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

according as he has chosen us in him before the world's foundation, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love;

so that we might praise the splendid favor which He has shown us in His beloved Son.

who has by his blood obtained for us the redemption, even the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of his grace,

which he has caused to abound towards us in all wisdom and intelligence,

He has made known to us the secret of His will, which is in accordance with His purpose which He planned in Christ,

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.

that Spirit being a pledge and foretaste of our inheritance, in anticipation of its full redemption--the inheritance which He has purchased to be specially His for the extolling of His glory.

an enlightned understanding, that ye may see what great expectations he has called you to, and what abundant glory it is to the saints to be the lot of his inheritance.

and how exceedingly great that power is, which he has employ'd upon us who believe, a power corresponding to that energy of his mighty strength;

which he has worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating [him] at his right hand in the heavenly [places],

above all the angelic Rulers, Authorities, Powers, and Lords, above every Name that is to be named not only in this age but in the age to come ??22 he has put everything under his feet and set him as head over everything for the church,

And so He has put all things under His feet and made Him the supreme Head of the church,

And so God has given life to you Gentiles also, who were once dead in your trespasses and sins,

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, who is so rich in mercy on account of the great love He has for us,

has made us, though dead because of our shortcomings, live again in fellowship with Christ -- it is by His unmerited favor that you have been saved.

and has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus,

It has not been earned, so that no one can boast of it.

For He has made us what we are, because He has created us through our union with Christ Jesus for doing good deeds which He beforehand planned for us to do.

Therefore, do not forget that formerly you were Gentiles as to your bodily condition. You were called the Uncircumcision by those who style themselves the Circumcised--their circumcision being one which the knife has effected.

For He Himself is our peace, He is the one who has made us both into one body and has broken down the barrier that kept us apart;

through His human nature He has put a stop to the hostility between us, namely, the law with its commands and decrees, in order to create one new humanity out of the two parties and so make peace through union with Himself, and in one body

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

and, coming, he has preached the glad tidings of peace to you who were afar off, and the glad tidings of peace to those who were nigh.

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

who by his spirit has likewise made you a part of this divine mansion.

This is why I, Paul, whom Jesus the Christ has made a prisoner for the sake of you heathen??2 if at least you have heard how I dealt with the mercy of God that was given me for you,

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

that by revelation the mystery has been made known to me, (according as I have written before briefly,

by reading which you can understand my knowledge of the mystery of Christ,??5 which in other generations was not made known to the children of men as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit,

which in the earlier ages, so different from the present, was not made known to mankind as fully as now, but through the Spirit it has been revealed to His Holy apostles and prophets --

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,

for which I became a worker by virtue of the gift of God's mercy which by the exercise of his power he has given me.

To me, less than the least of all saints, has this grace been given, to announce among the nations the glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ,

and to make clear how is to be carried out the trusteeship of this secret which has for ages been hidden away in God, the Creator of all things,

In accordance with that purpose which runs through all the ages and which he has now accomplished in Jesus, the Christ, our Master.

I then, the prisoner in the Lord, make this request from my heart, that you will see that your behaviour is a credit to the position which God's purpose has given you,

But in accordance with the measure of Christ's gift, His favor has been bestowed upon each one of us.

Wherefore he says, Having ascended up on high, he has led captivity captive, and has given gifts to men.

The very One that went down has gone up, too, far above all the heavens, to fill the universe.

And He has given some men to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers,

This I say, then, and give witness in the Lord, that you are to go no longer in the way of the Gentiles whose minds are turned to that which has no profit,

their intelligence is darkened, they are estranged from the life of God by the ignorance which their dulness of heart has produced in them ??19 men who have recklessly abandoned themselves to sensuality, with a lust for the business of impurity in every shape and form.

They have stopped caring [i.e., about morality], so God has abandoned them to lives of unrestrained indecency and to engage in all kinds of [moral] impurity, with a constant desire for more.

That you are to put away, in relation to your earlier way of life, the old man, which has become evil by love of deceit;

and put on the new self which has been created in the likeness of God, which fruits in right and holy living inspired by the truth.

Let him that has stolen steal no more, but rather let him labor, doing that which is good with his hands, that he may have to give to him that needs.

You must practice being kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has graciously forgiven you.

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.

For you know very well that no immoral or impure person, or anyone who is greedy (that is, an idolater), has an inheritance in the kingdom of the Messiah and of God.

For everything that has its true character made manifest is clear as light. And that is why it is said--'Sleeper, awake! Arise from the dead, and the Christ shall give thee light!'

Husbands, love your own wives, even as the Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it,

Even so it is right for husbands to have love for their wives as for their bodies. He who has love for his wife has love for himself:

For no one has ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, as the Messiah does the church.

But do you, everyone, have love for his wife, even as for himself; and let the wife see that she has respect for her husband.

"Honour your father and your mother" --this is the first Commandment which has a promise added to it--

for you know that everyone, slave or free, will get his reward from the Lord for anything good he has done.

And, you masters, do the same things to them, not making use of violent words: in the knowledge that their Master and yours is in heaven, and he has no respect for a man's position.

So that you may know what has happened to me and how I am doing, Tychicus, our dear brother and a faithful minister in service to the Lord, will tell you everything.