1በእግዚአብሔር ፈቃድ የክርስቶስ ኢየሱስ ሐዋርያ ከሆነው ከጳውሎስ፤
በክርስቶስ ኢየሱስ ላሉ፣ ለታመኑ፣1፥1 ወይም ለሚያምኑ በኤፌሶን1፥1 አንዳንድ የጥንት ቅጆች በኤፌሶን ለሚገኙት የሚለው ሐረግ የላቸውም። ለሚገኙ ቅዱሳን፤
2ከእግዚአብሔር ከአባታችን፣ ከጌታም ከኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ጸጋና ሰላም ለእናንተ ይሁን።
በክርስቶስ የሚገኝ መንፈሳዊ በረከት
3በሰማያዊ ስፍራ በመንፈሳዊ በረከት ሁሉ በክርስቶስ የባረከን የጌታችን የኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ አምላክና አባት ይባረክ፤ 4በፊቱ ቅዱሳንና ነውር አልባ እንድንሆን ዓለም ከመፈጠሩ አስቀድሞ በእርሱ መርጦናልና። በፍቅር፣ 5በኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ልጆቹ እንሆን ዘንድ፣ እንደ በጎ ፈቃዱ አስቀድሞ ወሰነን፤ 6ይኸውም፣ በሚወድደው በእርሱ በኩል በነጻ የተሰጠን ክቡር የሆነው ጸጋው እንዲመሰገን ነው። 7በእርሱም እንደ እግዚአብሔር ጸጋ ባለጠግነት መጠን፣ በደሙ በተደረገ ቤዛነት፣ የኀጢአትን ይቅርታ አገኘን፤ 8ጸጋውንም በጥበብና በማስተዋል ሁሉ አበዛልን። 9በክርስቶስ ያቀደውንም የፈቃዱን ምስጢር እንደ በጎ ሐሳቡ እንድናውቅ1፥8-9 ወይም ጸጋውን አበዛልን፤ በጥበብና በአእምሮ ሁሉ፣ 9…አሳወቀን አደረገ። 10በዘመን ፍጻሜ ይሆን ዘንድ ያለው ሐሳቡ፣ በሰማይም በምድርም ያሉትን ነገሮች ሁሉ ራስ በሆነው በክርስቶስ ሥር ለመጠቅለል ነው።
11ሁሉን በፈቃዱ ምክር መሠረት እንደሚሠራው እንደ እርሱ ዕቅድ፣ አስቀድሞ የተወሰንን እኛ ደግሞ በእርሱ ተመርጠናል፤1፥11 ወይም ወራሾች ሆነናል 12ይኸውም በክርስቶስ ተስፋ በማድረግ የመጀመሪያ የሆንነው እኛ ለክብሩ ምስጋና እንሆን ዘንድ ነው። 13እናንተም ደግሞ የእውነትን ቃል፣ ይህም የድነታችሁን ወንጌል በሰማችሁ ጊዜ ወደ ክርስቶስ ተጨምራችኋል። አምናችሁም በእርሱ በመሆን፣ ተስፋ ሆኖ በተሰጠው በመንፈስ ቅዱስ ማኅተም ታትማችኋል። 14ለክብሩ ምስጋና ለመሆን የእግዚአብሔር የሆኑት እስኪዋጁ ድረስ፣ እርሱ ለርስታችን ዋስትና የሚሆን መያዣ ነው።
የምስጋናና የልመና ጸሎት
15ስለዚህ በጌታ ኢየሱስ ስላላችሁ እምነት፣ ለቅዱሳንም ሁሉ ስላላችሁ ፍቅር ከሰማሁበት ጊዜ አንሥቶ፣ 16በጸሎቴ እያስታወስኋችሁ ስለ እናንተ ምስጋና ማቅረብን አላቋረጥሁም። 17የክብር አባት የሆነውን የጌታችንን የኢየሱስ ክርስቶስን አምላክ ይበልጥ እንድታውቁት፣ የጥበብና የመገለጥን መንፈስ እንዲሰጣችሁ ያለ ማቋረጥ እለምናለሁ። 18እንዲሁም በእርሱ የተጠራችሁለት ተስፋ፣ ይህም በቅዱሳኑ ዘንድ ያለውን ክቡር የሆነውን የርስቱን ባለጠግነት ምን እንደ ሆነ ታውቁ ዘንድ የልባችሁ ዐይኖች እንዲበሩ 19ለእኛ ለምናምነውም ከሁሉ በላይ ታላቅ የሆነውን ኀይሉን እንድታውቁ እጸልያለሁ። ይህም ኀይል እንደ እርሱ ታላቅ ብርታት አሠራር፣ 20ክርስቶስን ከሙታን ሲያስነሣውና በሰማያዊ ስፍራ በቀኙ ሲያስቀምጠው የታየው ነው። 21የተቀመጠውም ከግዛትና ከሥልጣን፣ ከኀይልና ከጌትነት እንዲሁም በአሁኑ ዘመን ብቻ ሳይሆን በሚመጣውም ዘመን ቢሆን ሊሰየም ከሚቻለው ስም ሁሉ በላይ ነው። 22እግዚአብሔርም ሁሉን ከእግሩ በታች አስገዛለት፤ በቤተ ክርስቲያንም በማንኛውም ነገር ላይ ራስ አድርጎ ሾመው። 23እርሷም ሁሉን ነገር በሁሉም ረገድ የሚሞላው፣ የእርሱ ሙላት የሆነች አካሉ ናት።
1I, Paul, am writing this letter. I am an apostle of Christ Jesus just as God planned.
I am sending this letter to you, God’s holy people in Ephesus. Because you belong to Christ Jesus, you are faithful.
2May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
Praise God for His Spiritual Blessings in Christ
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. He adopted us as his children with all the rights children have. 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. Because he bled and died 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 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 stamped you with an official mark. That official mark 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 his people completely free. All these 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 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 pray that you may understand more clearly. Then you will know the hope God has chosen you to receive. You will know that what God will give his holy people is rich and glorious. 19And you will know God’s great power. It can’t be compared with anything else. His power works for us who believe. It is the same mighty strength 20God showed. He showed this when he raised Christ from the dead. God 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 name that is appealed to 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 and is filled by Christ. He fills everything in every way.
