Ephesians 3 - The Message (MSG)

The Secret Plan of God

3 1-3 This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you’re familiar with the part I was given in God’s plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief.

4-6 As you read over what I have written to you, you’ll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God’s Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I’ve been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.

7-8 This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God’s way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.

8-10 And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!

11-13 All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we’re free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don’t let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud!

* * *

14-19 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

20-21 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!

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Ephesians 3 - Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

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Ephesians 3 - Wycliffe Bible (WYC)

3 For the grace of this thing I Paul, the bound of Christ Jesus [the bound of Jesus Christ], for you heathen men, 2 if nevertheless ye have heard the dispensation of God's grace, that is given to me in you. 3 For by revelation the sacrament is made known to me, as I above wrote in short thing, 4 ...
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Ephesians 3 - Worldwide English (New Testament) (WE)

3 That is why I, Paul, am a prisoner who belongs to Jesus Christ. It is for the sake of you people who are not Jews. 2 I am sure you have heard that God gave me work to do for you. 3 He showed me what his plan was. And I have already written a little about it to you. 4 When you read this, you can un...
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Ephesians 3 - World English Bible (WEB)

3 For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, 2 if it is so that you have heard of the administration of that grace of God which was given me toward you, 3 how that by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote before in few words, 4 by which, w...
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Ephesians 3 - The Voice (VOICE)

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Ephesians 3 - Tree of Life Version (TLV)

The Mystery of the Gentiles Revealed3 For this reason I, Paul, am a prisoner of Messiah Yeshua for the sake of you Gentiles. 2 Surely you have heard about the plan of God’s grace given to me for you— 3 that the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote before briefly. 4 When you read ...
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Ephesians 3 - Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

Paul’s Ministry to the Gentiles3 For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the mystery[a] was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 Whe...
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Ephesians 3 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)

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Ephesians 3 - Revised Geneva Translation (RGT)

3 For this reason, I, Paul, am the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. 2 If indeed you have heard of the stewardship of the grace of God, which is given to me toward you. 3 So that God, by revelation, has shown this mystery to me (as I briefly wrote before; 4 by which, when you read it, you m...
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Ephesians 3 - New Testament for Everyone (NTE)

God’s Secret Plan Unveiled at Last3 It’s because of all this that I, Paul, the prisoner of King Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles ... 2 I’m assuming, by the way, that you’ve heard about the plan of God’s grace that was given to me to pass on to you? 3 You know – the secret purpose that God revealed t...
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Ephesians 3 - New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA)

Paul’s Ministry to the Gentiles3 This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for[a] Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— 2 for surely you have already heard of the commission of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote ab...
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Ephesians 3 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

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Ephesians 3 - New Matthew Bible (NMB)

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Ephesians 3 - New Living Translation (NLT)

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Ephesians 3 - New King James Version (NKJV)

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