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It is because of this that I, Paul, a prisoner of the Lord Jesus on behalf of you gentiles. . .
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You have surely heard the way in which God entrusted me with the grace he gave me for your sake;
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he made known to me by a revelation the mystery I have just described briefly-
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a reading of it will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ.
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This mystery, as it is now revealed in the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets, was unknown to humanity in previous generations:
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that the gentiles now have the same inheritance and form the same Body and enjoy the same promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
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I have been made the servant of that gospel by a gift of grace from God who gave it to me by the workings of his power.
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I, who am less than the least of all God's holy people, have been entrusted with this special grace, of proclaiming to the gentiles the unfathomable treasure of Christ
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and of throwing light on the inner workings of the mystery kept hidden through all the ages in God, the Creator of everything.
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The purpose of this was, that now, through the Church, the principalities and ruling forces should learn how many-sided God's wisdom is,
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according to the plan which he had formed from all eternity in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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In him we are bold enough to approach God in complete confidence, through our faith in him;
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so, I beg you, do not let the hardships I go through on your account make you waver; they are your glory.
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This, then, is what I pray, kneeling before the Father,
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from whom every fatherhood, in heaven or on earth, takes its name.
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In the abundance of his glory may he, through his Spirit, enable you to grow firm in power with regard to your inner self,
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so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love,
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with all God's holy people you will have the strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth;
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so that, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond knowledge, you may be filled with the utter fullness of God.
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Glory be to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine;
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glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.
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