Reference: Ephesians, Epistle To
Easton
was written by Paul at Rome about the same time as that to the Colossians, which in many points it resembles.
Contents of. The Epistle to the Colossians is mainly polemical, designed to refute certain theosophic errors that had crept into the church there. That to the Ephesians does not seem to have originated in any special circumstances, but is simply a letter springing from Paul's love to the church there, and indicative of his earnest desire that they should be fully instructed in the profound doctrines of the gospel. It contains (1) the salutation (Eph 1:1-2); (2) a general description of the blessings the gospel reveals, as to their source, means by which they are attained, purpose for which they are bestowed, and their final result, with a fervent prayer for the further spiritual enrichment of the Ephesians (Eph 1:3-2:10); (3) "a record of that marked change in spiritual position which the Gentile believers now possessed, ending with an account of the writer's selection to and qualification for the apostolate of heathendom, a fact so considered as to keep them from being dispirited, and to lead him to pray for enlarged spiritual benefactions on his absent sympathizers" (Eph 2:12-3:21); (4) a chapter on unity as undisturbed by diversity of gifts (Eph 4:1-16); (5) special injunctions bearing on ordinary life (Eph 4:17-6:10); (6) the imagery of a spiritual warfare, mission of Tychicus, and valedictory blessing (Eph 6:11-24).
Planting of the church at Ephesus. Paul's first and hurried visit for the space of three months to Ephesus is recorded in Ac 18:19-21. The work he began on this occasion was carried forward by Apollos (Ac 18:24-26) and Aquila and Priscilla. On his second visit, early in the following year, he remained at Ephesus "three years," for he found it was the key to the western provinces of Asia Minor. Here "a great door and effectual" was opened to him (1Co 16:9), and the church was established and strengthened by his assiduous labours there (Ac 20:20,31). From Ephesus as a centre the gospel spread abroad "almost throughout all Asia" (Ac 19:26). The word "mightily grew and prevailed" despite all the opposition and persecution he encountered.
On his last journey to Jerusalem the apostle landed at Miletus, and summoning together the elders of the church from Ephesus, delivered to them his remarkable farewell charge (Ac 20:18-35), expecting to see them no more.
The following parallels between this epistle and the Milesian charge may be traced:
(1.) Ac 20:19 = Eph 4:2. The phrase "lowliness of mind" occurs nowhere else.
(2.) Ac 20:27 = Eph 1:11. The word "counsel," as denoting the divine plan, occurs only here and Heb 6:17.
(3.) Ac 20:32 = Eph 3:20. The divine ability.
(4.) Ac 20:32 = Eph 2:20. The building upon the foundation.
(5.) Ac 20:32 = Eph 1:14,18. "The inheritance of the saints."
Place and date of the writing of the letter. It was evidently written from Rome during Paul's first imprisonment (Eph 3:1; 4:1; 6:20), and probably soon after his arrival there, about the year 62, four years after he had parted with the Ephesian elders at Miletus. The subscription of this epistle is correct.
There seems to have been no special occasion for the writing of this letter, as already noted. Paul's object was plainly not polemical. No errors had sprung up in the church which he sought to point out and refute. The object of the apostle is "to set forth the ground, the cause, and the aim and end of the church of the faithful in Christ. He speaks to the Ephesians as a type or sample of the church universal." The church's foundations, its course, and its end, are his theme. "Everywhere the foundation of the church is the will of the Father; the course of the church is by the satisfaction of the Son; the end of the church is the life in the Holy Spirit." In the Epistle to the Romans, Paul writes from the point of view of justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ; here he writes from the point of view specially of union to the Redeemer, and hence of the oneness of the true church of Christ. "This is perhaps the profoundest book in existence." It is a book "which sounds the lowest depths of Christian doctrine, and scales the loftiest heights of Christian experience;" and the fact that the apostle evidently expected the Ephesians to understand it is an evidence of the "proficiency which Paul's converts had attained under his preaching at Ephesus."
