Chronological

Blessings on the sovereign God!

1 From Paul, one of Messiah Jesus’ apostles through God’s purpose, to the holy ones in Ephesus who are also loyal believers in Messiah Jesus: ² may God our father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, give you grace and peace!

³ Let us bless God, the father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah! He has blessed us in the Messiah with every spirit-inspired blessing in the heavenly realm.

The choice and the plan

⁴ He chose us in him before the world was made, so as to be holy and irreproachable before him in love. ⁵ He foreordained us for himself, to be adopted as sons and daughters through Jesus the Messiah. That’s how he wanted it, and that’s what gave him delight, ⁶ so that the glory of his grace, the grace he poured on us in his beloved one, might receive its due praise.

⁷ In the Messiah, and through his blood, we have deliverance—that is, our sins have been forgiven—through the wealth of his grace ⁸ which he lavished on us. Yes, with all wisdom and insight ⁹ he has made known to us the secret of his purpose, just as he wanted it to be and set it forward in him ¹⁰ as a blueprint for when the time was ripe. His plan was to sum up the whole cosmos in the Messiah—yes, everything in heaven and on earth, in him.

The inheritance and the spirit

¹¹ In him we have received the inheritance! We were foreordained to this, following the intention of the one who does all things in accordance with the counsel of his purpose. ¹² This was so that we, we who first hoped in the Messiah, might live for the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him you too, who heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed it—in him you were marked out with the spirit of promise, the holy one. ¹⁴ The spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance, until the time when the people who are God’s special possession are finally reclaimed and freed. This, too, is for the praise of his glory.

Knowing the power of the Messiah

¹⁵ Because of all this, and because I’d heard that you are loyal and faithful to Jesus the master, and that you show love to all God’s holy people, ¹⁶ I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. ¹⁷ I pray that the God of Messiah Jesus our Lord, the father of glory, would give you, in your spirit, the gift of being wise, of seeing things people can’t normally see, because you are coming to know him ¹⁸ and to have the eyes of your inmost self opened to God’s light. Then you will know exactly what the hope is that goes with God’s call; you will know the wealth of the glory of his inheritance in his holy people; ¹⁹ and you will know the outstanding greatness of his power towards us who are loyal to him in faith, according to the working of his strength and power.

²⁰ This was the power at work in the Messiah when God raised him from the dead and sat him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ above all rule and authority and power and lordship, and above every name that is invoked, both in the present age and also in the age to come. ²² Yes: God has “put all things under his feet,” and has given him to the church as the head over all. ²³ The church is his body; it is the fullness of the one who fills all in all.

Warning signs on the wrong road

2 So where do you come into it all? Well, you were dead because of your offenses and sins! ² That was the road you used to travel, keeping in step with this world’s “present age”; in step, too, with the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is, even now, at work among people whose whole lives consist of disobeying God. ³ Actually, that’s how all of us used to behave, conditioned by physical desires. We used to do what our flesh and our minds were urging us to do. What was the result? We too were subject to wrath in our natural state, just like everyone else.

⁴ But when it comes to mercy, God is rich! He had such great love for us that ⁵ he took us at the very point where we were dead through our offenses, and made us alive together with the Messiah (yes, you are saved by sheer grace!). ⁶ He raised us up with him, and made us sit with him—in the heavenly places, in Messiah Jesus! ⁷ This was so that in the ages to come he could show just how unbelievably rich his grace is, the kindness he has shown us in Messiah Jesus.

Grace, not works

⁸ How has this all come about? You have been saved by grace, through faith! This doesn’t happen on your own initiative; it’s God’s gift. ⁹ It isn’t on the basis of works, so no one is able to boast. ¹⁰ This is the explanation: God has made us what we are. God has created us in Messiah Jesus for the good works that he prepared, ahead of time, as the road we must travel.

Two into one will go

¹¹ So then, remember this! In human terms, that is, in your “flesh,” you are “Gentiles.” You are the people who the so-called “circumcision” refer to as the so-called “uncircumcision”—circumcision, of course, being something done by human hands to human flesh. ¹² Well, once upon a time you were separated from the Messiah. You were detached from the community of Israel. You were foreigners to the covenants which contained the promise. There you were, in the world with no hope and no god!

