Ephesians

Chapter 1

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints who are [in Ephesus] ^[1] and 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 has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴ just as he chose us in him from the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of his grace that he has freely given us in the Beloved One, ⁷ in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he caused to abound to us in all wisdom and understanding. ⁹ He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he had planned in him, ¹⁰ with a view to an administration of the fullness of time, to bring all things together in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on earth, in him, ¹¹ in whom we were also allotted as a possession. We were predestined according to the purpose of the one who works out everything according to the counsel of his will, ¹² so that we who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him, you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and you believed in him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a down payment of our inheritance until the redemption of the full possession, to the praise of his glory.

¹⁵ Because of this, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and the love ^[2] for all the saints, ¹⁶ I have not stopped giving thanks for you, making mention {of you} in my prayers, ¹⁷ so that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, will give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, ¹⁸ that the eyes of {your} heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling {and} what {are} the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹ and what {is} the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of the force of his strength, ²⁰ which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him 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 age, but also in the one coming. ²² And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all in all.

Chapter 2

¹ And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, ² in which you once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authorities of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, ³ in which we all also once lived in the evil desires of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the body and of the mind. And we were by nature children of wrath, as also the rest. ⁴ But God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, ⁵ and we being dead in trespasses, he made us alive together in Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the ages that are coming he might show the immeasurably great riches of his grace in {his} kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this {is} not from yourselves; {it is} the gift of God, ⁹ not from works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand, so that we would walk in them.

¹¹ Therefore, remember that once you {were} Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “uncircumcised” by those who are called “circumcised” in the flesh, performed by human hands. ¹² For at that time you were apart from Christ, excluded from the community of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and destroyed in his flesh the middle wall of partition, the hostility. ¹⁵ He abolished the law of commandments in regulations so that he might make the two into one new man in himself, making peace, ¹⁶ and so that he might reconcile both to God as one body through the cross, putting to death the hostility in it. ¹⁷ And he came {and} proclaimed peace to you who {were} far away and peace to those who {were} near, ¹⁸ for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹ So then, you are no longer strangers and foreigners. Instead, you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. ²⁰ You have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole building, being fit together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit.

Chapter 3

¹ For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, ² if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of the grace of God that was given to me for you, ³ according to the revelation made known to me, the mystery about which I already wrote in brief. ⁴ Concerning that, when you read it, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, ⁵ which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as it now has been revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets— ⁶ that the Gentiles are to be fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, ⁷ for which I became a servant by the gift of the grace of God that was given to me through the working of his power. ⁸ To me—the least of all the saints—this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, ⁹ and to reveal for everyone what {is} the administration of the mystery that was hidden from the ages in God who created all things, ¹⁰ so that now through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and to the authorities in the heavenly places, ¹¹ according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, ¹² in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him. ¹³ Therefore, I ask you not to be discouraged by my sufferings for you, which is your glory.

¹⁴ For this reason I bend my knees to the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, ¹⁶ so that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ so that you may be fully able to comprehend, along with all the saints, what {is} the width and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ, which goes beyond knowledge so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰ And to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that is working in us, ²¹ to him {be} the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever {and} ever. Amen.

Chapter 4

¹ Therefore I, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk worthily of the calling by which you were called, ² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, putting up with one another in love, ³ doing your best to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴ {There is} one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all, who {is} over all and through all and in all. ⁷ And to each one of us grace has been given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. ⁸ Therefore it says:

     “When he ascended to the heights,

     he led captives into captivity,

     {and} he gave gifts to men.”

⁹ And this “He ascended,” what is it except that he also descended into the lower regions of the earth? ¹⁰ He who descended is also himself he who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things. ¹¹ And he himself gave the apostles, and the prophets, and the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of serving, for the building up of the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all reach to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴ so that we may no longer be children tossed back and forth by the waves and carried away by every wind of teaching through the trickery of people in cleverness for deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, let us grow up in all things into him who is the head, {even} Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by every supporting ligament, according to the working in measure of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for building up itself in love.

