1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus^a and faithful in Christ Jesus: ²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise to God for Spiritual Blessings

³Blessed is^b the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love,^c ⁵having predestined us to adoption through Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶to the praise of the glory of his grace that he bestowed on us in the beloved, ⁷in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸that he caused to abound to us in all wisdom and insight, ⁹making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in him, ¹⁰for the administration of the fullness of times, to bring together all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in him ¹¹in whom also we were chosen, having been predestined according to the purpose of the One who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹²that we who hoped beforehand in Christ should be for the praise of his glory, ¹³in whom also you, when you heard^* the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also when you believed you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

Prayer for Spiritual Wisdom

¹⁵Because of this I also, hearing of your faith^d in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, ¹⁶do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention in my prayers, ¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father^e,^* may give you a spirit of wisdom^* and revelation in the knowledge of him ¹⁸(the eyes of your hearts having been enlightened), so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance among the saints, ¹⁹and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty strength ²⁰which he has worked^f in Christ, raising^* him from the dead and seating him^* at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name named, not only in this age but also in the coming one, ²²and he subjected all things under his feet^g and gave him as head over all things to the church, ²³which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

Made Alive in Christ

2And you, although you were dead^a^* in your trespasses and sins, ²in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit now working in the sons of disobedience, ³among whom also we all formerly lived in the desires of our flesh, doing the will^b of the flesh and of the mind, and we were children of wrath^c by nature, as also the rest of them were.

⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, ⁵and we being dead in trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved), ⁶and raised us together and seated us together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that he might show in the coming ages the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹it is not from works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are his creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we may walk in them.

Jewish and Gentile Believers United in Christ

¹¹Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, the so-called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision in the flesh, made by hands, ¹²that you were at that time apart from Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, not having hope, and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you, the ones who once were far away, have become near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition, the enmity, in his flesh, ¹⁵invalidating the law of commandments in ordinances, in order that he might create the two in himself into one new man, thus^* making peace, ¹⁶and might reconcile both in one body to God through the cross, killing the enmity in himself.^d ¹⁷And coming, he proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to the ones who were near, ¹⁸because through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹Consequently, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,^e ²¹in whom the whole building, joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²²in whom you also are built up together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.^f

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Footnotes

aA number of the earliest and most important manuscripts omit “in Ephesus,” though it is hard to make sense of the line without this phrase (cf. rsv, “to the saints who are also faithful”)
bOr “blessed be”
cOr “before him, having predestined us in love” (the phrase “in love” could go either with v. 4 or v. 5)
*This participle (“hearing”) and the following one (“believing”) are understood as temporal
dLiterally “the according to you faith”
eLiterally “the Father of glory”
*Here “glorious” is an attributive genitive
*Or “spiritual wisdom” (with “wisdom” is an attributive genitive)
fSome manuscripts have “he worked”
*These participles are either means (“by raising … and seating”) or temporal (“when he raised … and seated”)
*Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
gAn allusion to Ps 8:6
aLiterally “and you being dead”
*Here the participle (“being”) is understood as concessive
bOr “desires”
cThis phrase is a Semitic idiom which can mean either (1) “children characterized by wrath” or (2) “children destined for wrath”
*Here “thus” is supplied as a component of the participle (“making”) which is understood as result
dOr “by it” (referring to the cross)
eOr perhaps “capstone”
fOr “are built up together in spirit = spiritually into a dwelling place of God” (cf. nrsv)