so to order it in the fulness of the ages that all things in heaven and earth alike should be gathered up in Christ ??11 in the Christ in whom we have had our heritage allotted us (as was decreed in the design of him who carries out everything according to the counsel of his will),

You also have heard the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, and in him you also by your faith have been stamped with the seal of the long-promised holy Spirit

Hence, as I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,

he made us live together with Christ (it is by grace you have been saved);

For it is by grace you have been saved, as you had faith; it is not your doing but God's gift,

not the outcome of what you have done ??lest anyone should pride himself on that;

Whereas now, within Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

For this reason I Paul, I whom Jesus has made a prisoner for the sake of you Gentiles ??2 for surely you have heard how the grace of God which was vouchsafed me in your interests has ordered it,

how the divine secret was disclosed to me by a revelation (if you read what I have already written briefly about this,

through whom, as we have faith in him, we enjoy our confidence of free access.

May Christ dwell in your hearts as you have faith!

their intelligence is darkened, they are estranged from the life of God by the ignorance which their dulness of heart has produced in them ??19 men who have recklessly abandoned themselves to sensuality, with a lust for the business of impurity in every shape and form.

That is not how you have understood the meaning of Christ

(for it is Christ whom you have been taught, it is in Christ that you have been instructed ??the real Christ who is in Jesus);

Let the thief steal no more; rather let him work and put his hands to an honest task, so as to have something to contribute to the needy.

And do not vex God's holy Spirit, by whom you have been sealed for the day of redemption.

Have nothing to do with the fruitless enterprises of the darkness; rather expose them.

in order to have the church as his very own, standing before him in all her glory, with never a spot or wrinkle or any such flaw, but consecrated and unblemished.

And as for you masters, act by your servants in the same way, and stop threatening them; be sure that they and you have a Lord and Master in heaven, and there is no partiality about him.

For we have to struggle, not with blood and flesh but with the angelic Rulers, the angelic Authorities, the potentates of the dark present, the spirit-forces of evil in the heavenly sphere.

and have your feet shod with the stability of the gospel of peace;

for the sake of which I am in custody as its envoy. Pray that I may have freedom to declare it as I should.

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