¹³ But now, in Messiah Jesus, you have been brought near in the Messiah’s blood—yes, you, who used to be a long way away! ¹⁴ He is our peace, you see. He has made the two to be one. He has pulled down the barrier, the dividing wall, that turns us into enemies of each other. He has done this in his flesh, ¹⁵ by abolishing the law with its commands and instructions.

The point of doing all this was to create, in him, one new human being out of the two, so making peace. ¹⁶ God was reconciling both of us to himself in a single body, through the cross, by killing the enmity in him.

Unveiling the new Temple

¹⁷ So the Messiah came and gave the good news. Peace had come! Peace, that is, for those of you who were a long way away, and peace, too, for those who were close at hand. ¹⁸ Through him, you see, we both have access to the father in the one spirit.

¹⁹ This is the result. You are no longer foreigners or strangers. No: you are fellow citizens with God’s holy people. You are members of God’s household. ²⁰ You are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Messiah Jesus himself as the cornerstone. ²¹ In him the whole building is fitted together, and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² You, too, are being built up together, in him, into a place where God will live by the spirit.

God’s secret plan unveiled at last

3 It’s because of all this that I, Paul, the prisoner of Messiah Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles . . .

² I’m assuming, by the way, that you’ve heard about the plan of God’s grace that was given to me to pass on to you? ³ You know—the secret purpose that God revealed to me, as I wrote briefly just now? ⁴ Anyway . . .

When you read this you’ll be able to understand the special insight I have into the Messiah’s secret. ⁵ This wasn’t made known to human beings in previous generations, but now it’s been revealed by the spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. ⁶ The secret is this: that, through the gospel, the Gentiles are to share Israel’s inheritance. They are to become fellow members of the body, along with them, and fellow sharers of the promise in Messiah Jesus.

⁷ This is the gospel that I was appointed to serve, in line with the free gift of God’s grace that was given to me. It was backed up with the power through which God accomplishes his work.

Wisdom for the rulers

⁸ I am the very least of all God’s people. However, he gave me this task as a gift: that I should be the one to tell the Gentiles the good news of the Messiah’s wealth, wealth no one could begin to count. ⁹ My job is to make clear to everyone just what the secret plan is, the purpose that’s been hidden from the very beginning of the world in God who created all things. ¹⁰ This is it: that God’s wisdom, in all its rich variety, was to be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places—through the church!

¹¹ This was God’s eternal purpose, and he’s accomplished it in Messiah Jesus our Lord. ¹² We have confidence, and access to God, in him, in full assurance, through his faithfulness. ¹³ So, I beg you: don’t lose heart because of my sufferings on your behalf! That’s your glory!

God’s love, God’s power—in us

¹⁴ Because of this, I am kneeling down before the father, ¹⁵ the one who gives the name of “family” to every family that there is, in heaven and on earth. ¹⁶ My prayer is this: that he will lay out all the riches of his glory to give you strength and power, through his spirit, in your inner being; ¹⁷ that the Messiah may make his home in your hearts, through faith; that love may be your root, your firm foundation; ¹⁸ and that you may be strong enough (with all God’s holy ones) to grasp the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the Messiah’s love—though actually it’s so deep that nobody can really know it! So may God fill you with all his fullness.

²⁰ So: to the one who is capable of doing far, far more than we can ask or imagine, granted the power which is working in us— ²¹ to him be glory, in the church, and in Messiah Jesus, to all generations, and to the ages of ages! Amen!

Live up to your calling!

4 So, then, this is my appeal to you—yes, it’s me, the prisoner in the Lord! You must live up to the calling you received. ² Bear with one another in love; be humble, meek and patient in every way with one another. ³ Make every effort to guard the unity that the spirit gives, with your lives bound together in peace.

⁴ There is one body and one spirit; you were, after all, called to one hope which goes with your call. ⁵ There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and father of all, who is over all, through all and in all.

