when he made known to us the secret of his will. This was according to his plan that he set forth in the Messiah

so that we who had already fixed our hope on the Messiah might live for his praise and glory.

God has put everything under the Messiah's feet and has made him the head of everything for the good of the church,

even when we were dead because of our offenses, made us alive together with the Messiah (by grace you have been saved),

so that in the coming ages he might display the limitless riches of his grace that comes to us through his kindness in the Messiah Jesus.

For it is he who is our peace. Through his mortality he made both groups one by tearing down the wall of hostility that divided them.

and how this secret was made known to me through a revelation, just as I wrote about briefly in the past.

which in previous generations was not made known to human beings as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This is that secret:

To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given so that I might proclaim to the gentiles the immeasurable wealth of the Messiah

He did this so that now, through the church, the wisdom of God in all its variety might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm

The thief must no longer steal but must work hard and do what is good with his own hands, so that he might earn something to give to the needy.

so that he might make it holy by cleansing it, washing it with water and the word,

and might present the church to himself in all its glory, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, but holy and without fault.