Ephesians 3–4

¹For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you the nations, ²if, indeed, ye did hear of the dispensation of the grace of God that was given to me in regard to you, ³that by revelation He made known to me the secret, according as I wrote before in few words— ⁴in regard to which ye are able, reading it, to understand my knowledge in the secret of the Christ, ⁵which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it was now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit— ⁶that the nations be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in the Christ, through the good news, ⁷of which I became a ministrant, according to the gift of the grace of God that was given to me, according to the working of His power; ⁸to me—the less than the least of all the saints—was given this grace, among the nations to proclaim good news—the untraceable riches of the Christ, ⁹and to cause all to see what is the fellowship of the secret that hath been hid from the ages in God, who the all things did create by Jesus Christ, ¹⁰that there might be made known now to the principalities and the authorities in the heavenly places, through the assembly, the manifold wisdom of God, ¹¹according to a purpose of the ages, which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord, ¹²in whom we have the freedom and the access in confidence through the faith of him, ¹³wherefore, I ask you not to faint in my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

¹⁴For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵of whom the whole family in the heavens and on earth is named, ¹⁶that He may give to you, according to the riches of His glory, with might to be strengthened through His Spirit, in regard to the inner man, ¹⁷that the Christ may dwell through the faith in your hearts, in love having been rooted and founded, ¹⁸that ye may be in strength to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, ¹⁹to know also the love of the Christ that is exceeding the knowledge, that ye may be filled—to all the fulness of God; ²⁰and to Him who is able above all things to do exceeding abundantly what we ask or think, according to the power that is working in us, ²¹to Him is the glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus, to all the generations of the age of the ages. Amen.

Chapter 4

¹Call upon you, then, do I—the prisoner of the Lord—to walk worthily of the calling with which ye were called.

²With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, ³being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of the peace; ⁴one body and one Spirit, according as also ye were called in one hope of your calling; ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in you all, ⁷and to each one of you was given the grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ, ⁸wherefore, he saith, ‘Having gone up on high he led captive captivity, and gave gifts to men,’— ⁹and that, he went up, what is it except that he also went down first to the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰he who went down is the same also who went up far above all the heavens, that He may fill all things— ¹¹and He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as proclaimers of good news, and some as shepherds and teachers, ¹²unto the perfecting of the saints, for a work of ministration, for a building up of the body of the Christ, ¹³till we may all come to the unity of the faith and of the recognition of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to a measure of stature of the fulness of the Christ, ¹⁴that we may no more be babes, tossed and borne about by every wind of the teaching, in the sleight of men, in craftiness, unto the artifice of leading astray, ¹⁵and, being true in love, we may increase to Him in all things, who is the head—the Christ; ¹⁶from whom the whole body, being fitly joined together and united, through the supply of every joint, according to the working in the measure of each single part, the increase of the body doth make for the building up of itself in love.

¹⁷This, then, I say, and I testify in the Lord; ye are no more to walk, as also the other nations walk, in the vanity of their mind, ¹⁸being darkened in the understanding, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart, ¹⁹who, having ceased to feel, themselves did give up to the lasciviousness, for the working of all uncleanness in greediness; ²⁰and ye did not so learn the Christ, ²¹if so be ye did hear him, and in him were taught, as truth is in Jesus; ²²ye are to put off concerning the former behaviour the old man, that is corrupt according to the desires of the deceit, ²³and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴and to put on the new man, which, according to God, was created in righteousness and kindness of the truth. ²⁵Wherefore, putting away the lying, speak truth each with his neighbour, because we are members one of another; ²⁶be angry and do not sin; let not the sun go down upon your wrath, ²⁷neither give place to the devil; ²⁸whoso is stealing let him no more steal, but rather let him labour, working the thing that is good with the hands, that he may have to impart to him having need. ²⁹Let no corrupt word out of your mouth go forth, but what is good unto the needful building up, that it may give grace to the hearers; ³⁰and make not sorrowful the Holy Spirit of God, in which ye were sealed to a day of redemption. ³¹Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice, ³²and become one to another kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, according as also God in Christ did forgive you.

Chapter 5