Ephesians 3:3 Cross References

Ephesians 3:3

3: As I briefly mentioned earlier in this letter, God himself revealed his secret plan to me.

For my message came by a direct revelation from Jesus Christ himself. No one else taught me.

God is able to make you strong, just as the Good News says. It is the message about Jesus Christ and his plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time.

I was chosen to explain to everyone this plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.

"One day after I returned to Jerusalem, I was praying in the Temple, and I fell into a trance.

This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to his own holy people.
For it has pleased God to tell his people that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. For this is the secret: Christ lives in you, and this is your assurance that you will share in his glory.

As you read what I have written, you will understand what I know about this plan regarding Christ.

God's secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure.
And this is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ--everything in heaven and on earth.
Furthermore, because of Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us from the beginning, and all things happen just as he decided long ago.

Don't forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders by birth. You were called "the uncircumcised ones" by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts.
In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God's people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.
But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ.
For Christ himself has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us.
By his death he ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles. His purpose was to make peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new person from the two groups.

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him."
But we know these things because God has revealed them to us by his Spirit, and his Spirit searches out everything and shows us even God's deep secrets.

"But the Lord said to me, 'Leave Jerusalem, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!'"

I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud and start bragging. Some of the Jews have hard hearts, but this will last only until the complete number of Gentiles comes to Christ.

Then he revealed his Son to me so that I could proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles. When all this happened to me, I did not rush out to consult with anyone else;
nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. No, I went away into Arabia and later returned to the city of Damascus.
It was not until three years later that I finally went to Jerusalem for a visit with Peter and stayed there with him for fifteen days.
And the only other apostle I met at that time was James, our Lord's brother.

So a great clamor arose. Some of the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees jumped up to argue that Paul was all right. "We see nothing wrong with him," they shouted. "Perhaps a spirit or an angel spoke to him."

"'Who are you, sir?' I asked. "And the Lord replied, 'I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.
Now stand up! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and my witness. You are to tell the world about this experience and about other times I will appear to you.
And I will protect you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am going to send you to the Gentiles,
to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God's people, who are set apart by faith in me.'
"And so, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to that vision from heaven.

asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.

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