For it is by His unmerited favor through faith that you have been saved; it is not by anything that you have done, it is the gift of God.

And He has given some men to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers,

You too were dead because of the shortcomings and sins

From now on you must grow stronger through union with the Lord and through His mighty power.

For our contest is not with human foes alone, but with the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark world; that is, with the spirit-forces of evil challenging us in the heavenly contest.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who through Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm.

You too, as you have heard the message of the truth, the good news that means your salvation, and as you have trusted in Him too, have been stamped with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit,

You married men must love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her,

You married women must continue to live in subordination to your husbands, as you do to the Lord,

For He has made us what we are, because He has created us through our union with Christ Jesus for doing good deeds which He beforehand planned for us to do.

Stop getting drunk on wine, for that means profligacy, but ever be filled with the Spirit,

It is through union with Him that we have redemption by His blood and the forgiveness of our shortcomings, in accordance with the generosity of His unmerited favor

So I, a prisoner for the Lord's sake, entreat you to live lives worthy of the call you have received,

Through Him He picked us out before the creation of the world, to be consecrated and above reproach in His sight in love.

And so He has put all things under His feet and made Him the supreme Head of the church,

To Him who by His power that is at work within us can do surpassingly more than all we ask or imagine,

keep on living in subordination to one another out of reverence to Christ.

So you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but you are fellow-citizens of God's people and members of His family;

You parents, too, must stop exasperating your children, but continue to bring them up with the sort of education and counsel the Lord approves.

Children, obey your parents, for this is right.

For this reason I kneel before the Father,

So you must keep on following God's example, as dearly loved children of His,

Keep on praying in the Spirit, with every kind of prayer and entreaty, at every opportunity, be ever on the alert with perfect devotion and entreaty for all God's people,

By reading this you will be able to understand my insight into the secret about the Christ --

You must stop offending the Holy Spirit of God by whom you have been stamped for the day of redemption.

There is but one body and one Spirit, just as there is but one hope resulting from the call you have received;

But, on the other hand, we shall go on holding to the truth and in love growing up into perfect union with Him, that is, Christ Himself who is the Head.

which He lavished upon us. Through perfect wisdom and spiritual insight

You must practice being kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has graciously forgiven you.

But God, who is so rich in mercy on account of the great love He has for us,

in union with whom we were made God's portion, since we had been foreordained in accordance with the purpose of Him who in everything carries out the plan of His will,

You must stop letting any bad word pass your lips, but only words that are good for building up as the occasion demands, so that they will result in spiritual blessing to the hearers.

So remember that you were once heathen in a physical sense, called the uncircumcised by those who call themselves the circumcised -- though only in a physical sense, by human hands.

You must put on God's full armor, so as to be able to stand up against the devil's stratagems.

So you must be very careful how you live, not thoughtlessly but thoughtfully,

for the immediate equipment of God's people for the work of service, for the ultimate building up of the body of Christ,

and always be speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Keep on praying and praising the Lord with all your heart;

So I mean this and now testify to it in the name of the Lord: You must now stop living as the heathen usually do, in the frivolity of their minds,

take the helmet salvation provides, and take the sword the Spirit wields, which is the word of God.

for a husband is the head of his wife, just as Christ is the Head of the church, His body, and Saviour of it.

for you are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself the cornerstone.

Paul, by God's will an apostle of Christ Jesus, to God's people who are faithful in Christ Jesus;

So you must stop having anything to do with them.

that we who had first put our hope in Christ might praise His glory.

in which you once lived in accordance with the spirit of this present world, and the mighty prince of the air, who is always at work in the disobedient, among whom all of us, we Jews as well as you heathen,

If you do get angry, you must stop sinning in your anger. Do not ever let the sun go down on your anger;

So you must lay aside falsehood and each of you practice telling the truth to his neighbor, for we are parts of one another.

to lay aside, with your former way of living, your old self which is on the way to destruction in accordance with its deceptive impulses;

But in accordance with the measure of Christ's gift, His favor has been bestowed upon each one of us.

Stop having anything to do with the profitless doings of darkness; instead you must continue to expose them.

for you know that everyone, slave or free, will get his reward from the Lord for anything good he has done.