Relation between this epistle and that to the Colossians (q.v.). "The letters of the apostle are the fervent outburst of pastoral zeal and attachment, written without reserve and in unaffected simplicity; sentiments come warm from the heart, without the shaping out, pruning, and punctilious arrangement of a formal discourse. There is such a fresh and familiar transcription of feeling, so frequent an introduction of coloquial idiom, and so much of conversational frankness and vivacity, that the reader associates the image of the writer with every paragraph, and the ear seems to catch and recognize the very tones of living address." "Is it then any matter of amazement that one letter should resemble another, or that two written about the same time should have so much in common and so much that is peculiar? The close relation as to style and subject between the epistles to Colosse and Ephesus must strike every reader. Their precise relation to each other has given rise to much discussion. The great probability is that the epistle to Colosse was first written; the parallel passages in Ephesians, which amount to about forty-two in number, having the appearance of being expansions from the epistle to Colosse. Compare:
The style of this epistle is exceedingly animated, and corresponds with the state of the apostle's mind at the time of writing. Overjoyed with the account which their messenger had brought him of their faith and holiness (Eph 1:15), and transported with the consideration of the unsearchable wisdom of God displayed in the work of man's redemption, and of his astonishing love towards the Gentiles in making them partakers through faith of all the benefits of Christ's death, he soars high in his sentiments on those grand subjects, and gives his thoughts utterance in sublime and copious expression.
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When they arrived in Ephesus, he left Priscilla and Aquila there. Then he went into the synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews. They asked him to stay longer, but he refused. read more. As he told them goodbye, he said, "I will come back to you again if it is God's will." Then he set sail from Ephesus.
Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos arrived in Ephesus. He was a native of Alexandria, an eloquent man, and well versed in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the Lord's way, and with spiritual fervor he kept speaking and teaching accurately about Jesus, although he knew only about John's baptism. read more. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home and explained God's way to him more accurately.
You also see and hear that, not only in Ephesus, but almost all over Asia, this man Paul has won over and taken away a large crowd by telling them that gods made by human hands are not gods at all.
When they came to him, he told them, "You know how I lived among you the entire time from the first day I set foot in Asia. I served the Lord with all humility, with tears, and with trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.
I served the Lord with all humility, with tears, and with trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews. I never shrank from telling you anything that would help you nor from teaching you publicly and from house to house.
I never shrank from telling you anything that would help you nor from teaching you publicly and from house to house. I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus. read more. And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that in town after town the Holy Spirit assures me that imprisonment and suffering are waiting for me. But I don't place any value on my life, if only I can finish my race and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. "Now I know that none of you among whom I traveled preaching about the kingdom will ever see my face again. I therefore declare to you today that I'm not responsible for the blood of any of you, because I never shrank from telling you the whole plan of God.
because I never shrank from telling you the whole plan of God. Pay attention to yourselves and to the entire flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to be shepherds of God's church, which he acquired with his own blood. read more. I know that when I'm gone, savage wolves will come among you and not spare the flock. Indeed, some of your own men will arise and distort the truth in order to lure the disciples into following them. So be alert! Remember that for three years, night and day, I never stopped tearfully warning each of you.
So be alert! Remember that for three years, night and day, I never stopped tearfully warning each of you. "I'm now entrusting you to God and to the message of his grace, which is able to build you up and secure for you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.
"I'm now entrusting you to God and to the message of his grace, which is able to build you up and secure for you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.
"I'm now entrusting you to God and to the message of his grace, which is able to build you up and secure for you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.
"I'm now entrusting you to God and to the message of his grace, which is able to build you up and secure for you an inheritance among all who are sanctified. I never desired anyone's silver, gold, or clothes. read more. You yourselves know that I worked with my own hands to support myself and those who were with me. In every way I showed you that by working hard like this we should help the weak and remember the words that the Lord Jesus himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
because a door has opened wide for me to do effective work, although many people are opposing me.
From: Paul, an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by God's will. To: His holy and faithful people in Ephesus who are in union with the Messiah Jesus. May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!
In union with him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of God's grace
to usher in the fullness of the times and to bring together in the Messiah all things in heaven and on earth. In the Messiah we were also chosen when we were predestined according to the purpose of the one who does everything that he wills to do,
who is the guarantee of our inheritance until God redeems his own possession for his praise and glory. Therefore, because I have heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
Then, with the eyes of your hearts enlightened, you will know the confidence that is produced by God having called you, the rich glory that is his inheritance among the saints,
having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the Messiah Jesus himself being the cornerstone.
For this reason I, Paul, am the prisoner of the Messiah Jesus for the sake of you gentiles. Surely you have heard about the responsibility of administering God's grace that was given to me on your behalf,
Now to the one who can do infinitely more than all we can ask or imagine according to the power that is working among us
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to live in a way that is worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to live in a way that is worthy of the calling to which you have been called, demonstrating all expressions of humility, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another in love.
demonstrating all expressions of humility, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another in love.
demonstrating all expressions of humility, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another in love. Do your best to maintain the unity of the Spirit by means of the bond of peace.
