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

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.

You must put on God's full armor, so as to be able to stand up against the devil's stratagems.

in union with whom we were made God's portion, since we had been foreordained in accordance with the purpose of Him who in everything carries out the plan of His will,

by having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, so that you may know what the hope is to which He calls you, how glorious rich God's portion in His people is,

once lived while gratifying the cravings of our lower nature, as we continued to carry out the impulses of our lower nature and its thoughts, and by nature we were exposed to God's wrath, as the rest of mankind.

So you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but you are fellow-citizens of God's people and members of His family;

that is, if you have heard how God's favor has been entrusted to me for you,

for which I was called to serve in accordance with the gift of God's unmerited favor which was bestowed on me by the exercise of His power--

so that the many phases of God's wisdom may now through the church be made known to the rulers and authorities in heaven,

so that you with all God's people may be strong enough to grasp the idea of the breadth and length, the height and depth,

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

So you must keep on following God's example, as dearly loved children of His,

But sexual vice and any form of immorality or sensual greed must not so much as be mentioned among you, as that is the only course becoming in God's people;

Stop letting anyone deceive you with groundless arguments about these things, for it is because of these very sins that God's anger comes down upon the disobedient.

So you must take on God's full armor, so as to be able to take a stand in the day when evil attacks you, and, after having completely finished the contest, to hold your own.

Keep on praying in the Spirit, with every kind of prayer and entreaty, at every opportunity, be ever on the alert with perfect devotion and entreaty for all God's people,