| 3:1 | IT is in this great cause that I, Paul, have become a prisoner of Christ Jesus for you gentiles. |
| 3:2 | For you must have heard how God gave me grace to become your minister, and |
| 3:3 | how he allowed me to understand his secret by giving me a direct revelation. |
| 3:4 | What I have written briefly of this above will explain to you my knowledge of the mystery of Christ. |
| 3:5 | This secret was hidden to past generations of mankind, but it has now, by the Spirit, been made plain to God's consecrated messengers and prophets. It is simply this: |
| 3:6 | that the gentiles are to be equal heirs with his chosen people, equal members and equal partners in God's promise given by Christ Jesus through the gospel. |
| 3:7 | And I was made a minister that gospel by the grace he freely gave me, and by the action within me of his own power. |
| 3:8 | Yes, to me, less than the least of all Christians, has God given this grace, to enable me to proclaim to the gentiles the gospel of the incalculable riches of Christ, |
| 3:9 | and to make plain to all men the meaning of that divine secret which he who created everything has kept hidden from the creation until now. |
| 3:10 | The purpose is that all the angelic powers should now see the complex wisdom of God's plan being worked out through the Church, |
| 3:11 | in conformity to that timeless purpose which he centered in Christ Jesus, our Lord. |
| 3:12 | It is in this same Jesus, because we have faith in him, that we dare, even with confidence, to approach God. |
| 3:13 | So then I beg you not to lose heart because I am now suffering on your behalf. Indeed, you should be honoured. |
| 3:14 | As I think of this great plan I fall on my knees before the Father |
| 3:15 | (from whom all fatherhood, earthly or heavenly, derives its name), |
| 3:16 | and I pray that out of the glorious richness of his resources he will enable you to know the strength of the Spirit's inner reinforcement |
| 3:17 | that Christ may actually live in your hearts by your faith. And I pray that you, rooted and founded in love yourselves, |
| 3:18 | may be able to grasp (with all Christians) how wide and long and deep and high is the love of Christ |
| 3:19 | and to know for yourselves that love so far above our understanding. So will you be filled through all your being with God himself! |
| 3:20 | Now to him who by his power within us is able to do infinitely more than we ever dare to ask or imagine |
| 3:21 | to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever, amen! |
Efesus 3 - Philips NT in Modern English
