Montgomery - Ephesians

Chapter 1

1:1  Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus,

1:2  grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.

1:4  Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish in his sight.

1:5  For in his love he predestined us (such was the good pleasure of his will) to adoption for himself as sons through Jesus Christ,

1:6  and to the praise of his glorious grace which he graciously bestowed upon us in the Beloved.

1:7  It is in him we have deliverance, the forgiveness of our trespasses, through his blood;

1:8  so abundantly did he lavish upon us the riches of his grace in all wisdom and understanding,

1:9  when he made known to us, I say, that good pleasure which he purposed in himself

1:10  for the government of the fulness of the ages, that all things in heaven and earth are alike should be gathered up in Christ, as Head.

1:11  It is he in whom we Jews also have our inheritance, having been chosen beforehand according to the purpose of Him who executes all things according to the counsel of his will,

1:12  that we who first hoped in Christ should be for the praise of his glory.

1:13  And in him, because you listened to the proclamation of the truth, the evangel of your salvation, and trusted it, you Gentiles too were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

1:14  who for the praise of his glory is the pledge of our common heritage, unto the complete redemption of his purchased property.

1:15  For this reason I also, from the time when I heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which prevails among you, and your love to all the saints,

1:16  do not cease to praise God for you, whenever I mention you in my prayers.

1:17  I am praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father most glorious, may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, through an intimate knowledge of himself;

1:18  and that the eyes of your heart may be flooded with light so that you may understand what is the hope of his calling, what the wealth of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

1:19  and what the surpassing greatness of his might in us who believe, as seen in the energy of that resistless might

1:20  which he exercised in raising Christ from the dead, and in seating him at his right hand in the heavenly heights,

1:21  far above all hierarchies and authorities and powers and dominions and every name that is named, not only in this age but in that which is to come.

1:22  God has put all things under Christ’s feet, and placed him as Head over all in the church,

1:23  which is his body, the fulness of Him who fills the universe.

Chapter 2

2:1  And so God has given life to you Gentiles also, who were once dead in your trespasses and sins,

2:2  in which you passed your lives after the way of this world, under the sway of the Prince of the Powers of the Air, the spirit who is now working among the sons of disobedience.

2:3  And among them we all once passed our lives, indulging the passions of our flesh, carrying out the dictates of our senses and temperament, and were by nature the children of wrath like all the rest.

2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

2:5  even while we were dead in our trespasses, made us live together with Christ (it is by grace you have been saved).

2:6  together with him He raised us from the dead, and together with Christ Jesus seated us in the heavenly realm,

2:7  in order that he might show to the ages to come the amazing riches of his grace by his goodness to us in Christ Jesus.

2:8  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is God’s gift.

2:9  It is not of works, so that any one can boast of it;

2:10  for we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good deeds, which God predestined us to make our daily way of life.

2:11  Do not forget then, that you Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "uncircumcision" by the "circumcision" made in flesh by man’s hand,

2:12  were once upon a time without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of the Promise, without hope and without God in the world.

2:13  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near in the blood of Christ.

2:14  For he is our Peace, who has made the two of us Jew and Gentile one, and has broken down the party-wall of partition between us.

2:15  In his own body he abolished the cause of our enmity, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, in order to make the two into one new man in himself, so making peace.

2:16  Thus he reconciled us both in one body to God by his cross, on which he slew our enmity.

2:17  So he came preaching "Peace" to you Gentiles who were afar off, and "Peace" to us Jews who were near;

2:18  because it is through him that we both have access in one spirit to the Father.

2:19  Take notice then that no longer are you strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household.

2:20  You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.

2:21  In him the whole building, fitly framed together, rises into a holy temple in the Lord;

2:22  and in him you, too, are continuously built together for a dwelling- place of God through his Spirit.

Chapter 3

3:1  For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles -

3:2  for surely you have heard of the stewardship of the grace of God entrusted to me for you?

3:3  You have heard how by direct revelation the secret truth was made known to me, as I have already briefly written you.

