Ephesians

Paul’s Mission

For this reason, I, Paul, became a prisoner of Christ for you, the non-Jews.

You may have heard about the blessings God granted me for your benefit.

By a revelation, he revealed to me the knowledge of his mysterious design, as I have briefly explained.

Reading them gives you an idea of how I understand the mystery of Christ.

This mystery was not revealed to past generations, but only now through revelations given to holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

Now, the Gentiles share in the inheritance; in Christ Jesus, they are united and will enjoy the promise.

This is the good news,

of which I have become a minister by a gift from God; a grace he gave me when his power was at work in me.

This grace was given to me, the least of all the holy ones, to proclaim to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ

and to make known to everyone how the mystery hidden from the beginning in God, the Creator of all, is to be fulfilled.

Even the heavenly forces and powers will now discover through the church, the wisdom of God in its manifold expression, as the plan is being fulfilled,

which God designed from the beginning in Christ Jesus, our LORD.

In him, we receive boldness and confidence to approach God.

So I ask you not to be discouraged by the trials I endure for you, but instead to feel proud because of them.

The Love of Christ

And now, I kneel in the presence of the Father,

from whom every family in heaven and on earth has received its name.

May he strengthen in you the inner self, through his Spirit, according to the riches of his glory;

may Christ dwell in your hearts, through faith; may you be rooted and founded in love.

All of this, so that you may understand with all the holy ones, the width, the length, the height, and the depth—in a word,

that you may know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge, that you may be filled, and reach the fullness of God.

Glory to God, who shows his power in us, and can do much more than we could ask or imagine:

glory to him in the church, and in Christ Jesus, through all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.