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

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

so that, at the coming of the climax of the ages, everything in heaven and on earth should be unified through 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,

who is the first installment of our inheritance, so that we may finally come into full possession of the prize of redemption, and praise His glory for it.

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,

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

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.

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

It is not the result of what anyone can do, so that no one can boast of it.

So remember that you were once heathen in a physical sense, called the uncircumcised by those who call themselves the circumcised -- though only in a physical sense, by human hands.

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.

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

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,

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 --

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 I beg you not to lose heart over the sorrows that I am suffering for your sake, for they bring you honor.

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,

yes, to come at last to know the love of Christ, although it far surpasses human understanding, so that you may be filled with the perfect fullness of God.

So I, a prisoner for the Lord's sake, entreat you to live lives worthy of the call you have received,

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

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

until we all attain to unity in faith and to perfect knowledge of the Son of God, namely, to a mature manhood and to a perfect measure of Christ's moral stature;

so that we may not be babies any longer, or like sailors tossed about and driven around by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men through their cunning in inventing new methods of error.

So I mean this and now testify to it in the name of the Lord: You must now stop living as the heathen usually do, in the frivolity of their minds,

So you must lay aside falsehood and each of you practice telling the truth to his neighbor, for we are parts of one another.

The man who used to steal must now stop stealing; rather, he must keep on working and toiling with his own hands at some honest vocation, so as to have something to contribute to the needy.

You must stop letting any bad word pass your lips, but only words that are good for building up as the occasion demands, so that they will result in spiritual blessing to the hearers.

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 stop having anything to do with them.

So it is said: "Wake up, sleeper; get up from the dead, and Christ will make day dawn on you."

So you must be very careful how you live, not thoughtlessly but thoughtfully,

So stop becoming senseless, but understand what the Lord's will is.

Just as the church is subject to Christ, so the married women in everything must be subject to their husbands.

Therefore, a man must leave his father and mother and so perfectly unite himself to his wife that the two shall be one.

"so that you may prosper and live a long life on earth."

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

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,

and for me that a message may be given me when I open my lips, so that I may boldly make known the open secret of the good news,

for the sake of which I am an envoy in prison: so that, when I tell it, I may speak as courageously as I ought.

That you may also know how I am, Tychicus, our dearly loved brother and a faithful minister in the Lord's service, will give you all the information;