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

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

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

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.

You are therefore no longer mere foreigners or persons excluded from civil rights. On the contrary you share citizenship with God's people and are members of His family.

and to show all men in a clear light what my stewardship is. It is the stewardship of the truth which from all the Ages lay concealed in the mind of God, the Creator of all things--

from whom the whole family in Heaven and on earth derives its name,

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

with that new and better self which has been created to resemble God in the righteousness and holiness which come from the truth.

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

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.

You well know that whatever right thing any one does, he will receive a requital for it from the Lord, whether he is a slave or a free man.

And you masters, act towards your slaves on the same principles, and refrain from threats. For you know that in Heaven there is One who is your Master as well as theirs, and that merely earthly distinctions there are none with Him.

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