PAUL TO THE EPHESIANS. I. L1PAU AUL, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, Christ Jesus: grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly things in Christ, according as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love, having predestinated us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he has shown us favor in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the remission of sins, according to the riches of his grace, which he has made to abound to us in all wisdom and understanding, by making known to us the mystery of his will according to his good purpose which he had before established in himself, 10 for a dispensation at the fullness of the times, in order that he might bring together for himself all things in the Christ, both those which are in the heavens, and those which are on earth; "1in him in whom we have obtained our portion, having been predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 that we should be for the praise of his glory; even we, who before had hope in the Christ: 13 in whom you also hoped after 9 you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom, after you also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 which is the earnest of our inheritance, given for the redemption of his possession to the praise of his glory. 15 For this reason I also, since I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love to all the saints, 16 do not cease 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 you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the acknowledgment of him, 18 that, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the glorious riches of his inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe in accordance with the energy of his mighty power, 20 which he made active in the Christ when he raised him from the dead, and caused him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 high above every principality and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not on.y in this age, but also in that which is to come; 22 and subjected all things under his feet, and made him head over all things for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all his members with all things, II. 'Even you, being dead to offenses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is actively at work in the sons of disobedience: 3 among whom also we all formerly lived in the desires of our flesh, doing the will of the flesh and of the feelings, and were by nature children of wrath, even as others: but God, being rich in mercy, on ac count of his great love with which he loved us, made alive with Christ even us, being dead to our offenses, (by grace you are saved,) and raised us up, and made us sit together in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus; that he might show, in the ages to come, the exceeding riches of his grace by his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 7 9 For by grace you have been saved through the faith; and this matter is not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not by works, lest any one should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God before prepared, that we should walk in them. "For which reason, remember that you were formerly Gentiles, by natural descent, and that you are called Uncircumcision by the Circumcision; so called, from a mark made in the flesh by hands; 12 that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the community of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and having no God in the world: 13 but now, in Christ Jesus, you, who were formerly far off, have become near, by the blood of the Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who has made both parties one, and broken down the partition wall that separated us, 15 having abolished, in his flesh, the cause of enmity, the law of commandments in ordinances, that he might, by himself, form the two into one new man, thus making peace; 16 and that he might reconcile both, in one body, to God, through the cross, having by it put to death the cause of enmity; 17 and having come, he preached peace to you who were far off, and to those who were near: 18 for, through him, we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, 20 having been builded upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone, 21 in whom the whole building, compactly fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22 in whom you also are builded together, for a dwelling-place of God by his Spirit. 6 7 III. For this reason, I Paul, the prisoner of the Christ Jesus on account of you Gentiles, 2 if, indeed, you have heard of the stewardship of the grace of God, which was given to me for your benefit, that by revelation was made known to me the mystery, (as I briefly wrote above, so that, when you read, you can see my understanding in the mystery of the Christ,) 5 which, in other generations, was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in the Christ, through the gospel, of which I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God which was given to me, in proportion to the energy of his power: to me, who am by far the least of all the saints, has this grace been given, that I might preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of the Christ, and enlighten all men with respect to the plan of the mystery, which was concealed from the ages in God, who created all things; 10 to the end that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known, through the church, to the principalities and authorities in the heavenly regions, " according to the arrangement of the ages, which he established by Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence, through our faith in him. 13 For which cause I beseech you not to grow faint on account of my afflictions for you, which are your glory. 14 11 8 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that he may grant to you, according to the riches of his glory, to be mightily strengthened by his Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through the faith; 18 that, being rooted and founded in love, you may be fully able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and hight, 19 and to know the love of the Christ that passes our knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to his power which works in us, 21 to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, throughout all the generations of the age of ages. Amen. 3 4 IV. 'I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called; 2 with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, earnestly endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, even as you have been called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one immersion; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in you all. 9 But grace has been given to each one of us, according to the measure of the gift of the Christ. For which reason, the scripture says: When he ascended on high, he led captive a multitude of captives, and gave gifts to men. But this-He ascended-what does it mean, but that he also descended into the lower earthly regions? 10 He that descended is also he that ascended high above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. 11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, and some, proph |