Ephesians

1:1 Paul, an apostle sent of Christ Jesus through the desire of God, to the holy ones living in Ephesus, faithful inside of Christ Jesus. 2 Grace to you and peace out from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ.

3 We bless and speak well of the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the One having blessed and spoken well of us with every spiritual speaking of goodness and blessing in the heavenly realms inside of Christ. 4 In exactly the same way that He selected us inside of Jesus separate from the founding and structure of the cosmos, so we are holy and blameless inside the seeing and face of Jesus, inside all the sphere of love. 5 He also pro-determined us into being placed and set forth as sons all the way through Jesus Christ and into Himself [Father God], down to the finest details of the good pleasure of His desire, 6 into the purpose and praise of the inherent and intrinsic value of His grace, with which God has freely graced us inside of the Beloved One.

7 Inside of that Beloved One, we possess redemption and full deliverance [from our old selves] through His blood, the “forgiveness of sins,” that is, the elimination of all falling away, by all the details of His abundant and wealthy grace 8 which He [Father God] actively abounds into us inside of all wisdom and practical gut-level heart thinking. 9 He has already made known to us the mystery, that is, the hidden secret of His desire, according to His good pleasure which He purposed and set forth inside of Jesus, 10 for the stewardship over and management of the full and complete season or opportune time; this secret of gathering and bringing together ALL into Christ, all upon the heavens and all upon the earth inside of Him. 11 Inside this same Jesus, we also were lot-cast, that is, we were given place by divine choice, having already been pro-determined according to God’s Pro-Thesis, His set-forth purpose, Christ, Who is energeoing all down to the finest details of the counsel and deliberate wisdom arising out of God’s desire; 12 which is that we who actively hope and expect inside of Christ might be the praise and the full outward expression of His glory, His great and intrinsic value.

13 Inside of Jesus, you also, having heard the words of truth, the good news of your salvation, you, having actively believed, were sealed inside of Him also, that is, owned by and owning the Spirit of Promise, that is, the Holy; 14 who is the down-payment, the first installment of our inheritance, proceeding into the full release of the complete and abundant possession or ownership, into being the praise, the full outward expression of His glory, His great and intrinsic value.

15 Because of this, I also, having heard of the faith among you inside the Lord Jesus and of your love into all the holy ones, 16 do not cease speaking good grace and giving thanks for your sake, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I pray that the God of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Father of all glory and value, might give you the Spirit of wisdom and unveiling, that is, the Spirit that takes off the cover that hides, inside of the acknowledgement of Him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart be enlightened or illuminated so that you may perceive what is the hope of His calling and summons, what are the riches of His glory and value regarding His inheritance inside the holy ones, 19 and what is the surpassing and beyond-all greatness of His power into us. For we are actively believing out from the Energeia of His mighty and absolute strength 20 which He energeoed inside of Christ, having awakened and raised Him out from the dead, and having seated Him inside of His right hand inside the heavenly realms 21 high above every other source or influence, authority, power or domination and over every name being named, not only inside this age, but also inside the age about to come.

22 And God put all under the feet of Jesus and gave Him to be head, that is, the one who unites, for the sake of all the Church, that is, of all the gathering together. 23 The Church is His body, the fullness of Christ, that is, the full meaning that is Christ filling full all inside of all, that is, Jesus filling with Himself everything in everyone.


2:1 And you, being once dead [a.] in your own falling short and your own missing the mark, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the cosmos of this age, according to the sources and influences of the authority of the air, the spirit now energeoing inside the sons of willful unbelief, that is, the sons of refusal, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the desires of the flesh, doing the wishes of the flesh and of its thinking; and were by nature children of angry opposition, just as the others.

a. Living in a false story separate from Christ.

