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Bible / Ephesians

Ephesians 1

Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision (1749–1752), the traditional Catholic English Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate. If you read a modern Bible, this is the same Scripture in older English; some names are spelled differently (Cesarea for Caesarea, Apocalypse for Revelation). About this translation

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to all the saints who are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.

2 Grace be to you and peace, from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ: CCC

4 As he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in his sight in charity. CCC

5 Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto himself: according to the purpose of his will: CCC

6 Unto the praise of the glory of his grace, in which he hath graced us, in his beloved son. CCC

7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins, according to the riches of his, grace, CCC

8 Which hath superabounded in us, in all wisdom and prudence,

9 That he might make known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in him, CCC

10 In the dispensation of the fulness of times, to re-establish all things in Christ, that are in heaven and on earth, in him. CCC · Fathers

11 In whom we also are called by lot, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his will. CCC

12 That we may be unto the praise of his glory: we who before hoped in Christ:

13 In whom you also, after you had heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation), in whom also believing, you were signed with the holy Spirit of promise. CCC · Fathers

14 Who is the pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of acquisition, unto the praise of his glory. CCC

15 Wherefore, I also, hearing of your faith that is in the Lord Jesus and of your love towards all the saints,

16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making commemoration of you in my prayers, CCC

17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation, in the knowledge of him: CCC

18 The eyes of your heart enlightened that you may know what the hope is of his calling and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. CCC

19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us, who believe according to the operation of the might of his power, CCC

20 Which he wrought in Christ, raising him up from the dead and setting him on his right hand in the heavenly places. CCC

21 Above all principality and power and virtue and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. CCC · Fathers

22 And he hath subjected all things under his feet and hath made him head over all the church, CCC

23 Which is his body and the fulness of him who is filled all in all. CCC

This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church

Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text.

  1. Verse 3CCC 492 CCC 1077 CCC 1671 CCC 2627 CCC 2641
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 492 “The "splendour of an entirely unique holiness" by which Mary is "enriched from the first instant of her conception" comes wholly from…”
    • CCC 1077 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in…”
    • CCC 1671 “Among sacramentals blessings (of persons, meals, objects, and places) come first. Every blessing praises God and prays for his gifts. In Christ,…”
    • CCC 2627 “TWO fundamental forms express this movement: our prayer ascends in the Holy Spirit through Christ to the Father - we bless him…”
    • CCC 2641 “[Address] one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart." Like…”
  2. Verse 4CCC 257 CCC 492 CCC 796 CCC 865 CCC 1077 CCC 1426 CCC 2807 CCC 52
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 257 “O blessed light, O Trinity and first Unity!" God is eternal blessedness, undying life, unfading light. God is love: Father, Son and…”
    • CCC 492 “The "splendour of an entirely unique holiness" by which Mary is "enriched from the first instant of her conception" comes wholly from…”
    • CCC 796 “The unity of Christ and the Church, head and members of one Body, also implies the distinction of the two within a…”
    • CCC 865 “The Church is ultimately one, holy, catholic, and apostolic in her deepest and ultimate identity, because it is in her that "the…”
    • CCC 1077 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in…”
    • CCC 1426 “Conversion to Christ, the new birth of Baptism, the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Body and Blood of Christ received…”
  3. Verse 5CCC 257 CCC 294 CCC 1077 CCC 52
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 257 “O blessed light, O Trinity and first Unity!" God is eternal blessedness, undying life, unfading light. God is love: Father, Son and…”
    • CCC 294 “The glory of God consists in the realization of this manifestation and communication of his goodness, for which the world was created.…”
    • CCC 1077 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in…”
    • CCC 52 “God, who "dwells in unapproachable light", wants to communicate his own divine life to the men he freely created, in order to…”
  4. Verse 6CCC 294 CCC 1077 CCC 1083
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 294 “The glory of God consists in the realization of this manifestation and communication of his goodness, for which the world was created.…”
    • CCC 1077 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in…”
    • CCC 1083 “The dual dimension of the Christian liturgy as a response of faith and love to the spiritual blessings the Father bestows on…”
  5. Verse 7CCC 517 CCC 2839
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 517 “Christ's whole life is a mystery of redemption. Redemption comes to us above all through the blood of his cross, but this…”
    • CCC 2839 “With bold confidence, we began praying to our Father. In begging him that his name be hallowed, we were in fact asking…”
  6. Verse 9CCC 257 CCC 1066 CCC 2603 CCC 2807 CCC 2823 CCC 51
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 257 “O blessed light, O Trinity and first Unity!" God is eternal blessedness, undying life, unfading light. God is love: Father, Son and…”
    • CCC 1066 “In the Symbol of the faith the Church confesses the mystery of the Holy Trinity and of the plan of God's "good…”
    • CCC 2603 “The evangelists have preserved two more explicit prayers offered by Christ during his public ministry. Each begins with thanksgiving. In the first,…”
    • CCC 2807 “The term "to hallow" is to be understood here not primarily in its causative sense (only God hallows, makes holy), but above…”
    • CCC 2823 “He has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ…”
    • CCC 51 “It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will. His will…”
  7. Verse 10CCC 668 CCC 772 CCC 1042 CCC 1043 CCC 2748 CCC 2823 CCC 2854
    Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 668 “Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living." Christ's Ascension into heaven…”
    • CCC 772 “It is in the Church that Christ fulfills and reveals his own mystery as the purpose of God's plan: "to unite all…”
    • CCC 1042 “At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness. After the universal judgment, the righteous will reign…”
    • CCC 1043 “Sacred Scripture calls this mysterious renewal, which will transform humanity and the world, "new heavens and a new earth." It will be…”
    • CCC 2748 “In this Paschal and sacrificial prayer, everything is recapitulated in Christ: God and the world; the Word and the flesh; eternal life…”
    • CCC 2823 “He has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ…”

