Ephesians 1
1
Greetings
1From Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.#Ac 18.19-21; 19.1.
To God's people who live in Ephesus and#1.1 live in Ephesus and: Some manuscripts do not have these words. are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.
2I pray that God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!
Christ brings spiritual blessings
3Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the spiritual blessings that Christ has brought us from heaven! 4Before the world was created, God had Christ choose us to live with him and to be his holy and innocent and loving people. 5God was kind#1.4,5 holy and innocent and loving people. 5 God was kind: Or “holy and innocent people. God was loving 5 and kind.” and decided that Christ would choose us to be God's own adopted children. 6God was very kind to us because of the Son he dearly loves, and so we should praise God.
7-8Christ sacrificed his life's blood to set us free, which means that our sins are now forgiven. Christ did this because God was so kind to us. God has great wisdom and understanding,#Col 1.14. 9and by what Christ has done, God has shown us his own mysterious ways. 10Then when the time is right, God will do all that he has planned, and Christ will bring together everything in heaven and on earth.
11God always does what he plans, and that's why he appointed Christ to choose us. 12He did this so that we Jews would bring honour to him and be the first ones to have hope because of him. 13Christ also brought you the truth, which is the good news about how you can be saved. You put your faith in Christ and were given the promised Holy Spirit to show that you belong to God. 14The Spirit also makes us sure that we will be given what God has stored up for his people. Then we will be set free, and God will be honoured and praised.
Paul's prayer
15I have heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people. 16So I never stop being grateful for you, as I mention you in my prayers. 17I ask the glorious Father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you his Spirit. The Spirit will make you wise and let you understand what it means to know God. 18My prayer is that light will flood your hearts and that you will understand the hope that was given to you when God chose you. Then you will discover the glorious blessings that will be yours together with all God's people.
19I want you to know about the great and mighty power that God has for us followers. It is the same wonderful power he used 20when he raised Christ from death and let him sit at his right side#1.20 right side: The place of power and honour. in heaven.#Ps 110.1. 21There Christ rules over all forces, authorities, powers, and rulers. He rules over all beings in this world and will rule in the future world as well. 22God has put all things under the power of Christ, and for the good of the church he has made him the head of everything.#Ps 8.6.#Col 1.18. 23The church is Christ's body and is filled with Christ who completely fills everything.#1.23 and is filled with Christ who completely fills everything: Or “which completely fills Christ and fully completes his work.”
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Ephesians 1
1
Salutation
1 #
Acts 18.19-21; 19.1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,
To the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Blessings in Christ
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved: 7#Col 1.14. in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; 8wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; 9having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: 10that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.
11In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 12that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 13In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, 14which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Prayer for Knowledge and Understanding
15Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20#Ps 110.1. which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22#Col 1.18.#Ps 8.6. and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.