Dual Panel1FROM Paul, by the will of God apostle of Christ Jesus, to God's people at Ephesus, to the faithful, incorporate in Christ Jesus.
2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The glory of Christ in the church
3BLESSED be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has conferred on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.
4Before the foundation of the world he chose us in Christ to be his people, to be without blemish in his sight, to be full of love;
5and he predestined us to be adopted as his children through Jesus Christ. This was his will and pleasure
6in order that the glory of his gracious gift, so graciously conferred on us in his Beloved, might redound to his praise.
7In Christ our release is secured and our sins forgiven through the shedding of his blood. In the richness of his grace
8God has lavished on us all wisdom and insight.
9He has made known to us his secret purpose, in accordance with the plan which he determined beforehand in Christ,
10to be put into effect when the time was ripe: namely, that the universe, everything in heaven and on earth, might be brought into a unity in Christ.
11In 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
12that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, should cause his glory to be praised.
13And in Christ you also -- once you had heard the message of the truth, the good news of your salvation, and had believed it -- in him you were stamped with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;
14and that Spirit is a pledge of the inheritance which will be ours when God has redeemed what is his own, to his glory and praise.
15Because of all this, now that I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and the love you bear towards all God's people,
16I never cease to give thanks for you when I mention you in my prayers.
17I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the all-glorious Father, may confer on you the spiritual gifts of wisdom and vision, with the knowledge of him that they bring.
18I pray that your inward eyes may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope to which he calls you, how rich and glorious is the share he offers you among his people in their inheritance,
19and how vast are the resources of his power open to us who have faith. His mighty strength was seen at work
20when he raised Christ from the dead, and enthroned him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
21far above all government and authority, all power and dominion, and any title of sovereignty that commands allegiance, not only in this age but also in the age to come.
22He put all things in subjection beneath his feet, and gave him as head over all things to the church
23which is his body, the fullness of him who is filling the universe in all its parts.