The Letter of Paul to the Ephesians
1 FROM PAUL, APOSTLE of Christ Jesus, commissioned by the
will of God, to God's people at Ephesus, believers incorporate in
Christ Jesus.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.
In Christ he chose us before the world was founded, to be dedicated, to be
without blemish in his sight, to be full of love; and he destined us — such
was his will and pleasure — to be accepted as his sons through Jesus Christ ,
in order that the glory of his gracious gift, so graciously bestowed on us in
his Beloved, might redound to his praise. For in Christ our release is
secured and our sins are forgiven through the shedding of his blood.
Therein lies the richness of God's free grace lavished upon us, imparting
full wisdom and insight. He has made known to us his hidden purpose —
such was his will and pleasure determined beforehand in Christ — to be
put into effect when the time was ripe: namely, that the universe, all in
heaven and on earth, might be brought into a unity in Christ.
In Christ indeed we have been given our share in the heritage, as was
decreed in his design whose purpose is everywhere at work. For it was his
will that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, should cause his
glory to be praised. And you too, when you heard the message of the
truth, the good news of your salvation, and had believed it, became in-
corporate in Christ and received the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; and
that Spirit is the pledge that we shall enter upon our heritage, when God
has redeemed what is his own, to his praise and glory.
Because of all this, now that I have heard of the faith you have in the
Lord Jesus and of the love you bear towards all God's people, I never
cease to give thanks for you when I mention you in my prayers. I pray that
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the all-glorious Father, may give you the
spiritual powers of wisdom and vision, by which there comes the know-
ledge of him. I pray that your inward eyes may be illumined, so that you
may know what is the hope to which he calls you, what the wealth and
glory of the share he offers you among his people in their heritage, and how
vast the resources of his power open to us who trust in him. They are
measured by his strength and the might which he exerted in Christ when
he raised him from the dead, when he enthroned him at his right hand in
the heavenly realms, far above all government and authority, all power and
dominion, and any title of sovereignty that can be named, not only in this
age but in the age to come. He put everything in subjection beneath his feet,
and appointed him as supreme head of the church, which is his body and
as such holds within it the fullness of him who himself receives the entire
fullness of God.
2 TIME WAS when you were dead in your sins and wickedness, when you
followed the wicked ways of this present age, when you obeyed the com-
mander of the spiritual powers of the air, the spirit now at work among
God's rebel subjects. We too were once of their number: we all lived our
lives in sensuality, and obeyed the promptings of our own instincts and
notions. In our natural condition we, like the rest, lay under the dreadful
judgement of God. But God, rich in mercy, for the great love he bore us,
brought us to life with Christ even when we were dead in our sins; it is by
his grace you are saved. And in union with Christ Jesus he raised us up and
enthroned us with him in the heavenly realms, so that he might display in
the ages to come how immense are the resources of his grace, and how great
his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by his grace you are saved,
through trusting him; it is not your own doing. It is God's gift, not a
reward for work done. There is nothing for anyone to boast of. For we are
God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to devote ourselves to the good
deeds for which God has designed us.
Remember then your former condition: you, Gentiles as you are out-
wardly, you, the 'uncircumcised' so called by those who are called 'the
circumcised' (but only with reference to an outward rite) — you were at that
time separate from Christ, strangers to the community of Israel, outside
God's covenants and the promise that goes with them. Your world was a
world without hope and without God. But now in union with Christ Jesus
you who were far off have been brought near through the shedding of
Christ's blood. For he is himself our peace. Gentiles and Jews, he has made
the two one, and in his own body of flesh and blood has broken down the
enmity which stood like a dividing wall between them; for he annulled the
law with its rules and regulations, so as to create out of two a single new
humanity in himself, thereby making peace. This was his purpose, to
reconcile the two in a single body to God through the cross, on which he
killed the enmity.
So he came and proclaimed the good news: peace to you who were far
off, and peace to those who were near by; for through him we both alike
have access to the Father in the one Spirit. Thus you are no longer aliens in
a foreign land, but fellow-citizens with God's people, members of God's
household. You are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and
prophets, and Christ Jesus himself is the foundation-stone. In him the
whole building is bonded together and grows into a holy temple in the
Lord. In him you too are being built with all the rest into a spiritual dwell-
ing for God.