4 But God, being abundant and overflowing in mercy through His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in false steps and falling short, made us alive together, that is, sharing together as believers the same life with Christ (by grace you are saved), 6 and raised us up together, that is, sharing together the same being raised out from the dead, and seated us together, that is, sharing together as believers being seated together in the heavenly realms inside of Christ Jesus, 7 that He might show forth and prove in the coming ages the surpassing riches and abundance of His grace, in goodness upon us inside of Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you are saved, through faith; and this not of yourselves, rather, it is the gift of God [Himself], 9 not out from works, that is, human performance, so that no one might boast. 10 We are indeed His workmanship, His poem, having been formed inside of Christ Jesus for good works prepared out from God, that is, out from His pro-knowing, that in them we should walk. 

11 Therefore remember that you used to be part of the ethnic peoples in the flesh, (those called “the not circumcised” by those who are called “the circumcised,” as made in the flesh by hand, that is, outward form by human effort) – 12 that you were, at that time, separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, not having hope and without God inside the cosmos. 13 Now, however, inside of Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have become near inside of the blood of Christ.

14 Indeed, He Himself is our peace, having made both Judeans and ethnic peoples one, 15 and having dissolved the wall of division or separation, having annulled, abolished, done away with, caused to cease in His own flesh the hostility of the law of commandments publicly decreed [the old covenant], that from the two [Judeans and ethnic peoples] He might create inside Himself one new man, making peace. 16 And that He might reconcile both completely to God, that is, change from one state of being to another, inside one body through the cross, having killed in that cross the hostility. 17 Having come again, He proclaimed the gospel of peace to you who were once far away and peace to those now near. 18 For through Jesus we [c] possess a coming into or entrance into the Father inside of one Spirit.

b. That once existed between Judeans and the ethnic peoples.

c. Both Judeans and ethnic peoples.

19 So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow-citizens with the holy ones and of the household, the family, the domestic intimacy of God, 20 having been constructed together [as a House] upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone and the secret place or bond, 21 inside of Whom the whole building, being fitted together, is increasing into a temple, holy inside the Lord. 22 Inside of Jesus, you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God inside the sphere of Spirit.


3:1 For this reason, I, Paul, bound in Christ Jesus for the sake of you who are of the ethnic peoples, 2 (if indeed you have heard of the stewardship and management of the grace of God having been given me towards you); 3 that, by the unveiling of revelation He made known to me the mystery (just as I have written before in brief, 4 by which you were able, in reading it, to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as it now has been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in Spirit, 6 that the ethnic peoples are joint-heirs, that is, share in the same inheritance, and belong to the same body, and are partakers together [d]  of the promise inside of Christ Jesus through the gospel; 7 of which I became a servant according to the gift of the grace of God which was given to me, down to the finest details of His power energeoing in me.

d. Former Judeans and former ethnic peoples

8 To me, the very least of all saints, was given this grace, to preach to the ethnic peoples the unsearchable and without-end riches and abundance of Christ 9 and to cause all to see what is the stewardship of the mystery, having been hidden and kept secret from the ages inside of God, the One who created all. 10 That mystery is that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might be known by the sources, influences, and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to the set-forth purpose, that is, the Pro-Thesis of the ages, which He accomplished inside of Christ Jesus, our Lord, 12 in Whom we have the boldness to speak and access or entrance [into the Father] in confidence, all the way through His faith. 13 Therefore, I urge you not to lose heart because of my pressures of travail within and without, my travail for your sake, which is your glory and great value.

14 For this reason I bow my knees into [connection with] the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 out from Whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named. 16 I pray that He might give you, down to the finest details of the riches of His glory and great value with power, to be strengthened through His Spirit in the inner man, that is, the inner self – [Christ our only story]. 17 I pray that Christ might dwell inside your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 might be fully able to seize hold of, to comprehend together with all the holy ones, what is the breadth and length and height and depth [the full extent of God], 19 and to know even more the surpassing, beyond-all knowledge of the love of Christ, that you might be filled unto and with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to the One who is able above all to do hyper-abundantly more than we ask or think, according to the power energeoing inside of us, 21 to Him be the glory inside the Church and inside Christ Jesus, to all the generations of the seasons of the ages. Let it be so [in me as You speak] – it is so.


