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;

It is in Him, and through the shedding of His blood, that we have our deliverance--the forgiveness of our offences--so abundant was God's grace,

when He made known to us the secret of His will. And this is in harmony with God's merciful purpose

And in Him you Gentiles also, after listening to the Message of the truth, the Good News of your salvation--having believed in Him--were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit;

For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which prevails among you, and of your love for all God's people,

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,

the eyes of your understanding being enlightened so that you may know what is the hope which His call to you inspires, what the wealth of the glory of His inheritance in God's people,

God has put all things under His feet, and has appointed Him universal and supreme Head of the Church, which is His Body,

which were once habitual to you while you walked in the ways of this world and obeyed the Prince of the powers of the air, the spirits that are now at work in the hearts of the sons of disobedience--to you God has given Life.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the intense love which He bestowed on us,

For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves. It is God's gift, and is not on the ground of merit--

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.

thus effecting peace, and to reconcile Jews and Gentiles in one body to God, by means of His cross--slaying by it their mutual enmity.

So He came and proclaimed good news of peace to you who were so far away, and peace to those who were near;

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.

in whom you also are being built up together to become a fixed abode for God through the Spirit.

if, that is, you have heard of the work which God has graciously entrusted to me for your benefit,

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,

in which I have been appointed to serve, in virtue of the work which God, in the exercise of His power within me, has graciously entrusted to me.

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,

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--

concealed in order that the Church might now be used to display to the powers and authorities in the heavenly realms the innumerable aspects of God's wisdom.

as it is grasped by all God's people, of the breadth and length, the height and depth--

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.

and one God and Father of all, who rules over all, acts through all, and dwells in all.

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.

with darkened understandings, having by reason of the ignorance which is deep-seated in them and the insensibility of their moral nature, no share in the Life which God gives.

and to get yourselves renewed in the temper of your minds and clothe yourselves

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

Let no unwholesome words ever pass your lips, but let all your words be good for benefiting others according to the need of the moment, so that they may be a means of blessing to the hearers.

And beware of grieving the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you have been sealed in preparation for the day of Redemption.

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

Therefore be imitators of God, as His dear children.

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.

But fornication and every kind of impurity, or covetousness, let them not even be mentioned among you, for they ought not to be named among God's people.

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.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is on account of these very sins that God's anger is coming upon the disobedient.

but drink deeply of God's Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and offer praise in your hearts to the Lord.

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

With right good will, be faithful to your duty as service rendered to the Lord and not to man.

Put on the complete armour of God, so as to be able to stand firm against all the stratagems of the Devil.

Therefore put on the complete armour of God, so that you may be able to stand your ground on the day of battle, and, having fought to the end, to remain victors on the field.

as well as the shoes of the Good News of peace-- a firm foundation for your feet.

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

Pray with unceasing prayer and entreaty on every fitting occasion in the Spirit, and be always on the alert to seize opportunities for doing so, with unwearied persistence and entreaty on behalf of all God's people,

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