Do your best to maintain the unity of the Spirit by means of the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit. Likewise, you were called to the one hope of your calling.
There is one body and one Spirit. Likewise, you were called to the one hope of your calling. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, read more. one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in all. Now to each one of us grace has been given proportionate to the measure of the Messiah's gift. That is why God says, "When he went up to the highest place, he led captives into captivity and gave gifts to people." Now what does this "he went up" mean except that he also had gone down into the lower parts of the earth? The one who went down is the same one who went up above all the heavens so that all things would be fulfilled. And it is he who gifted some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, and still others to be pastors and teachers, to equip the saints, to do the work of ministry, and to build up the body of the Messiah until all of us are united in the faith and in the full knowledge of God's Son, and until we attain mature adulthood and the full standard of development in the Messiah. Then we will no longer be little children, tossed like waves and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, or by clever strategies that would lead us astray. Instead, by speaking the truth in love, we will grow up completely and become one with the head, that is, one with the Messiah, in whom the whole body is united and held together by every ligament with which it is supplied. As each individual part does its job, the body builds itself up in love.
in whom the whole body is united and held together by every ligament with which it is supplied. As each individual part does its job, the body builds itself up in love.
Regarding your former way of life, you were taught to strip off your old nature, which is being ruined by its deceptive desires, to be renewed in your mental attitude, read more. and to clothe yourselves with the new nature, which was created according to God's image in righteousness and true holiness.
And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another just as God has forgiven you in the Messiah.
Do not let anyone deceive you with meaningless words, for it is because of these things that God becomes angry with those who disobey. So do not be partners with them. read more. For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light,
So, then, be careful how you live. Do not be unwise but wise, making the best use of your time because the times are evil.
Then you will recite to one another psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; you will sing and make music to the Lord with your hearts;
Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the Devil's strategies. For our struggle is not against human opponents, but against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers in the darkness around us, and evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realm. read more. For this reason, take up the whole armor of God so that you may be able to take a stand whenever evil comes. And when you have done everything you could, you will be able to stand firm. Stand firm, therefore, having fastened the belt of truth around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and being firm-footed in the gospel of peace. In addition to having clothed yourselves with these things, having taken up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to put out all the flaming arrows of the evil one, also take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times with every kind of prayer and request. Likewise, be alert with your most diligent efforts and pray for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that, when I begin to speak, the right words will come to me. Then I will boldly make known the secret of the gospel,
Pray also for me, so that, when I begin to speak, the right words will come to me. Then I will boldly make known the secret of the gospel, for whose sake I am an ambassador in chains, desiring to declare the gospel as boldly as I should.
for whose sake I am an ambassador in chains, desiring to declare the gospel as boldly as I should.
for whose sake I am an ambassador in chains, desiring to declare the gospel as boldly as I should. So that you may know what has happened to me and how I am doing, Tychicus, our dear brother and a faithful minister in service to the Lord, will tell you everything. read more. I am sending him to you for this very reason, so that you may know how we are doing and that he may encourage your hearts.
I am sending him to you for this very reason, so that you may know how we are doing and that he may encourage your hearts. May peace and love, with faith, be with the brothers, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah! read more. May grace be with all who sincerely love the Lord Jesus, the Messiah!
through whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Through the Son, God also reconciled all things to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, thereby making peace through the blood of his cross.
I became its servant as God commissioned me to work for you, so that I may complete my ministry of the word of God.
When you were buried with the Messiah in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. Even when you were dead because of your offenses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with him when he forgave us all of our offenses,
He does not hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, which is nourished and held together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God enables it.
It is because of these things that the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. You used to behave like them as you lived among them. read more. But now you must also get rid of anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene speech, and all such sins. Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old nature with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new nature, which is being renewed in full knowledge, consistent with the image of the one who created it.
Therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Be tolerant of one another and forgive each other if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, you also should forgive.
Be tolerant of one another and forgive each other if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, you also should forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which ties everything together in unity. read more. Let the peace of the Messiah also rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of the Messiah inhabit you richly with wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and singing to God with thankfulness in your hearts.
At the same time also pray for us that God would open before us a door for the word so that we may tell the secret about the Messiah, for which I have been imprisoned. May I reveal it as clearly as I should! read more. Behave wisely toward outsiders, making the best use of your time.
