Brothers, if a person is caught in some transgression, you, who are spiritual, must set him right in a spirit of gentleness; examining yourself, for fear you also may be tempted. Take up each other's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of the Christ. For if a man thinks he amounts to something and does not, he is deceiving himself; let each one evaluate his own actions, and then he will have cause for pride in himself alone and not in any other, for each one will carry his own burden.
And let the one who is being instructed in the word share in all good things with his instructor.
Do not be deceived: God is not made light of. For what a man sows, that he will also reap; because if he sows for his own flesh, he will reap, from the flesh, destruction; but he who sows for the spirit will reap, from the spirit, life everlasting. Let us not weaken in doing good, for at our proper time we shall reap, if we do not give out. So then, while we have time, let us do good to all, but especially to those who are of the family of the faith.
See with what big letters I have written in my own hand.
Those who wish to look well in the flesh are the ones who are trying to make you be circumcised, only so that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law; but they want you to be circumcised so that they can take pride in your bodies. But for us, let there be no pride except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified for me, and I for the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; only to be created anew does. And for all who follow this rule, peace and mercy to them, and to God's Israel.
Henceforth, let no one give me trouble; for I carry the stigmata of Jesus on my body.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
The Letter to the Ephesians
11PAUL, APOSTLE OF CHRIST JESUS BY the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and who believe in Christ Jesus: grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in heaven, as he chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world, to be pure and blameless in love in his presence; preordaining us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, by the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace he bestowed on us through his beloved son. We have our redemption through his blood, the remission of our sins, by the wealth of the grace which he made abundant for us, by complete wisdom and intelligence making known to us the mystery of his will; by the favor which he set forth in him, for his scheme for the fulfillment of the ages, that everything in heaven and on earth should be summed up in the Christ. It was he by whom we, preordained, received our inheritance by the plan of him who works all things according to the purpose of his will, so that we, the first to hope in Christ, must praise his glory. You too are with him; having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believing, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of the promise. This is the first installment of our inheritance, for our redemption as his property, and the praise of his glory.
I also, therefore, hearing of your faith in the Lord Jesus and the love you have for all the saints, never cease to give thanks for you; and I remember you in my prayers, praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the recognition of him; that the eyes of your hearts may be filled with light, so that you may know what is the hope he calls you to, what is the wealth of glory in the inheritance he grants you among the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, by the working of the supremacy of his strength which he has realized in the Christ. This he did by raising him from the dead, and seating him by his right hand in the heavens, above every realm and authority and power and lordship, and every name that is named not only in this age but in the age to come. And he put everything beneath his feet, and gave him headship entire over the church, which is his body, the fulfillment of him who fulfills all things in all.
You were dead men by reason of your transgressions and sins in which you once walked, following the Presence of this world, the lord of the dominion of the air, the spirit which is now at work in the sons of disobedience. And with you we too, all of us, once followed the desires of our flesh, doing the bidding of our flesh and our senses, and we were natural children of the wrath, like all the rest. But God, being rich in mercy through the great love he has for us, though we were dead by our transgressions, brought us to life along with Christ; you have been saved by grace; and he revived us, along with Christ Jesus, and seated us beside him in the heavens, to show to ages to come the surpassing abundance of his grace in his kindness to us through Christ Jesus. You have been saved by grace through faith. This does not come from you; God's is the gift; not from anything you have done; let no one be proud. We are his handiwork, made in Christ Jesus for the good works for which God readied us so that we should be active in them.
Remember, then, that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, called uncircumcision by what is called circumcision, a thing done in the flesh by human hands; that at that time you were without Christ, shut out from the community of Israel and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and godless in the world. But now through Christ Jesus you, who were once far off, are now near by the blood of the Christ. He himself is the peace between us. He made the two things one, who broke down the middle partitioning wall, the hatred, with his own body, who abolished the law of the co^mand- ments given in ordinances; to make the two men in him into one new man by establishing peace, and reconcile both, in one body, with God, killing the hatred in his own person by the cross. With his coming he announced the gospel of peace to you, who were far off, and peace to those who were near; because through him we have, both alike, access to the Father in a single Spirit.
You are, therefore, no longer foreigners and resident aliens, but you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God; built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, whose capstone is
Christ Jesus himself. By him all construction is made harmonious and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; into which you also are built as a dwelling place of God in the spirit.
Because of this, I, Paul, prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you, the Gentiles, say this to you. You must have heard of the stewardship of grace which was granted to me to bring to you. Through revelation a mystery was made known to me, as I have already written to you in a brief account; reading which, you can understand my insight into the mystery of the Christ. This was not made known to other generations of the sons of man as it has now been revealed in the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets; n^ely, that the Gentiles are co-heirs, incorporate, fellow sharers in the promise by Jesus Christ through his gospel. Of this I became a minister by God's gift of grace granted to me by the working of his power; to me, the least of all the saints, this grace was given, to bring to the Gentiles the gospel of the incalculable bounty of the Christ, and to bring to light the nature of the scheme of the mystery, which was hidden from the ages in God, who created all things; so that now the intricate wisdom of God may be made known, through the church, to all the realms and authorities in heaven. Al this is according to the eternal plan which he brought about in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have our confidence and access in trust because of our faith in him.