1:1 | From Paul,* an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints [in Ephesus],* the faithful* in Christ Jesus. |
1:2 | Grace and peace to you* from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! |
1:3 | Blessed* is* the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed* us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. |
1:4 | For* he chose us in Christ* before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished* in his sight* in love.* |
1:5 | He did this by predestining* us to adoption as his* sons* through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure* of his will – |
1:6 | to the praise of the glory of his grace* that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son.* |
1:7 | In him* we have redemption through his blood,* the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace |
1:8 | that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight. |
1:9 | He did this when he revealed* to us the secret* of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth* in Christ,* |
1:10 | toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up* all things in Christ – the things in heaven* and the things on earth.* |
1:11 | In Christ* we too have been claimed as God’s own possession,* since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will |
1:12 | so that we, who were the first to set our hope* on Christ,* would be to the praise of his glory. |
1:13 | And when* you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation) – when you believed in Christ* – you were marked with the seal* of the promised Holy Spirit,* |
1:14 | who is the down payment* of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession,* to the praise of his glory. |
1:15 | For this reason,* because I* have heard* of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love* for all the saints, |
1:16 | I do not cease to give thanks for you when I remember you* in my prayers. |
1:17 | I pray that* the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,* may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation* in your growing knowledge of him,* |
1:18 | – since the eyes of your* heart have been enlightened* – so that you may know what is the hope of his calling,* what is the wealth of his glorious* inheritance in the saints, |
1:19 | and what is the incomparable* greatness of his power toward* us who believe, as displayed in* the exercise of his immense strength.* |
1:20 | This power* he exercised* in Christ when he raised him* from the dead and seated him* at his right hand in the heavenly realms* |
1:21 | far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. |
1:22 | And God* put* all things under Christ’s* feet,* and he gave him to the church as head over all things.* |
1:23 | Now the church is* his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.* |