Ephesians 3

¹For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for following Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles….

²Surely you have heard of God’s administration of grace that was given to me for you,

³and that the sacred secret was made known to me by revelation, as I have already written about briefly,

⁴regarding which, when you read it, you will be able to understand my insight into the sacred secret of Christ,

⁵which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit.

⁶This is the sacred secret: the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise through the good news in connection with Christ Jesus.

⁷I became a servant of this good news by the gift of the grace of God that was given to me by the working of his power.

⁸This grace was given to me—one who is less than the least of all the holy ones—so that I could proclaim the good news to the Gentiles about the unfathomable riches of Christ,

⁹and so that I could bring to light for everyone what is the administration of the sacred secret, which has been hidden for ages in God who created all things.

¹⁰He did this so that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God would now be made known to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.

¹¹This was consistent with his purpose throughout the ages that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹²In union with him we have boldness and access to God with confidence through our trust in him.

¹³Therefore, I ask you not to be discouraged at my hardships on your behalf, which are your glory.

¹⁴For this reason I bow my knees to the Father,

¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.

¹⁶I pray that he would grant you to be strengthened with power in your inner self through his spirit according to the riches of his glory,

¹⁷and that Christ would live in your hearts through trust, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

¹⁸are able to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the width and length and height and depth,

¹⁹and thus are able to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you are filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰Now to him who is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think according to his power that is at work in us—

²¹to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations forever and ever. Amen.