I am sending him to you for this very reason, so that you may know how we are doing and that he may encourage your hearts.
In the same way, when God wanted to make the unchangeable character of his purpose perfectly clear to the heirs of his promise, he guaranteed it with an oath,
Hastings
This Epistle belongs to the group of Epistles of the Captivity, and was almost certainly, if genuine, written from Rome, and sent by Tychicus at the same time as the Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon (see Colossians).
1. Destination.
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For by him you have become rich in every way in speech and knowledge of every kind
Instead, we speak about God's wisdom in a hidden secret, which God destined before the world began for our glory. None of the rulers of this world understood it, because if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. read more. But as it is written, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him." But God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God.
But God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God. Is there anyone who can understand his own thoughts except his own inner spirit? In the same way, no one can know the thoughts of God except God's Spirit.
For we are God's co-workers. You are God's farmland and God's building. As an expert builder using the grace that God gave me, I laid the foundation, and someone else is building on it. But each person must be careful how he builds on it. read more. After all, no one can lay any other foundation than the one that is already laid, and that is Jesus the Messiah.
You know that you are God's sanctuary and that God's Spirit lives in you, don't you?
Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, because all of us eat from the same loaf.
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit,
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of ministries, but the same Lord. read more. There are varieties of results, but it is the same God who produces all the results in everyone.
For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, form a single body, so it is with the Messiah. For by one Spirit all of us Jews and Greeks, slaves and free were baptized into one body and were all privileged to drink from one Spirit. read more. For the body does not consist of only one part, but of many. If the foot says, "Since I'm not a hand, I'm not part of the body," that does not make it any less a part of the body, does it? And if the ear says, "Since I'm not an eye, I'm not part of the body," that does not make it any less a part of the body, does it?
God has appointed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then those who perform miracles, those who have gifts of healing, those who help others, administrators, and those who speak various kinds of languages.
Then the end will come, when after he has done away with every ruler and every authority and power, the Messiah hands over the kingdom to God the Father. For he must rule until God puts all the Messiah's enemies under his feet. read more. The last enemy to be done away with is death, for "God has put everything under his feet." Now when he says, "Everything has been put under him," this clearly excludes the one who put everything under him. But when everything has been put under him, then the Son himself will also become subject to the one who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
From: Paul, an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by God's will. To: His holy and faithful people in Ephesus who are in union with the Messiah Jesus.
to usher in the fullness of the times and to bring together in the Messiah all things in heaven and on earth.
You, too, have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed in the Messiah, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until God redeems his own possession for his praise and glory. read more. Therefore, because I have heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the most glorious Father, would give you a wise spirit, along with revelation that comes through knowing the Messiah fully.
which he brought about in the Messiah when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realm.
which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills everything in every way.
so that in the coming ages he might display the limitless riches of his grace that comes to us through his kindness in the Messiah Jesus.
So then, remember that at one time you gentiles by birth were called "the uncircumcised" by those who called themselves "the circumcised." They underwent physical circumcision done by human hands. At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise. You had no hope and were in the world without God.
and reconciling both groups to God in one body through the cross, on which he eliminated the hostility.
For through him, both of us have access to the Father by one Spirit.
For through him, both of us have access to the Father by one Spirit. That is why you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household, read more. having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the Messiah Jesus himself being the cornerstone.
having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the Messiah Jesus himself being the cornerstone. In union with him the whole building is joined together and rises into a holy sanctuary for the Lord.
In union with him the whole building is joined together and rises into a holy sanctuary for the Lord. You, too, are being built in him, along with the others, into a place for God's Spirit to dwell.
which in previous generations was not made known to human beings as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This is that secret: The gentiles are heirs-in-common, members-in-common of the body, and common participants in what was promised by the Messiah Jesus through the gospel.
He did this so that now, through the church, the wisdom of God in all its variety might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm in keeping with the eternal purpose that God carried out through the Messiah Jesus our Lord,
So then, I ask you not to become discouraged because of my troubles on your behalf, which work toward your glory.
I pray that he would give you, according to his glorious riches, strength in your inner being and power through his Spirit,
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to live in a way that is worthy of the calling to which you have been called, demonstrating all expressions of humility, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another in love. read more. Do your best to maintain the unity of the Spirit by means of the bond of peace.