    • “Into this paradise the Lord has introduced those who obey His call, "summing up in Himself all things which are in heaven, and which are on earth;”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XX. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  8. Verse 11CCC 2823
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2823 “He has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ…”
  9. Verse 13CCC 693 CCC 698 CCC 706 CCC 1296
    Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 693 “Besides the proper name of "Holy Spirit," which is most frequently used in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles,…”
    • CCC 698 “The seal is a symbol close to that of anointing. "The Father has set his seal" on Christ and also seals us…”
    • CCC 706 “Against all human hope, God promises descendants to Abraham, as the fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit.…”
    • CCC 1296 “Christ himself declared that he was marked with his Father's seal. Christians are also marked with a seal: "It is God who…”

    • “… God, where he says in the Epistle to the Ephesians, "In which ye also, having heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, believing in which we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter VIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  10. Verse 14CCC 706 CCC 1107
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 706 “Against all human hope, God promises descendants to Abraham, as the fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit.…”
    • CCC 1107 “The Holy Spirit's transforming power in the liturgy hastens the coming of the kingdom and the consummation of the mystery of salvation.…”
  11. Verse 16CCC 2632
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2632 “Christian petition is centered on the desire and search for the Kingdom to come, in keeping with the teaching of Christ. There…”
  12. Verse 17CCC 2632
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2632 “Christian petition is centered on the desire and search for the Kingdom to come, in keeping with the teaching of Christ. There…”
  13. Verse 18CCC 2632 CCC 158
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2632 “Christian petition is centered on the desire and search for the Kingdom to come, in keeping with the teaching of Christ. There…”
    • CCC 158 “Faith seeks understanding": it is intrinsic to faith that a believer desires to know better the One in whom he has put…”
  14. Verse 19CCC 272 CCC 648 CCC 2632
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 272 “Faith in God the Father Almighty can be put to the test by the experience of evil and suffering. God can sometimes…”
    • CCC 648 “Christ's Resurrection is an object of faith in that it is a transcendent intervention of God himself in creation and history. In…”
    • CCC 2632 “Christian petition is centered on the desire and search for the Kingdom to come, in keeping with the teaching of Christ. There…”
  15. Verse 20CCC 272 CCC 648 CCC 668 CCC 2632
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 272 “Faith in God the Father Almighty can be put to the test by the experience of evil and suffering. God can sometimes…”
    • CCC 648 “Christ's Resurrection is an object of faith in that it is a transcendent intervention of God himself in creation and history. In…”
    • CCC 668 “Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living." Christ's Ascension into heaven…”
    • CCC 2632 “Christian petition is centered on the desire and search for the Kingdom to come, in keeping with the teaching of Christ. There…”
  16. Verse 21CCC 272 CCC 648 CCC 668 CCC 2632
    Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 272 “Faith in God the Father Almighty can be put to the test by the experience of evil and suffering. God can sometimes…”
    • CCC 648 “Christ's Resurrection is an object of faith in that it is a transcendent intervention of God himself in creation and history. In…”
    • CCC 668 “Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living." Christ's Ascension into heaven…”
    • CCC 2632 “Christian petition is centered on the desire and search for the Kingdom to come, in keeping with the teaching of Christ. There…”

    • “And for this reason God is "above all principality, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named,”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XIX. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

    • “… doctrine [to be received, namely], that the gods of the nations not only were no gods at all, but even the idols of demons; and that there is one God, who is "above all principality, and dominion, and power, and every name which is named;”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXIV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  17. Verse 22CCC 272 CCC 648 CCC 668 CCC 669 CCC 753 CCC 830 CCC 2045 CCC 2632
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 272 “Faith in God the Father Almighty can be put to the test by the experience of evil and suffering. God can sometimes…”
    • CCC 648 “Christ's Resurrection is an object of faith in that it is a transcendent intervention of God himself in creation and history. In…”
    • CCC 668 “Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living." Christ's Ascension into heaven…”
    • CCC 669 “As Lord, Christ is also head of the Church, which is his Body. Taken up to heaven and glorified after he had…”
    • CCC 753 “In Scripture, we find a host of interrelated images and figures through which Revelation speaks of the inexhaustible mystery of the Church.…”
    • CCC 830 “The word "catholic" means "universal," in the sense of "according to the totality" or "in keeping with the whole." the Church is…”
  18. Verse 23CCC 830 CCC 2632
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 830 “The word "catholic" means "universal," in the sense of "according to the totality" or "in keeping with the whole." the Church is…”
    • CCC 2632 “Christian petition is centered on the desire and search for the Kingdom to come, in keeping with the teaching of Christ. There…”
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