4:1 I, therefore, bound in the Lord, exhort you to walk worthily of the calling to which you were called, 2 with all humility, lowliness of mind, and gentleness with long-suffering, bearing with one another inside of love. 3 Be quickly and eagerly diligent to watch over the oneness of Spirit inside the bond, the connecting bands, of peace and rest. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called inside of one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and INSIDE OF ALL.

7 But to each one of us has been given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8 Therefore, he says, “Having ascended into the heights, He took captivity captive, and gave gifts to men” (Psalm 68:18). 9 Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean except that He also descended into the lower portions of the earth? 10 The One having descended is the same One who also ascended above all the heavens that He might fill all, that is, that He might make all complete by filling them to capacity with Himself.

11 And He Himself gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some shepherds and teachers 12 towards the preparation of the saints for the work of service, into the building up, the construction of the body of Christ, 13 until we all come down to the unity of the faith and acknowledgement of the Son of God, into being a complete or perfect man, into the measurement of the maturity of the fullness or completion of Christ [that is, the Church], 14 that we might no longer be infants, being tossed by waves and being carried about by every wind of teaching, in the dice-playing trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 BUT, speaking truth [that is, the good things of Christ Jesus] inside of love, we should increase into Him in all things, who is the head and center, Christ— 16 out from Whom the whole body, being joined together and being held together through every joint of its supply or provision, according to the energeia inside the sharing from every part, causes growth of the body into the construction of itself inside of love.

17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer to walk as the [unregenerate] peoples are walking, in the emptiness or futility of their minds, [e] 18 being darkened in their understanding, being alienated from the life of God through ignorance and through the hardness of their hearts, 19 who, having cast off all care, have given themselves to lawless insolence into the working of impurity in all desire for advantage over others. 

20 You, however, have not learned this way in Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and inside of Him have been taught, just as truth is inside of Jesus, 22 that you have already set aside, concerning your former way of life, the old and worn out man, which is being corrupted according to deceitful or false desires, [f] 23 being already renewed in your spirit mind. 24 And you have already and actively put on and enclothed yourself with the new man, which according to God has already been created inside of the just innocence and holy devotion of truth.

e. That is, the false story of a self, separate from Christ.

f. Not the true you, which is the story of Christ.

g. The good things of Christ

h. To false accusation inside the story you share together

i. That is, words contrary to Christ speaking

25 Therefore, having already put off and set aside the false [story of an old self], “let each one speak truth [g] together with his neighbor” (Zechariah 8:16) BECAUSE we are members of one another. 26 If you are angry, do not sin (Psalm 4:4 & 37:8), that is, do not let the sun set on your anger, 27 neither give place or opportunity to the devil. [h] 28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him toil productively, working with his own hands what is good that he might have something to impart to another who is in need. 29 Do not speak unwholesome words, but rather speak good things towards building up or filling the needs of others, that your words might impart grace [God Himself] into those who are hearing you speak. 30 And do not grieve the Spirit, holy of God, inside of Whom you were sealed into the day of redemption and of full release. 31 Let all bitterness, anger, and wrath, all speaking against and abusive language be lifted up from you, along with all underlying malice. 32 And be kind with one another, tender-hearted, forgiving, that is, giving favor to each other, in exactly the same way that God inside of Christ gave favor freely to you.


5:1 Therefore be just like God, as beloved children, 2 and walk inside of love in just the same way that Christ also loved us and gave Himself to us for our sakes, an offering and a sacrifice to God, into a sweet-smelling aroma.

3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is suitable for holy ones, 4 and filthiness and foolish talking or crude joking, which are not suitable, but rather good speaking, that is giving thanks and speaking good grace. 5 This indeed you know, that any fornicator or unclean or covetous person, who is an idolater, has no part in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words. for because of these things the settled opposition of God comes upon the sons of angry opposition.

