Ephesians 1:11-18
New Catholic Bible
Fulfilled by the Holy Spirit
11 In Christ we were also chosen,
having been predestined
by the one who accomplishes all things
in accordance with the design of his will,
12 so that we,
who were the first ones
to place our hopes in Christ,
would devote ourselves
to the praise of his glory.
13 In Christ
you also heard the message of truth
and the gospel of your salvation,
and you came to believe in him.
In him,
you were marked with the seal
of the Holy Spirit
who had been promised.
14 That Spirit is the down payment[a] of our inheritance,
which we shall share
when God has redeemed us
as his own possession,
to the praise of his glory.
The Church’s Unity with Christ[b]
Christ, Head of the Church. Having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and of your love toward all the saints, 16 I therefore never cease to give thanks to God for you as I remember you in my prayers. 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation to know him.18 I further pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know the hope to which he has called you, how rich and glorious is his inheritance[c] in the saints,
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ephesians 1:14 Down payment: for “if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then the one who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwells in you” (Rom 8:11).
- Ephesians 1:15 Our spirit is gripped with admiration before the diverse aspects of the mystery of Christ: Resurrection, Ascension, universal Kingship, mysterious and activating presence in the Church. The power of God is present in this mystery and sweeps away every other force. And with Christ rises the Church, the community of those called.
15
Paul clearly distinguishes the glorified Christ reigning in heaven and his mystical body developing on earth. We cannot confuse the Church and the Lord. But they are intimately connected. The community of those called is realized and grows under the impulsion of the life that Christ gives it. This community is the “fullness” of God, for in it everything must be reunited to be filled with God’s presence and love. The Church is the mystery of grace and charisms, of unity and growth (see Rom 12:4f; 1 Cor 12:12; Col 1:18).
The Apostle then goes on to describe the sinful state of humankind, in the grip of the power of evil (Eph 2:1-10), and the new state of humankind in which Gentiles and Jews now form a single new person, created in Christ and reconciled to one another and to God (Eph 2:11-22). - Ephesians 1:18 Inheritance: a Biblical word signifying what God promised to the chosen people. This was initially identified with the land and the blessings connected with it. But as revelation progressed, the true meaning of the “inheritance” was increasingly understood, until its definitive content was revealed in the New Testament: the inheritance is the state of the risen Jesus himself, communicated to those who believe in him.
