³Give praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Those blessings come from the heavenly world. They belong to us because we belong to Christ.

⁴God chose us to belong to Christ before the world was created. He chose us to be holy and without blame in his eyes. He loved us. ⁵So he decided long ago to adopt us as his children. He did it because of what Jesus Christ has done. It pleased God to do it. ⁶All those things bring praise to his glorious grace. God freely gave us his grace because of the One he loves.

⁷We have been set free because of what Christ has done. Through his blood our sins have been forgiven. We have been set free because God’s grace is so rich. ⁸He poured his grace on us by giving us great wisdom and understanding.

⁹He showed us the mystery of his plan. It was in keeping with what he wanted to do. It was what he had planned through Christ. ¹⁰It will all come about when history has been completed. God will then bring together all things in heaven and on earth under one ruler. The ruler is Christ.

¹¹We were also chosen to belong to him. God decided to choose us long ago in keeping with his plan. He works out everything to fit his plan and purpose. ¹²We were the first to put our hope in Christ. We were chosen to bring praise to his glory.

¹³You also became believers in Christ. That happened when you heard the message of truth. It was the good news about how you could be saved. When you believed, he marked you with a seal. The seal is the Holy Spirit that he promised.

¹⁴The Spirit marks us as God’s own. We can now be sure that someday we will receive all that God has promised. That will happen after God sets all of his people completely free. All of those things will bring praise to his glory.

Paul Prays and Gives Thanks

¹⁵I have heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus. I have also heard about your love for all of God’s people. That is why ¹⁶I have not stopped thanking God for you. I always remember you in my prayers.

¹⁷I pray to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is the glorious Father. I keep asking him to give you the wisdom and understanding that come from the Holy Spirit. I want you to know God better.

¹⁸I also pray that your mind might see more clearly. Then you will know the hope God has chosen you to receive. You will know that the things God’s people will receive are rich and glorious. ¹⁹And you will know his great power. It can’t be compared with anything else. It is at work for us who believe. It is like the mighty strength ²⁰God showed when he raised Christ from the dead.

He seated him at his right hand in his heavenly kingdom. ²¹There Christ sits far above all who rule and have authority. He also sits far above all powers and kings. He is above every title that can be given in this world and in the world to come.

²²God placed all things under Christ’s rule. He appointed him to be ruler over everything for the church. ²³The church is Christ’s body. It is filled by Christ. He fills everything in every way.

God Has Given Us New Life Through Christ

2You were living in your sins and lawless ways. But in fact you were dead. ²You used to live as sinners when you followed the ways of this world. You served the one who rules over the spiritual forces of evil. He is the spirit who is now at work in those who don’t obey God.

³At one time we all lived among them. We tried to satisfy what our sinful nature wanted to do. We followed its longings and thoughts. God was angry with us and everyone else because of the kind of people we were.

⁴But God loves us deeply. He is full of mercy. ⁵So he gave us new life because of what Christ has done. He gave us life even when we were dead in sin. God’s grace has saved you.

⁶God raised us up with Christ. He has seated us with him in his heavenly kingdom because we belong to Christ Jesus. ⁷He has done it to show the riches of his grace for all time to come. His grace can’t be compared with anything else. He has shown it by being kind to us because of what Christ Jesus has done.

⁸God’s grace has saved you because of your faith in Christ. Your salvation doesn’t come from anything you do. It is God’s gift. ⁹It is not based on anything you have done. No one can brag about earning it.

¹⁰God made us. He created us to belong to Christ Jesus. Now we can do good things. Long ago God prepared them for us to do.

God’s New Family

¹¹You who are not Jews by birth, here is what I want you to remember. You are called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “circumcised.” But they have only been circumcised in their bodies by human hands.

¹²Before you believed in Christ, you were separated from him. You were not considered to be citizens of Israel. You were not included in what the covenants promised. You were without hope and without God in the world. ¹³At one time you were far away from God. But now you belong to Christ Jesus. He spilled his blood for you. That has brought you near to God.

¹⁴Christ himself is our peace. He has made Jews and non-Jews into one group of people. He has destroyed the hatred that was like a wall between us. ¹⁵Through his body on the cross, Christ put an end to the law with all its commands and rules. He wanted to create one new group of people out of the two. He wanted to make peace between them.

¹⁶He planned to bring both of them as one body back to God because of the cross. Christ put their hatred to death on that cross.

¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away. He also preached peace to those who were near. ¹⁸Through Christ we both come to the Father by the power of one Holy Spirit.

¹⁹So you are no longer strangers and outsiders. You are citizens together with God’s people. You are members of God’s family.

²⁰You are a building that is built on the apostles and prophets. They are the foundation. Christ Jesus himself is the most important stone in the building. ²¹The whole building is held together by him. It rises to become a holy temple because it belongs to the Lord.

²²And because you belong to him, you too are being built together. You are being made into a house where God lives through his Spirit.

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