You slaves must practice obedience to your earthly masters, with reverence and awe, with sincerity of heart, as you would obey Christ,

But sexual vice and any form of immorality or sensual greed must not so much as be mentioned among you, as that is the only course becoming in God's people;

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may grant you the Spirit to give wisdom and revelation which come through a growing knowledge of Him,

so that we may not be babies any longer, or like sailors tossed about and driven around by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men through their cunning in inventing new methods of error.

until we all attain to unity in faith and to perfect knowledge of the Son of God, namely, to a mature manhood and to a perfect measure of Christ's moral stature;

continuing with eager earnestness to maintain the unity of the Spirit through the tie of peace.

For He Himself is our peace, He is the one who has made us both into one body and has broken down the barrier that kept us apart;

one God and Father of all, who is over us all, who pervades us all, and who is within us all.

there is but one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

and beg Him to grant you, in accordance with the riches of His perfect character, to be mightily strengthened by His Spirit in your inmost being,

This is why I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of the heathen --

For at one time you were darkness itself, but now in union with the Lord you are light itself. You must live like children of light,

You must remove all bitterness, rage, anger, loud threats, and insults, with all malice.

when He raised Christ from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in heaven,

which in the earlier ages, so different from the present, was not made known to mankind as fully as now, but through the Spirit it has been revealed to His Holy apostles and prophets --

He foreordained us to become His sons by adoption through Christ Jesus, to carry out the happy choice of His will,

So you must take on God's full armor, so as to be able to take a stand in the day when evil attacks you, and, after having completely finished the contest, to hold your own.

You slave-owners, too, must maintain the same attitude toward your slaves, and stop threatening them, for you know that their real Lord and yours is in heaven, and that He never shows partiality.

This is why I myself, since I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and in all His people,

by having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, so that you may know what the hope is to which He calls you, how glorious rich God's portion in His people is,

But now through your union with Christ Jesus you who were once far away have through the blood of Christ been brought near.

once lived while gratifying the cravings of our lower nature, as we continued to carry out the impulses of our lower nature and its thoughts, and by nature we were exposed to God's wrath, as the rest of mankind.

with perfect humility and gentleness, with patience, lovingly bearing with one another,

and that Christ in His love, through your faith, may make His permanent home in your hearts. You must be deeply rooted, your foundations must be strong,

And He raised us with Him and through union with Christ Jesus He made us sit down with Him in the heavenly realm,

so that we might praise the splendid favor which He has shown us in His beloved Son.

has made us, though dead because of our shortcomings, live again in fellowship with Christ -- it is by His unmerited favor that you have been saved.

The man who used to steal must now stop stealing; rather, he must keep on working and toiling with his own hands at some honest vocation, so as to have something to contribute to the needy.

and put on the new self which has been created in the likeness of God, which fruits in right and holy living inspired by the truth.

Concerning this the Scripture says: "He led a host of captives, when He went up on high, and granted gifts to men."

and practice living in love, just as Christ loved you too and gave Himself for you as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

to consecrate her, after cleansing her through His word, as pictured in the water bath,

and to make clear how is to be carried out the trusteeship of this secret which has for ages been hidden away in God, the Creator of all things,

For you may be absolutely sure that no one who is sexually impure, immoral or greedy for gain (for that is idolatry) can have a part in the kingdom of Christ and God.

which is His body, that is being filled by Him who fills everything everywhere.

What does "He went up" mean, except that He had first gone down into the lower regions of the earth?

At that time you were without any connection with Christ; you were aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the sacred compacts made by God's promise, with no hope, and no God in the world.

so that, at the coming of the climax of the ages, everything in heaven and on earth should be unified through Christ,

Therefore, a man must leave his father and mother and so perfectly unite himself to his wife that the two shall be one.

you must approve what is pleasing to the Lord.

For it is under His direction that the whole body is perfectly adjusted and united by every joint that furnishes its supplies; and by the proper functioning of each particular part there is brought about the growing of the body for its building up in love.

Hold your position, then, with your waist encircled with the belt of truth, put on right-doing as a coat of mail,

Stop letting anyone deceive you with groundless arguments about these things, for it is because of these very sins that God's anger comes down upon the disobedient.

