From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints [in Ephesus], the faithful in Christ Jesus.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

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

He did this when he revealed to us the secret of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,

In Christ we too have been claimed as God's own possession, since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will

who is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory.

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him,

And God put all things under Christ's feet, and he gave him to the church as head over all things.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us,

For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God;

For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.

that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed.

So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household,

in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you,

I became a servant of this gospel according to the gift of God's grace that was given to me by the exercise of his power.

and to enlighten everyone about God's secret plan -- a secret that has been hidden for ages in God who has created all things.

The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms.

in whom we have boldness and confident access to God because of Christ's faithfulness.

and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God -- a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ's full stature.

They are darkened in their understanding, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.

and to put on the new man who has been created in God's image -- in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.

The one who steals must steal no longer; rather he must labor, doing good with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with the one who has need.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.

Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly loved children

and live in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.

For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God's wrath comes on the sons of disobedience.

And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit,

always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

not like those who do their work only when someone is watching -- as people-pleasers -- but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.

because you know that each person, whether slave or free, if he does something good, this will be rewarded by the Lord.

Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand.

by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace,

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

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