Outline
I. Greetings (1:1-2)
- The Divine Purpose: The Glory and Headship of Christ (1:3-14)
- Prayer That Christians May Realize God's Purpose and Power (1:15-23)
- Steps Toward the Fulfillment of God's Purpose (chs. 2-3)
A. Salvation of Individuals by Grace (2:1-10)
Ephesians 1 NLT
1 This letter is from Paul, chosen by
the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am writing to God’s holy
people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.
2 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ give you grace and peace.
3 All praise to God, the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.
4Even before he made the world, God loved us
and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
5 God decided in advance to adopt us
into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is
what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
6 So we praise God for the glorious
grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.
7 He is so rich in kindness and grace
that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our
sins.
8 He has showered his kindness on us,
along with all wisdom and understanding.
9 God has now revealed to us his
mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good
pleasure.
10 And this is the plan: At the right
time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything
in heaven and on earth.
11Furthermore, because we are united with
Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance,
and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
12 God’s purpose was that we Jews who
were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God.
13And now you Gentiles have also heard the
truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he
identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long
ago.
14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he
will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his
own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
15 Ever since I first heard of your
strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere,
16 I have not stopped thanking God for
you. I pray for you constantly,
17 asking God, the glorious Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you
might grow in your knowledge of God.
18 I pray that your hearts will be
flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given
to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious
inheritance.
19 I also pray that you will understand
the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the
same mighty power
20 that raised Christ from the dead and
seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly
realms.
21 Now he is far above any ruler or
authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also
in the world to come.
22 God has put all things under the
authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of
the church.
23 And the church is
his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere
with himself.
Ephesians 2 NLT
1 Once you were dead because of your
disobedience and your many sins.
2 You used to live in sin, just like
the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the
unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to
obey God.
3 All of us used to live that way,
following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our
very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he
loved us so much,
5 that even though we were dead because
of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only
by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
6 For he raised us from the dead along
with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united
with Christ Jesus.
7 So God can point to us in all future
ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us,
as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
8 God saved you by his grace when you
believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
9 Salvation is not a reward for the
good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
10For we are God’s masterpiece. He has
created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us
long ago.
11 Don’t forget that you Gentiles used
to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were
proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not
their hearts.
12 In those days you were living apart
from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and
you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this
world without God and without hope.
13 But now you have been united with
Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought
near to him through the blood of Christ.
14 For Christ himself has brought peace
to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the
cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.
15 He did this by ending the system of
law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and
Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups.
16Together as one body, Christ reconciled
both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward
each other was put to death.
17 He brought this Good News of peace to
you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were
near.
18 Now all of us can come to the Father
through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
19 So now you Gentiles are no longer
strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people.
You are members of God’s family.
20 Together, we are his house, built on
the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ
Jesus himself.
21 We are carefully joined together in
him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.
22 Through him you
Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his
Spirit.
Ephesians 3 NLT
1 When I think of all this, I, Paul, a
prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles.
2 assuming, by the way, that you know
God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you
Gentiles.
3 As I briefly wrote earlier, God
himself revealed his mysterious plan to me.
4As you read what I have written, you will
understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ.
5 God did not reveal it to previous
generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and
prophets.
6 And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles
and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by
God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of
blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.
7 By God’s grace and mighty power, I
have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.
8Though I am the least deserving of all
God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about
the endless treasures available to them in Christ.
9 I was chosen to explain to everyone
this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from
the beginning.
10 God’s purpose in all this was to use
the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers
and authorities in the heavenly places.
11 This was his eternal plan, which he
carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.
12Because of Christ and our faith in him, we
can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.
13 So please don’t lose heart because of
my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored.
14 When I think of all this, I fall to
my knees and pray to the Father,
15 the Creator of everything in heaven
and on earth.
16 I pray that from his glorious,
unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his
Spirit.
17 Then Christ will make his home in
your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and
keep you strong.
18 And may you have the power to
understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how
deep his love is.
19May you experience the love of Christ,
though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with
all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
20 Now all glory to God, who is able,
through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than
we might ask or think.
21 Glory to him in the
church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
