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

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

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,

that we who had first put our hope in Christ might praise His glory.

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

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 He raised us with Him and through union with Christ Jesus He made us sit down with Him in the heavenly realm,

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.

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.

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;

and how by revelation the secret was made known to me, as I have briefly written before.

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 --

yes, on me, the very least of all His people, this unmerited favor was bestowed -- that I might preach as good news to the heathen the boundless riches of Christ,

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

and yet anything that is exposed by the light is made clear to them, for anything that is made clear is light.

that He might present the church to Himself as a splendid bride without a blot or wrinkle or anything like it, but to be consecrated and faultless.