whole movement of the universe is oriented toward Christ as an edifice is built on its cornerstone and held up by it. Christ is at the same time the heart and summit, the movement and purpose of history.
He gathers together the whole of humankind, reuniting in the Church both Gentiles (v. 13) and Jews (vv. 11-12), the two groups whose irreconcilable antagonism is the sign of the broken unity of the human family. And all the forces of the universe—notably the “heavenly forces”: i.e., angels or demons, secret powers of fatality or fecundity to whom religions customarily give names—are carried along in this élan of rebirth and accomplishment. The universe is led to peace under the authority of Christ. There is thus a grand meaning to the world and to history!
Henceforth, the gift of the Spirit enables Christians to live by it. Indeed, there is a fulfillment of human beings, an “inheritance,” as the Bible says when it wishes to sum up in a word the blessings promised to believers. The Spirit, who is presently at work in the Church, is the pledge of this inheritance. Since the Resurrection of Jesus, this redeemed universe, i.e., a universe delivered from sin and the Law and placed under God’s plan, is being built up by the life of the Church, by the dynamism of the Gospel.
However, no one can say that any person is predestined either for salvation or for condemnation. When Paul speaks of choosing and placing apart in advance (vv. 5, 11), he simply wishes to indicate that salvation is a grace for all the People of God, that it is the fulfillment of God’s plan.
Ephesians 1:3 These verses form a single sentence in the Greek. In it Paul sets forth the blessings that we have from the Father, then those from the Son, and finally those from the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 1:7 Redemption: Paul uses the Greco-Roman practice of redeeming slaves by the payment of ransom to show what Christian redemption means. Christ’s death (“his blood”) constitutes the ransom necessary to free sinners from the bondage of sin and the curse of the Law (see Gal 3:13).
Ephesians 1:10 Bring . . . together: i.e., “recapitulate.” The Greek verb contains two ideas: to gather together or unite and to place under a rule or head.
Ephesians 1:14 Down payment: for “if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then the one who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwells in you” (Rom 8:11).
Ephesians 1:15 Our spirit is gripped with admiration before the diverse aspects of the mystery of Christ: Resurrection, Ascension, universal Kingship, mysterious and activating presence in the Church. The power of God is present in this mystery and sweeps away every other force. And with Christ rises the Church, the community of those called.
¹⁵
Paul clearly distinguishes the glorified Christ reigning in heaven and his mystical body developing on earth. We cannot confuse the Church and the Lord. But they are intimately connected. The community of those called is realized and grows under the impulsion of the life that Christ gives it. This community is the “fullness” of God, for in it everything must be reunited to be filled with God’s presence and love. The Church is the mystery of grace and charisms, of unity and growth (see Rom 12:4f; 1 Cor 12:12; Col 1:18).
The Apostle then goes on to describe the sinful state of humankind, in the grip of the power of evil (Eph 2:1-10), and the new state of humankind in which Gentiles and Jews now form a single new person, created in Christ and reconciled to one another and to God (Eph 2:11-22).
Ephesians 1:18 Inheritance: a Biblical word signifying what God promised to the chosen people. This was initially identified with the land and the blessings connected with it. But as revelation progressed, the true meaning of the “inheritance” was increasingly understood, until its definitive content was revealed in the New Testament: the inheritance is the state of the risen Jesus himself, communicated to those who believe in him.
Ephesians 2:1 In Greek, these verses comprise a single sentence.
Ephesians 2:2 This worldly era: i.e., synonymous with “rulers of this world.” It may also refer to the first of the two ages of the world—the present evil age and the age to come (see 1 Cor 3:19; 5:10; 7:31; Gal 1:4; Tit 2:12).
Ephesians 2:8 We are saved by God’s gift, not by the works of the Law (see Rom 3:20-21).
Ephesians 2:11 On the esplanade of the Jewish temple a wall separated Gentiles from Jews, symbolizing the deep division within humanity. Gentiles seemed definitively excluded from any call of God. The death of Jesus radically alters the situation: Jews and Gentiles alike have access to God; God’s plan embraces the entire human race.
Ephesians 2:12 The covenants: i.e., those made with Abraham, with Moses, and with David (see note on Rom 9:4).
Ephesians 2:15 A single new person: i.e., a new humanity made up of Jews and Gentiles in the Christian community.
Ephesians 3:1 No one could have foreseen the call and reconciliation of the Gentiles. It is now a fact in the fraternal life of communities and in the spread of the Gospel, announcing the joy of salvation to all peoples. It shows that the mystery of God is being revealed, for in Christ all human beings can now approach God. Since his conversion on the road to Damascus, Paul has had no other desire but to proclaim and manifest this mystery.
The Apostle finally completes the prayer that he started several times previously. He asks that God himself may enable believers to comprehend the inexpressible riches of the mystery. This is true not only for the initiated but also for all the “saints,” i.e., all those who have been baptized and called.
Ephesians 3:1 The sentence breaks off and is continued in v. 14.
Ephesians 3:15 Every family: in this case, the family of the human race.

New Catholic Bible (NCB)