to display the glory of his grace, which has render'd us acceptable by 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,

for he has discover'd to us the secret of his will, that out of his meer good pleasure, he had purposed in himself,

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.

And [I pray] that the eyes of your heart [the very center and core of your being] may be enlightened [flooded with light by the Holy Spirit], so that you will know and cherish the hope [the divine guarantee, the confident expectation] to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (God’s people),

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 He put all things [in every realm] in subjection under Christ’s feet, and appointed Him as [supreme and authoritative] head over all things in 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,

(we too being dead in offences,) has quickened us with the Christ, (ye are saved by grace,)

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 we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them.

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 and our bond of unity. He who made both groups—[Jews and Gentiles]—into one body and broke down the barrier, the dividing wall [of spiritual antagonism between us],

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,

If that ordering of the grace of God has come to your knowledge, which was given 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 other generations was not disclosed to mankind, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the [Holy] Spirit;

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, who am less than the least of all saints, has this grace been given, that I should proclaim among the Gentiles the gospel of the unsearchable riches of Christ;

And make all men see what is the ordering of the secret which from the first has been kept in God who made all things;

This is in accordance with [the terms of] the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,

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 to every one of us has grace been given in the measure of the giving of Christ.

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

He who descended is the very same as He who also has ascended high above all the heavens, that He [His presence] might fill all things [that is, the whole universe]).

and he has given some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds 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 man, to which God has given life, in righteousness and a true and holy way of living.

Let the man who steals steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the good, so that he may have to give to him who has need.

and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ has forgiven you.

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

For be sure of this: no immoral, impure, or greedy person—for that one is [in effect] an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God [for such a person places a higher value on something other than 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 flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as also the Christ the assembly:

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.

Of this I am fully persuaded, that He who has begun a good work in you will go on completing it until the day of Jesus Christ.

For God is my witness that I long to see you with the [same] affection that Christ Jesus has [for you].

Now I want you to know, believers, that what has happened to me [this imprisonment that was meant to stop me] has actually served to advance [the spread of] the good news [regarding salvation].

My imprisonment in [the cause of] Christ has become common knowledge throughout the whole praetorian (imperial) guard and to everyone else.

Moreover, because of my imprisonment the Lord has caused most of the brothers to become confident to speak God's word more boldly and courageously than ever before.

These latter do it from love for me, for they know that God has put me where I am to defend our right to preach the good news.

Because to you it has been given in the cause of Christ not only to have faith in him, but to undergo pain on his account:

For this reason also [because He obeyed and so completely humbled Himself], God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

to hold up the message of life. That will give me ground for boasting on the day of Christ, because neither my career nor my labor has been a failure.

Even if my life-blood has to be poured as a libation on the sacred sacrifice of faith you are offering to God, I rejoice, I congratulate you all ??18 and you in turn must rejoice and congratulate me.

But you know of Timothy’s tested worth and his proven character, that he has served with me to advance the gospel like a son serving with his father.

However, I thought it necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, [who has been] my brother and companion and fellow soldier, who was also sent as your messenger to take care of my needs.

For he has been longing for all of you and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.

For it is true that he has been ill, and was apparently at the point of death; but God had pity on him, and not only on him, but also on me, to save me from having sorrow upon sorrow.

though I myself might have [some grounds for] confidence in the flesh [if I were pursuing salvation by works]. If anyone else thinks that he has reason to be confident in the flesh [that is, in his own efforts to achieve salvation], I have far more:

Not that I have already obtained it [this goal of being Christlike] or have already been made perfect, but I actively press on so that I may take hold of that [perfection] for which Christ Jesus took hold of me and made me His own.

I press towards the mark for the prize to which God has called me from above by Jesus Christ.

for our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens, from which also we await the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour,

who shall transform our body of humiliation into conformity to his body of glory, according to the working of the power which he has even to subdue all things to himself.

Finally, my brethren, whatever has the character of truth, of dignity, of justice, of chastity, whatever can procure you esteem and reputation, in a word, if there be any thing virtuous or praise-worthy, let that be the object of your enquiry.

But I am very glad in the Lord that your care for me has come to life again; though you did in fact take thought for me, but you were not able to give effect to it.

which has come to you. Indeed, just as in the whole world the gospel is constantly bearing fruit and spreading [by God’s power], just as it has been doing among you ever since the day you first heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth [becoming thoroughly and deeply acquainted with it].

and he also has told us of your love [well-grounded and nurtured] in the [Holy] Spirit.

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints (God’s people) in the Light.

For He has rescued us and has drawn us to Himself from the dominion of darkness, and has transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

All has been created through him and for him. He was before all things, and all things unite in him;

For it pleased the Father for all the fullness [of deity—the sum total of His essence, all His perfection, powers, and attributes] to dwell [permanently] in Him (the Son),

And you, being formerly alienated and hostile in mind, in works, in things evil. But now he has reconciled

yet Christ has now reconciled you [to God] in His physical body through death, in order to present you before the Father holy and blameless and beyond reproach—

[and He will do this] if you continue in the faith, well-grounded and steadfast, and not shifting away from the [confident] hope [that is a result] of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which [gospel] I, Paul, was made a minister.

I am suffering now on your behalf, but I rejoice in that; I would make up the full sum of all that Christ has to suffer in my person on behalf of the church, his Body;

of which I have been established a minister, according to the charge which God has given me to preach his gospel faithfully among you. ---

the mystery that was hidden from the ages and from the generations, but has now been made known to his sanctified.

to whom God has chosen to make known how glorious are the riches of this open secret among the heathen, namely, Christ in you the hope of your glorification.

For in him all the wealth of God's being has a living form,

Buried with him in baptism, in which also you are risen with him through the faith of the working of God, who has raised him from the dead.

And you also, at one time dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sensual nature, he has made alive together with himself. For he forgave us all our transgressions,

having erased the handwriting against us in the regulations that were hostile to us, and he has taken it up from the midst, having nailed it to the cross.

Disarming the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Let no one defraud you of your prize [your freedom in Christ and your salvation] by insisting on mock humility and the worship of angels, going into detail about visions [he claims] he has seen [to justify his authority], puffed up [in conceit] by his unspiritual mind,

And not joined to the Head, from whom all the body, being given strength and kept together through its joins and bands, has its growth with the increase of God.

For ye died, and your life has been hidden with the Christ in God.