From: Paul, an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by God's will. To: His holy and faithful people in Ephesus who are in union with the Messiah Jesus.

that you once practiced as you lived according to the ways of this present world and according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now active in those who are disobedient.

For we are God's masterpiece, created in the Messiah Jesus to perform good actions that God prepared long ago to be our way of life.

That is why you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household,

You, too, are being built in him, along with the others, into a place for God's Spirit to dwell.

The gentiles are heirs-in-common, members-in-common of the body, and common participants in what was promised by the Messiah Jesus through the gospel.

until all of us are united in the faith and in the full knowledge of God's Son, and until we attain mature adulthood and the full standard of development in the Messiah.

They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart.

"Be angry, yet do not sin." Do not let the sun set while you are still angry,

For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light,

and have nothing to do with the unfruitful actions that darkness produces. Instead, expose them for what they are.

making the best use of your time because the times are evil.

For we are parts of his body of his flesh and of his bones.

Do not do this only while you're being watched in order to please them, but be like slaves of the Messiah, who are determined to obey God's will.

I am sending him to you for this very reason, so that you may know how we are doing and that he may encourage your hearts.