¹⁷ Therefore, I say this and strongly urge you in the Lord, to walk no longer as the Gentiles also walk, in futility of their minds. ¹⁸ They have been darkened in {their} understanding, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their hearts. ¹⁹ They, being dead to all feeling, have handed themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. ²⁰ But you did not thus learn about Christ, ²¹ if indeed you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus. ²² You are to put aside what belongs to {your} former manner of life, the old man that is corrupt because of {its} deceitful desires, ²³ and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴ and to put on the new man that was created according to God—in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

²⁵ Therefore, putting aside lying, let each of you speak truth with his neighbor, because we are members of one another. ²⁶ Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your indignation, ²⁷ nor give an opportunity to the devil. ²⁸ The thief must steal no longer. But rather, he must labor, working good with {his} hands, so that he may have something to share with those who have a need. ²⁹ Do not let any corrupt talk come out from your mouth, but whatever {is} good for building up of the {one in} need, so that it might give grace to the hearers, ³⁰ and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness, and rage, and anger, and quarreling, and insults be removed from yourselves, along with all malice. ³² Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.

Chapter 5

¹ Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children, ² and walk in love, as also Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a fragrant aroma.

³ But sexual immorality and every impurity or greed must not even be named among you, just as is proper for saints, ⁴ and filthiness and foolish talk or crude jokes—which are not fitting—but instead, thanksgiving. ⁵ Indeed, know this for certain, that every sexually immoral or unclean or greedy person—that is, an idolater—has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. ⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷ Therefore, do not become partners with them, ⁸ because formerly you were darkness, but now {are} light in the Lord. Walk as children of light ⁹ (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), ¹⁰ carefully testing what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ And do not take part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even expose them. ¹² For it is shameful even to mention the things done by them in secret. ¹³ But everything exposed by the light is revealed, for everything that is revealed is light. ¹⁴ Therefore it says,

     “Awake, O sleeper,

     and arise from the dead,

     and Christ will shine on you.”

¹⁵ Watch carefully, therefore, how you walk—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ redeeming the time because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Because of this, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord {is}. ¹⁸ And do not get drunk with wine, in which is recklessness. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ speaking to each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and singing psalms in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ giving thanks always for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father, ²¹ submitting yourselves to one another in reverence for Christ—

²² wives, to {your} own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³ For a husband is the head of the wife as Christ also {is} the head of the church—he himself {is} the savior of the body. ²⁴ But as the church is subject to Christ, so also {are} wives to {their} husbands in everything. ²⁵ Husbands, love {your} wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶ so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ so that he might present the church to himself as glorious, not having stain or wrinkle or any of those things, but so that she might be holy and blameless. ²⁸ In the same way, husbands also ought to love {their} own wives as {their} own bodies. He who loves {his} own wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated {his} own body, but he nourishes and treats it with care, just as Christ also {does} the church, ³⁰ because we are members of his body. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave {his} father and {his} mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is great—but I am speaking about Christ and about the church. ³³ Nevertheless, you also—each one of you—must love {his} own wife in this way—as himself, and the wife must respect {her} husband.

Chapter 6

¹ Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is righteous. ² “Honor your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise), ³ “so that it may be well with you and you may be long-lived on the earth.” ⁴ And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger. Instead, raise them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

⁵ Slaves, obey {your} masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling, in honesty of your heart, as to Christ, ⁶ not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul, ⁷ serving with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to men, ⁸ knowing that each person, if he does something good, this he will receive from the Lord, whether slave or free.

⁹ And masters, do the same to them. Stop using threats. You know that the Master, both theirs and yours, is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the force of his strength. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, to enable you to stand against the scheming of the devil. ¹² For our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-controllers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ Because of this, put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand, therefore, having girded up your loins with the truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having shod {your} feet with the readiness of the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In everything take up the shield of the faith, by which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸ With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit. And to this end, be watchful with all perseverance and requests for all the saints, ¹⁹ and for me, so that a message might be given to me when I open my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel ²⁰ (for which I am an ambassador in chains), so that in it I may speak boldly, as it is necessary for me to speak.

²¹ But so that you also may know the things concerning me, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make known to you everything, ²² whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, so that you may know the things about us and your hearts may be encouraged.

²³ Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Grace {be} with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptibility.