Ephesians 1

1I am Paul. God chose me to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am writing this letter to the believers who live in the city of Ephesus and who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.

2I, Paul pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will give you grace and peace.

3We praise God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because He is very good to us. We belong to Christ and the Holy Spirit has given us all the good things in heaven.

4Before God made the world, He had chosen us to his family through Christ. To be holy and full of love and without fault when He looks at us.

5And before the world was made, God decided to make us his own children through Jesus Christ. This was what God wanted, and it pleased him to do it.

6So we praise God for the wonderful grace that He has given us because we belong to his Son, whom He loves very much.

7Christ gave his blood and his life. Christ died for us and that is how God has forgiven our sins and made us free. This is how God has shown us how wonderful his grace is.

9God let us know his secret plan. This was what God wanted, and God planned on doing it through Christ.

10Regard to the fulfillment of the times, the end of history, God plan is to bring all things together in Christ, both things in the heavens and things on the earth. All to be joined together with Christ as the head.

11In Christ we have received an inheritance. God had already planned for us to be his people, through faith in Christ, because that is what God wanted.

12We who were the first to hope in Christ, who first put our trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, would exist to the praise of His glory.

13You in Ephesus also belong to Christ, because someone has told you the true Good News that God wants to save you, and you believe it. God gave you the Holy Spirit, that He promised to give to us.

14The Holy Spirit is the first payment that guarantees of the inheritance until the saved of God’ all gets to heaven. The goal for all God children is the praise of God in all his glory.

15Someone has told me that you believe in the Jesus and that you love everyone who belongs to God.

16That is why, when I, Paul, pray, I always thank God for you and I think of you in my prayers.

17I, Paul also ask the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, to give you spiritual wisdom and show you how you can get to know Him better.

18I, Paul, pray that God will open your minds to see his truth. Then you will know the hope that he has chosen us to have. You will know that the blessings God has promised his holy people are rich and glorious.

19I, Paul pray that you will know how strong God’s power is in the lives of those of us who believe in Him. It is the same as the mighty power of God.

20This is the same power that God used when He made Christ live again and let Jesus sit on God right side in heaven.

21Christ is more important than everyone and everything that wants to rule over this world and more important than anyone we can think of, now and in the time to come.

22God put everything under Christ’s power and made him head over everything for the church.

23The church is Christ’s body. Christ makes the church live and gives true life to the church and to all.