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“To: Those Who Are Set Apart to God as a Special Holy Possession in Ephesus”
1 From: Paul, an apostle of Jesus the Messiah by the will of God.
To: Those who are set apart to God as a special holy possession in Ephesus and are faithful in union with Messiah Jesus.
2 To all of ᵖyou+ grace, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus the Messiah.
“Blessed Be the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus the Messiah”
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, who has blessed us with every blessing of the Spirit among the heavenly ones+ through union with the Messiah,
4 just as he planned to choose us for himself in union with the Messiah before the foundation of the world, so that we would be his special holy possession and without blemish in his sight,
5 in love deciding before the ages to deliver us in the greater exodus of the firstborn son through Jesus the Messiah, in accordance with his glad decision and will,
6 so that we would praise the greatness of his gift, which he has so graciously given to us in union with his beloved Son;
7 in union with whom we have experienced paid release from slavery through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses,
8 in accordance with the riches of his gift, which he lavished on us along with all wisdom and understanding,
9 having made known to us the mystery of his will, in accordance with his glad decision, which he placed on public display in the Messiah,
10 in order to tend to his plan of salvation when the appointed times had been completed, to put the whole creation under the authority of the Messiah, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, under him;
11 in union with whom we have also been appointed heirs, having been chosen before the ages according to the plan of the one who causes all things to work out in conformity with his purpose and will,
12 so that we would sing in praise of his greatness, we who were the first to place our hope in the Messiah;
13 in union with whom you, too, when you heard the message of truth, the gospel about the salvation that has come to you; in union with whom, when you also believed, you were marked with God’s seal of ownership, the promised Holy Spirit,
14 who is a down payment toward the inheritance all of us will receive at the final slavery-ending release of those whom God has purchased to be his own, so that we would sing in praise of his greatness.
“I Pray That He Would Give Light to the Eyes of Your Hearts and Minds”
15 That is the reason why I, too, since the time I first heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the Lord’s holy people,
16 have not stopped thanking God for you, continually bringing you before him in my prayers.
17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, the Father of glory, through his Spirit, would give you wisdom and continue to reveal truth to you so that you may grow in your knowledge of him.
18 I pray that he would give light to the eyes of your hearts and minds, so that you may understand the hope to which he has summoned you, the riches of the glorious inheritance he has promised you among the Lord’s holy people,
19 and the vast and extraordinary power he has put to work in all of us who are placing our faith in him. That power is the same mighty power and strength that he
20 put to work in the Messiah when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand among the heavenly ones,
21 high above every ruler and authority and power and dominion and every name that is called upon, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.
22 God has “subjected under his feet the whole creation”;+ he has appointed the Messiah as head over all creation to help and to prepare the assembly,
23 which is the Messiah’s body, the completion of the one who is himself bringing the whole creation, in all respects, toward its final goal.