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3
The Apostle’s Divine Commission to the Gentiles
1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus, the Christ, for the sake of you Gentiles – 2 For you have heard, I suppose, of the responsible charge with which God entrusted me for your benefit, 3 and also that it was by direct revelation that the hidden purpose of God was made known to me, as I have already briefly told you. 4 And, by reading what I have written, you will be able to judge how far I understand this hidden purpose of God in Christ. 5 In former generations it was not made known to humanity, as fully as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to the apostles and prophets among Christ’s people – 6 That, by union with Christ Jesus and through the good news, the Gentiles are coheirs with us and members of one body, and that they share with us in God’s Promise. 7 Of this good news I become an assistant, in virtue of the charge with which God entrusted me in the exercise of his power – 8 Yes, to me, who am less than the least of all Christ’s people, was this charge entrusted! – to tell the Gentiles the good news of the boundless wealth to be found in the Christ, 9 and to make clear what is God’s way of working out that hidden purpose which from the first has been concealed in the mind of the Creator of all things; 10 so that now to the archangels and to all the powers on high should be made known, through the church, the all-embracing wisdom of God, 11 in accordance with that purpose which runs through all the ages and which he has now accomplished in Jesus, the Christ, our Master. 12 And in union with him, and through our trust in him, we find courage to approach God with confidence. 13 Therefore I beg you not to be disheartened at the sufferings that I am undergoing for your sakes; for they redound to your honour. 14 For this reason, then, I kneel before the Father – 15 from whom all “fatherhood” in heaven and on earth derives its name – 16 and pray that, in proportion to the wealth of his glory, he will strengthen you with his power by breathing his Spirit into your inmost soul, 17 so that the Christ, through your faith, may make his home within your hearts in love; and I pray that you, now firmly rooted and established, may, with all Christ’s people, 18 have the power to comprehend in all its width and length and height and depth, 19 and to understand – though it surpasses all understanding – the love of the Christ; and so be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 To him who, through his power which is at work within us, is able to do far more than anything that we can ask or conceive – 21 to him be all glory through the church and through Christ Jesus, for all generations, age after age. Amen.

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