For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love.

And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation) – when you believed in Christ – you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit,

in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience,

it is not from works, so that no one can boast.

For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.

that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think,

I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live worthily of the calling with which you have been called,

to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ,

You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience.

to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word,

not like those who do their work only when someone is watching – as people-pleasers – but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

In Christ we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will

and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength.

This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms

far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

that by revelation the divine secret was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly.