Part 3

003:007 in which I have been appointed to serve, in virtue of the work which God, in the exercise of His power within me, has graciously entrusted to me.

003:008 To me who am less than the least of all God's people has this work been graciously entrusted--to proclaim to the Gentiles the Good News of the exhaustless wealth of Christ,

003:009 and to show all men in a clear light what my stewardship is. It is the stewardship of the truth which from all the Ages lay concealed in the mind of God, the Creator of all things--

003:010 concealed in order that the Church might now be used to display to the powers and authorities in the heavenly realms the innumerable aspects of God's wisdom.

003:011 Such was the eternal purpose which He had formed in Christ Jesus our Lord,

003:012 in whom we have this bold and confident access through our faith in Him.

003:013 Therefore I entreat you not to lose heart in the midst of my sufferings on your behalf, for they bring you honour.

003:014 For this reason, on bended knee I beseech the Father,

003:015 from whom the whole family in Heaven and on earth derives its name,

003:016 to grant you--in accordance with the wealth of His glorious perfections--to be strengthened by His Spirit with power penetrating to your inmost being.

003:017 I pray that Christ may make His home in your hearts through your faith; so that having your roots deep and your foundations strong, in love, you may become mighty to grasp the idea,

003:018 as it is grasped by all God's people, of the breadth and length, the height and depth--

003:019 yes, to attain to a knowledge of the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, so that you may be made complete in accordance with God's own standard of completeness.

003:020 Now to Him who, in exercise of His power that is at work within us, is able to do infinitely beyond all our highest prayers or thoughts--

003:021 to Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, world without end! Amen.

004:001 I, then, the prisoner for the Master's sake, entreat you to live and act as becomes those who have received the call that you have received--

004:002 with all lowliness of mind and unselfishness, and with patience, bearing with one another lovingly, and earnestly striving to maintain,

004:003 in the uniting bond of peace, the unity given by the Spirit.

004:004 There is but one body and but one Spirit, as also when you were called you had one and the same hope held out to you.

004:005 There is but one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

004:006 and one God and Father of all, who rules over all, acts through all, and dwells in all.

004:007 Yet to each of us individually grace was given, measured out with the munificence of Christ.

004:008 For this reason Scripture says: "He re-ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and gave gifts to men."

004:009 (Now this "re-ascended"--what does it mean but that He had first descended into the lower regions of the earth?

004:010 He who descended is the same as He who ascended again far above all the Heavens in order to fill the universe.)

004:011 And He Himself appointed some to be Apostles, some to be Prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers,

004:012 in order fully to equip His people for the work of serving-- for the building up of Christ's body--

004:013 till we all of us arrive at oneness in faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, and at mature manhood and the stature of full-grown men in Christ.