7 Therefore, do not be partakers or sharers with them, 8 for you were indeed once darkness, but now are light inside the Lord. Walk as children of light, 9 for the fruit of light is in all goodness, justice, and truth, 10 proving what is well-pleasing to the Lord. 11 And do not have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, instead, moreover, show them [by the goodness of Christ] to be wrong. 12 Indeed, the things that are done by them in secret are shameful even to mention. 13 But everything being proven wrong by the light is indeed made visible. Light is that which makes visible. 14 Therefore, he says, “Awake you who are sleeping and rise up out from the dead, and Christ will shine forth from you” (Isaiah 26:19 & 60:1).

15 Take heed, therefore, to walk carefully, not as unwise, but as wise, 16 rescuing the time because the days are evil.

17 Therefore, do not be foolish, that is, do not be without reason, but set yourself together with the desire of the Lord. 18 And do not be drunk with wine in which is wastefulness; instead be filled with Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord>, 20 speaking good grace at all times, giving thanks for the sake of all things in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, to Him who is God and Father, 21 submitting to one another inside of the fear of Christ.

22 Wives, be to your own husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is the head, that which unites, and center of the church, and He Himself is Savior of the body. 24 But even as the church is passively submitted to an active Christ, so also wives to their own husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives in just the same way that Christ also loved the church and traded Himself for her, for her sake, 26 the He might make her holy, having already cleansed her by the washing of water in word [in the words of His good speaking], 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious and fulfilled Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy, devoted, and blameless. 28 So husbands also ought to love their wives as their own bodies, for one who loves his wife loves himself. 29 Indeed, no one at any time hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, in just the same way also that Christ nourishes and cherishes the Church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. 31 “Because of this, a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined with his wife and into one flesh the two will be” (Genesis 2:24). This is a great mystery, but I speak of Christ and the Church. 33 However, let each individual love his wife as himself, and the wife that she might respect her husband.


6:1 Children, listen to and obey your parents inside the Lord; this indeed is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” which is the first commandment with a promise, 3 “that it might be well with you and that you will live long upon the earth” (Deuteronomy 5:16). 4 And fathers, do not provoke or exasperate your children, but bring them to maturity, and nourish them inside of the Lord’s training, instruction, and counsel.

5 Slaves, listen to and obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your hearts as unto Christ, 6 not with eye service as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the desire of God out from your heart, 7 rendering service with good will as to the Lord and not to men, 8 knowing that each one, of whatever good he might have done, will receive back from the Lord all that was lost, whether slave or free. 9 And masters, do towards them the same things you would have done to yourself. Give up threatening, being aware that both your master and theirs is inside the heavens and partiality is not found there with Him.

10 For the remaining time, be empowered and filled with strength inside of the Lord and inside of His mighty strength. 11 Put on and enclothe yourself with the full armor of God in order to be able to stand against the methods and schemes of the devil [the one who accuses]. 12 Because we are not wrestling or contesting against blood and flesh, but against the rulers and sources, against the authorities and influences, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against the spiritual evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Because of this, take up the complete armor of God that you might be able to withstand and to set against in the evil day, and in having done all things, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having girded your loins in truth, and having put on the breastplate of just innocence and justice, 15 and having shod your feet in the firm-footing and readiness of the gospel of peace, 16 and having taken up the shield of faith in all, by which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the speaking of God, through prayer and supplication, 18 praying in every season inside of Spirit and into this very thing, watching in all perseverance and supplication for all holy ones. 19 And also pray for me, that to me might be given words in the opening of my mouth to make known the mystery of the gospel in boldness, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I might be bold in the gospel, as it is necessary for me to speak.

21 But that you also might know the things concerning me, what I am doing, all will be made known to you by Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, 22 whom I have sent to you for this purpose, that you might know the things concerning us and that he might encourage your hearts.

23 Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all those loving our Lord, Jesus Christ, inside of the inability to decay.