Letters to the Churches

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.

For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love

He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,

to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

And He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ

as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ.

In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,

in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory.

And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,

I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.

I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,

and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength,

which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms,

far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church,

which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,