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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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,

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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,

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,

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

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,

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.

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

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

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

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;

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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