Read The Jewish Annotated New Testament Online
Authors: Amy-Jill Levine
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In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;
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this
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is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.
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I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love
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toward all the saints, and for this reason
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I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.
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I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him,
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so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints,
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and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.
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God
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put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
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far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.
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And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church,
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which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
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You were dead through the trespasses and sins
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in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient.
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All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.
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But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us
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even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ
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—by grace you have been saved—
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and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
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so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
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For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—
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not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
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For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
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So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth,
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called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the circumcision”—a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands—
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remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
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But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
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For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.
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He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace,
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and might reconcile both groups to God in one body
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through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.
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So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near;
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for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.
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So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God,
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built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
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In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord;
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in whom you also are built together spiritually
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into a dwelling place for God.
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This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for
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Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
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for surely you have already heard of the commission of God’s grace that was given me for you,
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and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote above in a few words,
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a reading of which will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ.
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In former generations this mystery
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was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:
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that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
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Of this gospel I have become a servant according to the gift of God’s grace that was given me by the working of his power.
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Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ,
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and to make everyone see
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what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in
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God who created all things;
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so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
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This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,
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in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him.
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I pray therefore that you
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may not lose heart over my sufferings for you; they are your glory.
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For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
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from whom every family
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in heaven and on earth takes its name.
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I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit,
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and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.
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I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
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and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
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Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine,
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to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
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I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
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with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
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making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
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There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling,
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one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
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one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
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But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
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Therefore it is said,
“When he ascended on high he made
captivity itself a captive;
he gave gifts to his people.”
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(When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended
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into the lower parts of the earth?
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He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.)
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The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
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to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
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until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.
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We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.
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But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
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from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
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Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds.
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They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart.
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They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
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That is not the way you learned Christ!
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For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus.
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You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts,
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and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
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and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.