Ephesians 1

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the consecrated ones [in Ephesus] who are also faithful in Christ Jesus: ²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the celestial regions in Christ. ⁴For he chose us in him before the world was founded, so that we would be consecrated and unblemished before him. In love, ⁵he marked us out in advance for adoption as his own children through Jesus Christ, according to the kind intention of his will, ⁶to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely lavished on us in the Beloved.

⁷In him we have liberation through his blood—the release from our false steps—according to the riches of his grace, ⁸which he caused to overflow toward us. In all wisdom and insight, ⁹he made known to us the sacred secret of his will, according to his kind intention which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰as a plan for the administration of the fullness of the times: to bring all things together under one head in Christ—the things in the heavens and the things on the earth.

¹¹In him we were also claimed as God’s own portion, having been marked out in advance according to the purpose of the one who works out all things according to the counsel of his will. ¹²This was so that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might exist for the praise of his glory. ¹³In him you also, when you heard the word of truth—the joyful news of your salvation—and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. ¹⁴This Spirit is the guaranteeing deposit of our inheritance, looking toward the full liberation of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.

¹⁵For this reason, since I heard of the faith you have in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the consecrated ones, ¹⁶I never stop giving thanks for you as I make mention of you in my prayers. ¹⁷I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the personal knowledge of him. ¹⁸I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the consecrated ones, ¹⁹and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe. This power operates according to the working of his mighty strength, ²⁰which he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the celestial regions. ²¹He is now far above every ruler, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. ²²And God "subjected all things under his feet" and gave him to the assembly as head over all things. ²³This assembly is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.