Do your best to maintain the unity of the Spirit by means of the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit. Likewise, you were called to the one hope of your calling. read more. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in all. Now to each one of us grace has been given proportionate to the measure of the Messiah's gift.
And it is he who gifted some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, and still others to be pastors and teachers, to equip the saints, to do the work of ministry, and to build up the body of the Messiah read more. until all of us are united in the faith and in the full knowledge of God's Son, and until we attain mature adulthood and the full standard of development in the Messiah.
in whom the whole body is united and held together by every ligament with which it is supplied. As each individual part does its job, the body builds itself up in love.
Therefore, stripping off falsehood, "let each of us speak the truth to his neighbor," for we belong to one another. "Be angry, yet do not sin." Do not let the sun set while you are still angry, read more. and do not give the Devil an opportunity to work. The thief must no longer steal but must work hard and do what is good with his own hands, so that he might earn something to give to the needy. Let no filthy talk be heard from your mouths, but only what is good for building up people and meeting the need of the moment. This way you will administer grace to those who hear you. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, quarreling, and slander be put away from you, along with all hatred. read more. And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another just as God has forgiven you in the Messiah.
Live lovingly, just as the Messiah also loved us and gave himself for us as an offering and sacrifice, a fragrant aroma to God.
Live lovingly, just as the Messiah also loved us and gave himself for us as an offering and sacrifice, a fragrant aroma to God.
for the fruit that the light produces consists of every form of goodness, righteousness, and truth.
Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of his wife as the Messiah is the head of the church. It is he who is the Savior of the body. read more. Indeed, just as the church is submissive to the Messiah, so wives must be submissive to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives as the Messiah loved the church and gave himself for it,
Husbands, love your wives as the Messiah loved the church and gave himself for it, so that he might make it holy by cleansing it, washing it with water and the word,
so that he might make it holy by cleansing it, washing it with water and the word, and might present the church to himself in all its glory, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, but holy and without fault.
and might present the church to himself in all its glory, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, but holy and without fault.
Masters, treat your slaves the same way. Do not threaten them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. Finally, be strong in the Lord, relying on his mighty strength. read more. Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the Devil's strategies. For our struggle is not against human opponents, but against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers in the darkness around us, and evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realm. For this reason, take up the whole armor of God so that you may be able to take a stand whenever evil comes. And when you have done everything you could, you will be able to stand firm.
For this reason, take up the whole armor of God so that you may be able to take a stand whenever evil comes. And when you have done everything you could, you will be able to stand firm. Stand firm, therefore, having fastened the belt of truth around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, read more. and being firm-footed in the gospel of peace. In addition to having clothed yourselves with these things, having taken up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to put out all the flaming arrows of the evil one, also take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times with every kind of prayer and request. Likewise, be alert with your most diligent efforts and pray for all the saints.
Pray in the Spirit at all times with every kind of prayer and request. Likewise, be alert with your most diligent efforts and pray for all the saints.
So that you may know what has happened to me and how I am doing, Tychicus, our dear brother and a faithful minister in service to the Lord, will tell you everything. I am sending him to you for this very reason, so that you may know how we are doing and that he may encourage your hearts.
The only thing that matters is that you continue to live as good citizens in a manner worthy of the gospel of the Messiah. Then, whether I come to see you or whether I stay away, I may hear all about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, struggling with one mind for the faith of the gospel,
The only thing that matters is that you continue to live as good citizens in a manner worthy of the gospel of the Messiah. Then, whether I come to see you or whether I stay away, I may hear all about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, struggling with one mind for the faith of the gospel,
Now lifted up by God to heaven, a name above all others given, this matchless name possessing.
For it is we who are the circumcision we who worship in the Spirit of God and find our joy in the Messiah Jesus. We have not placed any confidence in the flesh,
Our citizenship, however, is in heaven, and it is from there that we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.
Never worry about anything. Instead, in every situation let your petitions be made known to God through prayers and requests, with thanksgiving.
I have been paid in full and have more than enough. I am fully supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus what you sent a fragrant aroma, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.
When this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and be sure to read the one from Laodicea.
He speaks about this subject in all his letters. Some things in them are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, leading to their own destruction, as they do the rest of the Scriptures.
All those who had become settled down and at home, living on the earth, will worship it, everyone whose name had not been written in the Book of Life belonging to the lamb that had been slaughtered since the foundation of the world.
Let us rejoice, be glad, and give him glory, because the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready.
He carried me away in the Spirit to a large, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.
The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the lamb were written on them.