⁷ But grace was given to each one of us, according to the measure the Messiah used when he was distributing gifts. ⁸ That’s why it says,

⁹ When it says here that “he went up,” what this means is that he also came down into the lower place, that is, the earth. ¹⁰ The one who came down is the one who also “went up”—yes, above all the heavens!—so that he might fill all things.

Grown-up Christianity

¹¹ So these were the gifts that he gave. Some were to be apostles, others prophets, others evangelists, and others pastors and teachers. ¹² Their job is to give God’s people the equipment they need for their work of service, and so to build up the Messiah’s body. ¹³ The purpose of this is that we should all reach unity in our belief and loyalty, and in knowing God’s son. Then we shall reach the stature of the mature Man measured by the standards of the Messiah’s fullness.

¹⁴ As a result, we won’t be babies any longer! We won’t be thrown this way and that on a stormy sea, blown about by every gust of teaching, by human tricksters, by their cunning and deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, we must speak the truth in love, and so grow up in everything into him—that is, into the Messiah, who is the head. ¹⁶ He supplies the growth that the whole body needs, linked as it is and held together by every joint which supports it, with each member doing its own proper work. Then the body builds itself up in love.

Off with the old, on with the new

¹⁷ So this is what I want to say; I am bearing witness to it in the Lord. You must no longer behave like the Gentiles, foolish-minded as they are. ¹⁸ Their understanding is darkened; they are cut off from God’s life because of their deep-seated ignorance, which springs from the fact that their hearts are hard. ¹⁹ They have lost all moral sensitivity, and have given themselves over to whatever takes their fancy. They go off greedily after every kind of uncleanness.

²⁰ But that’s not how you learned the Messiah!— ²¹ if indeed you did hear about him, and were taught in him, in accordance with the truth about Jesus himself. ²² That teaching stressed that you should take off your former lifestyle, the old humanity. That way of life is decaying, as a result of deceitful lusts. ²³ Instead, you must be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and you must put on the new humanity, which is being created the way God intended it, displaying justice and genuine holiness.

The kindness that imitates God himself

²⁵ Put away lies, then. “Each of you, speak the truth with your neighbor,” because we are members of one another. ²⁶ “Be angry, but don’t sin”; don’t let the sun go down on you while you’re angry, ²⁷ and don’t leave any loophole for the devil. ²⁸ The thief shouldn’t steal any longer, but should rather get on with some honest manual work, so as to be able to share with people in need.

²⁹ Don’t let any unwholesome words escape your lips. Instead, say whatever is good and will be useful in building people up, so that you will give grace to those who listen.

³⁰ And don’t disappoint God’s holy spirit—the spirit who put God’s mark on you to identify you on the day of freedom. ³¹ All bitterness and rage, all anger and yelling, and all blasphemy—put it all away from you, with all wickedness. ³² Instead, be kind to one another, cherish tender feelings for each other, forgive one another, just as God forgave you in the Messiah.

5 So you should be imitators of God, like dear children. ² Conduct yourselves in love, just as the Messiah loved us, and gave himself for us, as a sweet-smelling offering and sacrifice to God.

Darkness and light in matters of sex

³ As for fornication, uncleanness of any kind, or greed: you shouldn’t even mention them! You are, after all, God’s holy people. ⁴ Shameful, stupid or coarse conversations are quite out of place. Instead, there should be thanksgiving.

⁵ You should know this, you see: no fornicator, nobody who practices uncleanness, no greedy person (in other words, an idolator), has any inheritance in the Messiah’s kingdom, or in God’s. ⁶ Don’t let anyone fool you with empty words. It’s because of these things, you see, that God’s wrath is coming on people who are disobedient.

⁷ So don’t share in their practices. ⁸ After all, at one time you were darkness, but now, in the Lord, you are light! So behave as children of light. ⁹ Light has its fruit, doesn’t it, in everything that’s good, and just, and true. ¹⁰ Think through what’s going to be pleasing to the Lord. Work it out.