He has made known to us the secret of His will, which is in accordance with His purpose which He planned in Christ,

The very One that went down has gone up, too, far above all the heavens, to fill the universe.

so that the many phases of God's wisdom may now through the church be made known to the rulers and authorities in heaven,

yes, on me, the very least of all His people, this unmerited favor was bestowed -- that I might preach as good news to the heathen the boundless riches of Christ,

for it is by Him through one Spirit that both of us now have an introduction to the Father.

continue giving thanks for everything to God our Father;

Besides all these, take on the shield which faith provides, for with it you will be able to put out all the fire-tipped arrows shot by the evil one,

But each one of you married men must love his wife as he loves himself, and the married woman, too, must respect her husband.

and how surpassingly great is His power for us who believe, measured by His tremendously mighty power

and yet anything that is exposed by the light is made clear to them, for anything that is made clear is light.

For it is disgraceful even to mention the vices practiced in secret by them;

in accordance with the eternal purpose which God executed in the gift of Christ Jesus our Lord.

to reconcile them both to God with His cross after He had killed the hostility through it.

for in their recklessness they have abandoned themselves to sensuality which leads to excessive practices of all sorts of immorality.

That you may also know how I am, Tychicus, our dearly loved brother and a faithful minister in the Lord's service, will give you all the information;

there must be no indecency, silly talk or suggestive jesting, for they are unbecoming. There should be thanksgiving instead.

that is the very reason I am sending him, to let you know how I am and to cheer your hearts.

When He came, He brought the good news of peace for you who were far away and for you who were near;

Spiritual blessing be with all who have an undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.

from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,

if, as I take it, you have heard Him and in union with Him have been taught the truth as it is seen in Jesus,

for the sake of which I am an envoy in prison: so that, when I tell it, I may speak as courageously as I ought.

not serving them as though they were watching you, but as true slaves of Christ, trying to carry out the will of God.

Just as the church is subject to Christ, so the married women in everything must be subject to their husbands.

Peace to the brothers and love with faith, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

for no one ever hates his own physical person, but he feeds and fosters it, just as Christ does the church;

"so that you may prosper and live a long life on earth."

So I beg you not to lose heart over the sorrows that I am suffering for your sake, for they bring you honor.

So it is said: "Wake up, sleeper; get up from the dead, and Christ will make day dawn on you."

that He might present the church to Himself as a splendid bride without a blot or wrinkle or anything like it, but to be consecrated and faultless.

spiritual blessing and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

through His human nature He has put a stop to the hostility between us, namely, the law with its commands and decrees, in order to create one new humanity out of the two parties and so make peace through union with Himself, and in one body

yes, to come at last to know the love of Christ, although it far surpasses human understanding, so that you may be filled with the perfect fullness of God.

and for me that a message may be given me when I open my lips, so that I may boldly make known the open secret of the good news,

and continue to make the most of your opportunities, for the times are evil.

This is the way married men ought to love their wives, as they do their own bodies. The married man who loves his wife is really loving himself,

So stop becoming senseless, but understand what the Lord's will is.

be glory in the church and through Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

It is not the result of what anyone can do, so that no one can boast of it.

with darkened understanding, estranged from the life of God because of the ignorance that exists among them and because of the stubbornness of their hearts;

and to have a new attitude of mind

to show, throughout the coming ages, the boundless generosity of His unmerited favor shown us in His goodness to us through Christ Jesus.

and you yourselves, in union with Him, in fellowship with one another, are being built up into a dwelling for God through the Spirit.

far above every other government, authority, power, and dominion, yea, far above every other title that can be conferred, not only in this world but in the world to come.

Heartily and cheerfully keep on working as slaves, as though it were for the Lord and not for men,

who is the first installment of our inheritance, so that we may finally come into full possession of the prize of redemption, and praise His glory for it.

stop giving the devil a chance.

"You must honor your father and mother" -- this is the first commandment, with a promise to make it good

that the heathen through union with Christ Jesus are fellow-heirs with the Jews, are members with them of the same body, and sharers with them of the promise through the good news,

and how by revelation the secret was made known to me, as I have briefly written before.

that is, if you have heard how God's favor has been entrusted to me for you,

and put on your feet the preparation the good news of peace supplies.

for which I was called to serve in accordance with the gift of God's unmerited favor which was bestowed on me by the exercise of His power--

But this is not the way you have learned what Christ means,

By union with Him and through faith in Him we have a free and confidential introduction to God.

so that you with all God's people may be strong enough to grasp the idea of the breadth and length, the height and depth,

for the product of light consists in practicing everything that is good and right and true;

This is a great secret; I mean this about Christ and the church.

never cease to thank God for you when I mention you in my prayers,

because we are parts of His body.

In union with Him the whole building is harmoniously fitted together and continues to grow into a temple, sacred through its union with the Lord,