3:4  By reading what I have written, you can judge of my insight into that secret truth of Christ

3:5  which was not disclosed to the sons of men in former generations, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets,

3:6  namely, that in Christ Jesus the Gentiles form one body with us the Jews, and are coheirs and copartners in the promise, through the gospel.

3:7  It is of this gospel I became a minister according to the gift of the power of the grace of God, bestowed on me by the energy of his power.

3:8  To me, who am less than the least of all saints, has this grace been given, that I should proclaim among the Gentiles the gospel of the unsearchable riches of Christ;

3:9  and should make all men see the new dispensation of that secret purpose, hidden from eternity in the God who founded the universe,

3:10  in order that now his manifold wisdom should, through the church, be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly sphere,

3:11  according to his eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

3:12  In him we have this fearless confidence and boldness of access through our faith in him.

3:13  So I beg you not to lose heart over my tribulations in your behalf; they are your glory.

3:14  For this cause I bend my knees before the Father,

3:15  from whom every fatherhood in heaven and earth is named,

3:16  praying him to grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in your inmost being;

3:17  that Christ may make his home in your hearts through your faith; that you may be so deeply rooted and so firmly grounded in love,

3:18  that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is "the breadth," "the length," "the depth," and "the height,"

3:19  and may know the love of Christ which transcends all knowing, so that you may be filled with all the "plenitude" of God.

3:20  Now unto him who, according to his might that is at work within us, is able to do infinitely more than all we ask or even think,

3:21  to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, to all generations, world without end, Amen.

Chapter 4

4:1  I summon you then, I the prisoner in the Lord, to live lives worthy of the calling to which you were called.

4:2  With all humility and gentleness and long-suffering forbear with one another in love;

4:3  and endeavor to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.

4:4  There is one body and one spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your calling.

4:5  There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

4:6  one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.

4:7  And to each one of us was grace given according to the measure of the munificence of Christ.

4:8  Thus it is said, When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.

4:9  Now surely this "he ascended" implies that he also descended into the lower part of the earth.

4:10  He who descended is he who ascended above the highest heaven, that he might fill the universe.

4:11  It is he who made some men apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

4:12  in order to equip the saints for the work of serving, for the building up of the Body of Christ -

4:13  till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to the maturity of manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

4:14  So we shall no longer be children, tossed up and down, and blown about by every wind of teaching, tricked by the craft of men in the snares of misleading error;

4:15  but holding the truth in love we shall grow up in every part into him who is our Head, even Christ.

4:16  From him the whole body (knit together and compacted by all its joints) makes continual growth of the body so as to build itself up in love, through the energy of his bounteous provision, according to the need of each several part.

4:17  This then I tell you and implore you in the Master’s name, to pass your lives no longer as the Gentiles do in the perverseness of their minds;

4:18  having their understanding darkened, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts.

4:19  These being past feeling have given themselves over to sensuality, in order to practise every form of impurity with greedy zest.

4:20  But you have not so learned Christ,

4:21  if indeed you have listened to him, and in him been taught the truth as it is in Jesus.

4:22  You have learned to lay aside, with your former manner of living, the old self who was on his way to ruin, as he followed the desires which deceive;

4:23  and to be made new in the spirit of your mind,

4:24  and to put on the new self, created after God’s likeness, in the uprightness and holiness of the truth.

4:25  So then put away falseness and speak every man the truth to his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

4:26  "Be angry and sin not"; let not the sun go down upon your anger.

4:27  Give the devil no place.

4:28  Let him who stole steal no more, but let him work, and in honest industry toil with his hands, so that he may have something to give to the needy.

4:29  From your lips let no evil words come forth, but such as occasion warrants, such as are good for upbuilding and give a blessing to the hearers.

4:30  And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you have been sealed for the day of redemption.

4:31  Banish from among you all bitterness and passion and anger and clamor and slander, as well as all malice;

4:32  and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Chapter 5

5:1  Learn then to imitate God as his beloved children,

5:2  and to lead lives of love, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for you, an offering and sacrifice unto God, for you, an offering and sacrifice unto God, for "an odor of sweetness."