Light and darkness

¹¹ So, then, don’t get involved in the works of darkness, which all come to nothing. Instead, expose them! ¹² The things they do in secret, you see, are shameful even to talk about. ¹³ But everything becomes visible when it’s exposed to the light, ¹⁴ since everything that is visible is light. That’s why it says:

¹⁵ So take special care how you conduct yourselves. Don’t be unwise, but be wise. ¹⁶ Make use of any opportunity you have, because these are wicked times we live in. ¹⁷ So don’t be foolish; rather, understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸ And don’t get drunk with wine; that way lies dissipation. Rather, be filled with the spirit! ¹⁹ Speak to each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and chanting in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ always giving thanks for everything to God the father in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

Wives and husbands

²¹ Be subject to one another out of reverence for the Messiah.

²² Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³ The man, you see, is the head of the woman, just as the Messiah, too, is head of the church. He is himself the savior of the body. ²⁴ But, just as the church is subject to the Messiah, in the same way women should be subject in everything to their husbands.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as the Messiah loved the church, and gave himself for it, ²⁶ so that he could make it holy, cleansing it by washing it with water through the word. ²⁷ He did this in order to present the church to himself in brilliant splendor, without a single spot or blemish or anything of the kind—that it might be holy and without blame. ²⁸ That’s how husbands ought to love their own wives, just as they love their own bodies.

Someone who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, nobody ever hates his own flesh: he feeds it and takes care of it, just as the Messiah does with the church, ³⁰ because we are parts of his body. ³¹ “That’s why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two become one flesh.”

³² The hidden meaning in this saying is very deep; but I am reading it as referring to the Messiah and the church. ³³ Anyway, each one of you must love your wife as you love yourself; and the wife must see that she respects her husband.

Children, parents, slaves and masters

6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord. This is right and proper. ² “Honor your father and your mother”—this is the first commandment that comes with a promise attached!— ³ “so that things may go well with you and that you may live a long life on earth.”

⁴ Fathers, don’t make your children angry. Bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

⁵ Slaves, obey your human masters, with respect and devotion, with the same single-mindedness that you have towards the Messiah. ⁶ You must get on with your work, not only when someone is watching you, as if you were just trying to please another human being, but as slaves of the Messiah. Do God’s will from your heart. ⁷ Get on with your tasks with a kind and ready spirit as if you were serving the master himself and not human beings. ⁸ After all, you know that if anyone, slave or free, does something good, they will receive it back from the master.

⁹ Masters, do the same to them! Give up using threats. You know, after all, that the master in heaven is their master and yours, and he is no respecter of persons.

God’s complete armor

¹⁰ What else is there to say? Just this: be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his power. ¹¹ Put on God’s complete armor. Then you’ll be able to stand firm against the devil’s trickery. ¹² The warfare we’re engaged in, you see, isn’t against flesh and blood. It’s against the leaders, against the authorities, against the powers that rule the world in this dark age, against the wicked spiritual elements in the heavenly places.

¹³ For this reason, you must take up God’s complete armor. Then, when wickedness grabs its moment, you’ll be able to withstand, to do what needs to be done, and still to be on your feet when it’s all over. ¹⁴ So stand firm! Put the belt of truth round your waist; put on justice as your breastplate; ¹⁵ for shoes on your feet, ready for battle, take the good news of peace. ¹⁶ With it all, take the shield of faith; if you’ve got that, you’ll be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is God’s word.

Prayer and peace

¹⁸ Pray on every occasion in the spirit, with every type of prayer and intercession. You’ll need to keep awake and alert for this, with all perseverance and intercession for all God’s holy ones— ¹⁹ and also for me! Please pray that God will give me his words to speak when I open my mouth, so that I can make known, loud and clear, the secret truth of the gospel. ²⁰ That, after all, is why I’m a chained-up ambassador! Pray that I may announce it boldly; that’s what I’m duty-bound to do.

²¹ It’s important that you should know how things are with me, and what I’m up to; so our dear brother Tychicus will tell you about it. He is a loyal servant in the Lord. ²² I’ve sent him to you with this in mind, so that you may know how things are with us, and so that he may encourage your hearts.

²³ Peace be to the whole family, and love with faith, from God the father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. ²⁴ Grace be with all who love our Lord, Messiah Jesus, with a love that never dies!