Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God: To God's people who are in Ephesus--believers in Christ Jesus.

May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has crowned us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ;

even as, in His love, He chose us as His own in Christ before the creation of the world, that we might be holy and without blemish in His presence.

For He pre-destined us to be adopted by Himself as sons through Jesus Christ--such being His gracious will and pleasure--

for the government of the world when the times are ripe for it--the purpose which He has cherished in His own mind of restoring the whole creation to find its one Head in Christ; yes, things in Heaven and things on earth, to find their one Head in Him.

so that we should be devoted to the extolling of His glorious attributes--we who were the first to fix our hopes on Christ.

For I always beseech the God of our Lord Jesus Christ--the Father most glorious--to give you a spirit of wisdom and penetration through an intimate knowledge of Him,

when He displayed it in Christ by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His own right hand in the heavenly realms,

caused us, dead though we were through our offences, to live with Christ--it is by grace that you have been saved--

raised us with Him from the dead, and enthroned us with Him in the heavenly realms as being in Christ Jesus,

in order that, by His goodness to us in Christ Jesus, He might display in the Ages to come the transcendent riches of His grace.

For we are God's own handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works which He has pre-destined us to practise.

At that time you were living apart from Christ, estranged from the Commonwealth of Israel, with no share by birth in the Covenants which are based on the Promises, and you had no hope and no God, in all the world.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were so far away have been brought near through the death of Christ.

You are a building which has been reared on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus Himself,

For this reason I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles--

By means of that explanation, as you read it, you can judge of my insight into the truth of Christ

I mean the truth that the Gentiles are joint heirs with us Jews, and that they form one body with us, and have the same interest as we have in the promise which has been made good in Christ Jesus through the Good News,

To me who am less than the least of all God's people has this work been graciously entrusted--to proclaim to the Gentiles the Good News of the exhaustless wealth of Christ,

Such was the eternal purpose which He had formed in Christ Jesus our Lord,

I pray that Christ may make His home in your hearts through your faith; so that having your roots deep and your foundations strong, in love, you may become mighty to grasp the idea,

yes, to attain to a knowledge of the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, so that you may be made complete in accordance with God's own standard of completeness.

to Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, world without end! Amen.

Yet to each of us individually grace was given, measured out with the munificence of Christ.

in order fully to equip His people for the work of serving--for the building up of Christ's body--

till we all of us arrive at oneness in faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, and at mature manhood and the stature of full-grown men in Christ.

But we shall lovingly hold to the truth, and shall in all respects grow up into union with Him who is our Head, even Christ.

But these are not the lessons which you have learned from Christ;

On the contrary learn to be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ has also forgiven you.

And live and act lovingly, as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up to death on our behalf as an offering and sacrifice to God, yielding a fragrant odor.

For be well assured that no fornicator or immoral person and no money-grubber--or in other words idol-worshipper--has any share awaiting him in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.

For this reason it is said, "Rise, sleeper; rise from among the dead, and Christ will shed light upon you."

Always and for everything let your thanks to God the Father be presented in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

and submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

because a husband is the Head of his wife as Christ also is the Head of the Church, being indeed the Saviour of this His Body.

And just as the Church submits to Christ, so also married women should be entirely submissive to their husbands.

Married men, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself up to death for her;

For never yet has a man hated his own body. On the contrary he feeds and cherishes it, just as Christ feeds and cherishes the Church;

That is a great truth hitherto kept secret: I mean the truth concerning Christ and the Church.

Slaves, be obedient to your earthly masters, with respect and eager anxiety to please and with simplicity of motive as if you were obeying Christ.

Let it not be in acts of eye-service as if you had but to please men, but as Christ's bondservants who are doing God's will from the heart.

Peace be to the brethren, and love combined with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

May grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with perfect sincerity.