3 WITH THIS IN MIND I make my prayer, I, Paul, who in the cause of you
Gentiles am now the prisoner of Christ Jesus — for surely you have heard
how God has assigned the gift of his grace to me for your benefit. It was
by a revelation that his secret was made known to me. I have already written
a brief account of this, and by reading it you may perceive that I under-
stand the secret of Christ. In former generations this was not disclosed to
the human race; but now it has been revealed by inspiration to his dedicated
apostles and prophets, that through the Gospel the Gentiles are joint heirs
with the Jews, part of the same body, sharers together in the promise made
in Christ Jesus. Such is the gospel of which I was made a minister, by
God's gift , bestowed unmerited on me in the working of his power. To
me, who am less than the least of all God's people, he has granted of his
grace the privilege of proclaiming to the Gentiles the good news of the
unfathomable riches of Christ, and of bringing to light how this hidden
purpose was to be put into effect. It was hidden for long ages in God the
creator of the universe, in order that now, through the church, the wisdom
of God in all its varied forms might be made known to the rulers and
authorities in the realms of heaven. This is in accord with his age-long pur-
pose, which he achieved in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him we have access to
God with freedom, in the confidence borne of trust in him. I beg you, then,
not to lose heart over my sufferings for you; indeed, they are your glory.
With this in mind, then, I kneel in prayer to the Father, from whom
every family in heaven and on earth takes its name, that out of the trea-
sures of his glory he may grant you strength and power through his Spirit
in your inner being, that through faith Christ may dwell in your hearts in
love. With deep roots and firm foundations, you may be strong to grasp,
with all god's people, what is the breadth and length and height and depth
of the love of Christ, and to know it, though it is beyond knowledge. So
you may attain to fullness of being, the fullness of God himself.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or
conceive, by the power which is at work among us, to him be glory in the
church and in Christ Jesus from generation to generation evermore!
Amen.
4 I ENTREAT YOU, THEN — I a prisoner for the Lord's sake: as God has
called you, live up to your calling. Be humble always and gentle, and patient
too. Be forbearing with one another sand charitable. Spare no effort to
make fast with bonds of peace the unity which the Spirit gives. There is one
body and one Spirit, as there is also one hope held out in God's call to you;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over
all and through all and in all.
But each one of us has been given his gift, his due portion of Christ's bounty.
Therefore Scripture says:
'He ascended into the heights
with captives in his train;
he gave gifts to men.'
Now, the word 'ascended' implies that he also descended to the lowest
level, down to the very earth. He who descended is no other than he who
ascended far above all heavens, so that he might fill the universe. And
these were his gifts: some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists,
some pastors and teachers, to equip God's people for work in his service,
to the building up of the body of Christ. So shall we all at last attain to the
mature manhood, measured by nothing less than the full stature of Christ.
We are no longer to be children, tossed by the waves and whiled about by
every fresh gust of teaching, dupes of crafty rogues and their deceitful
schemes. No, let us speak the truth in love; so shall we fully grow up into
Christ. He is the head, and on him the whole body depends. Bonded and
knit together by every constituent joint, the whole frame grows through the
due activity of each part, and builds itself up in love.
This then is my word to you, and I urge it upon you in the Lord's name.
Give up living like pagans with their good-for nothing notions. Their wits
are beclouded, they are strangers to the life that is in God, because ignor-
ance prevails among them and their minds have grown hard as stone. Dead
to all feeling, they have abandoned themselves to vice, and stop at nothing
to satisfy their foul desires. But that is how you learned Christ. For
were you not told of him, were you not as Christians taught the truth as it
is in Jesus? — that, leaving your former way of life, you must lay aside that
old human nature which, deluded by its lusts, is sinking towards death.
You must be made new in mind and spirit, and put on the new nature of
God's creating, which shows itself in the just and devout life called for by
the truth.
Then throw off falsehood; speak the truth to each other, for all of us are
the parts of one body.
If you are angry, do not let anger lead you into sin; do not let sunset find
the parts of one body.
The thief must give up stealing, and instead work hard and honestly
with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with the
needy.
No bad language must pass your lips, but only what is good and helpful
to the occasion, so that it brings a blessing to those who hear it. And do not
grieve the Holy Spirit of God, for that Spirit is the seal with which you
were marked for the day of our final liberation. Have done with spite and
passion, all angry shouting and cursing, and bad feeling of every kind.
Be generous to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as
God in Christ forgave you.
5 In a word, as God's dear children, try to be like him, and live in love as
Christ loved you, and gave himself up on your behalf as a offering and
sacrifice whose fragrance is pleasing to God.