5:3  As for sexual vice and every kind of impurity or lust, it is unbecoming for you as Christians even to mention them;

5:4  so too with vulgarity and buffoonery and foolish jesting. Such words become you not, but rather thanksgiving.

5:5  For be well assured that no one guilty of fornication or impurity or covetousness which is idolatry, has any heritage in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

5:6  Let no man deceive you with empty arguments, for it is these vices that bring down the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience;

5:7  therefore do not become sharers with them.

5:8  For you were once darkness, but are now in the Lord.

5:9  Lead the life of children of light, for the fruit of the light consists in every kind of goodness and uprightness and truth.

5:10  Examine carefully what is well pleasing to the Lord,

5:11  and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of the darkness, but rather expose them.

5:12  For it is a shame even to speak of the things that are done by such men in secret;

5:13  but all these things, when exposed, are by the light made manifest, and what is made manifest is light.

5:14  For this reason it is said, "Awake, thou sleeper! Arise from the dead; And Christ shall shine upon thee!"

5:15  See to it, then, that you carry on your life carefully; not as foolish, but as wise men.

5:16  Buy up opportunity, for the times are evil.

5:17  For this reason do not be thoughtless, but learn to know what the Lord’s will is.

5:18  Do not be drunk with wine, in which is riotous living, but drink deep in the Spirit,

5:19  when you talk together; with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and with all your hearts making music unto the Lord;

5:20  and at all times for all things give thanks to God, the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

5:21  Submit yourselves one to another out of reverence for Christ.

5:22  Wives likewise to their husbands as to the Lord,

5:23  because a husband is the head of his wife even as Christ is head of the church, his body, which he saves.

5:24  But as the church submits itself to Christ, so also wives to their husbands in everything.

5:25  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her,

5:26  in order that after cleansing her in the bath of baptism, he might sanctify her by his word,

5:27  so as to present her to himself, the church glorified, without spot or wrinkle or any such blemish; but on the contrary holy and faultless.

5:28  That is how husbands ought to love their wives, as they love their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

5:29  For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it as Christ does the church;

5:30  for we are members of his body.

5:31  For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

5:32  There is a deep mystery here - I am speaking of Christ and his church.

5:33  But as for you individually, you must each one of you love his own wife exactly as if she were yourself; and the wife, on her part, should reverence her husband.

Chapter 6

6:1  Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right.

6:2  Honor your father and mother (this is the first commandment with a promise attached),

6:3  that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.

6:4  And you fathers, do not irritate your children, but bring them up in the nature and admonition of the Lord.

6:5  Slaves, be obedient to those who are your earthly masters, with reverence and humility, in singleness of heart as if to Christ himself;

6:6  not with eye service, as men-pleasers, but as the slaves of Christ, doing the will of God;

6:7  slaving with good-will from your heart, as for the Lord and not for men;

6:8  because you know that whatever good any man does, the same shall he receive from the Lord, whether he be slave or free man.

6:9  And you masters, show the same spirit to your slaves, and stop threatening them; for you know that your masters and theirs is in heaven, and that there is no respect of persons with him.

6:10  Finally, my brothers, let your hearts be strengthened in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

6:11  Put on all the panoply of God, so that you may be able to stand your ground against the stratagems of the devil.

6:12  For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the despotisms, the empires, the rulers of this present darkness, the spirit-hosts of evil in the heavenly realm.

6:13  Therefore take up the panoply of God, so that when the evil day comes you may be able to withstand them, and having overthrown them all, to stand your ground.

6:14  Stand firm then, girt about with the belt of truth, and wearing the breastplate of righteousness,

6:15  and having your feet shod with the stability of the gospel of peace.

6:16  And take up to cover you the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming darts of the Evil One.

6:17  Take likewise the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

6:18  Continue to pray at all times, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching for it with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

6:19  and for me, that utterance may be given me to open my mouth boldly, and to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador,

6:20  and in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it boldly as I ought to speak.

6:21  But that you also may know my affairs and how I do, Tychicus, my beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you.

6:22  I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about us, and that he may cheer your hearts.

6:23  Peace to the brothers and love, with faith from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

6:24  May grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with sincerity.