Ephesians 1
Paul’s Greeting to the Church at Ephesus
1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will.To God’s holy and faithful people who are united with Christ in the city of Ephesus.t2 Good willt and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are yours!
God Chose Us Through Christ
3 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Through Christ, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that heaven has to offer.4 Before the creation of the world, he chose us through Christ to be holy and perfect in his presence.5 Because of his love he had already decided to adopt us through Jesus Christ. He freely chose to do this
6 so that the kindnesst he had given us in his dear Son would be praised and given glory.
7 Through the blood of his Son, we are set free from our sins. God forgives our failures because of his overflowing kindness.8 He poured out his kindness by giving us every kind of wisdom and insight9 when he revealed the mystery of his plan to us. He had decided to do this through Christ.10 He planned to bring all of history to its goal in Christ. Then Christ would be the head of everything in heaven and on earth.11 God also decided ahead of time to choose us through Christ according to his plan, which makes everything work the way he intends.
12 He planned all of this so that we who had already focused our hope on Christ would praise him and give him glory.
13 You heard and believed the message of truth, the Good News that he has saved you. In him you were sealed with the Holy Spirit whom he promised.
14 This Holy Spirit is the guarantee that we will receive our inheritance. We have this guarantee until we are set free to belong to him. God receives praise and glory for this.
Paul’s Prayer for the Ephesians
15 I, too, have heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all of God’s people. For this reason16 I never stop thanking God for you. I always remember you in my prayers.17 I pray that the glorious Father, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know Christ better.18 Then you will have deeper insight. You will know the confidence that he calls you to have and the glorious wealth that God’s people will inherit.19 You will also know the unlimited greatness of his power as it works with might and strength for us, the believers.20 He worked with that same power in Christ when he brought him back to life and gave him the highest position in heaven.21 He is far above all rulers, authorities, powers, lords, and all other names that can be named, not only in this present world but also in the world to come.22 God has put everything under the control of Christ. He has made Christ the head of everything for the good of the church.
23 The church is Christ’s body and completes him as he fills everything in every way.
Ephesians 1
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints that are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love:5 having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,6 to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved:7 in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,8 which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,9 making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him10 unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say,11 in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will;12 to the end that we should be unto the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ:13 in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,-- in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,14 which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, unto the praise of his glory.15 For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which ye show toward all the saints,16 cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;18 having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,19 and what the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might20 which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,21 far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:22 and he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church,23 which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.