Fornication and indecency of any kind, or ruthless greed, must not be so
much as mentioned among you, as befits the people of God. No coarse,
stupid, or flippant talk; these things are out of place; you should rather be
thanking God. For be very sure of this: no one given to fornication or
indecency, or the greed which makes an idol of gain, has any share in the
kingdom of Christ and of God.
Let no one deceive you with shallow arguments; it is for all these things
that God's dreadful judgement is coming upon his rebel subjects. Have no
part or lot with them. For though you were once all darkness, now as
Christians you are light. Live like men who are at home in daylight, for
where light is, there all goodness springs up, all justice and truth. Try to
find out what would please the Lord; take no part in the barren deeds of
darkness, but show them up for what they are. The things they do in secret
it would be shameful even to mention. But everything, when once the light
has shown it up, is illumined, and everything thus illumined is all light.
And so the hymn says:
'Awake, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine upon you.'
Be most careful then how you conduct yourselves: like sensible men,
not like simpletons. Use the present opportunity to the full, for these are
evil days. So do not be fools, but try to understand what the will of the
Lord is. Do not give way to drunkenness and the dissipation that goes with
it, but let the Holy Spirit fill you: speak to one another in psalms, hymns,
and songs; sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord; and in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ give thanks every day for everything to our
God and Father.
Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, be subject to your husbands as to the Lord; for the man is the
head of the woman, just as Christ also is the head of the church. Christ is,
indeed, the Saviour of the body; but just as the church is subject to Christ,
so must women be to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church and gave
himself up for it, to consecrate it, cleansing it by water and word, so that
he might present the church to himself all glorious, with no stain or wrinkle
or anything of the sort, but holy and without blemish. In the same way men
also are bound to love their wives, as they love their own bodies. In loving
his wife a man loves himself. For no one ever hated his own body: on the
contrary, he provides and cares for it; and that is how Christ treats the
church, because it is his body, of which we are living parts. Thus it is that
(in the words of Scripture) 'a man shall leave his father and mother and
shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'. It is a great
truth that is hidden here. I for my part refer it to Christ and to the church,
but it applies also individually: each of you must love his wife as his very
self, and the woman must see to it that she pays her husband all respect.
6 Children, obey your parents, for it is right that you should. 'Honour
your father and mother' is the first commandment with a promise attached,
in the words: 'that it may be well with you and that you may live long in
the land'.
You fathers, again, must not goad your children to resentment, but
give them the instruction, and the correction, which belong to a Christian
upbringing.
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, single-
mindedly, as serving Christ. Do not offer merely the outward show of
service, to curry favour with men, but, as slaves of Christ, do whole-
heartedly the will of God. Give the cheerful service of those who serve the
Lord, not men. For you know that whatever good each man may do, slave
or free, will be repaid him by the Lord.
You masters, also, must do the same by them. Give up using threats;
remember you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no
favourites.
Finally then, find your strength in the Lord, in his mighty power. Put
on all the armour which God provides, so that you may be able to stand
firm against the devices of the devil. For our fight is not against human foes,
but against cosmic powers, against the authorities and potentates of this
dark world, against the superhuman forces of evil in the heavens. There-
fore, take up God's armour; then you will be able to stand your ground
when things are at their worst, to complete every task and still to stand.
Stand firm, I say. Fasten on the belt of truth; for coat of mail put on
integrity; let the shoes on your feet be the gospel of peace, to give you firm
footing; and, with all these, take up the great shield of faith, with which you
will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take salvation
for helmet; for sword, take that which the Spirit gives you — the words that
come from God. Give yourselves wholly to prayer and entreaty; pray on
every occasion in the power of the Spirit. To this end keep watch and per-
severe, always interceding for all God's people; and pray for me, that I may
be granted the right words when I open my mouth, and may boldly and
freely make known his hidden purpose, for which I am an ambassador —
in chains. Pray that I may speak of it boldly, as it is my duty to speak.
You will want to know about my affairs, and how I am; Tychicus will
give you all the news. He is our dear brother and trustworthy helper in the
Lord's work. I am sending him to you on purpose to let you know all
about us, and to put fresh heart into you.
Peace to the brotherhood and love, with faith, from God the Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. God's grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus
Christ, grace and immortality.
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
Posted Dec 30, 2018, 3:14 PM UTC
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