Ephesians 3:3 Cross References - Twentieth_Century

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.

¹⁷ After my return to Jerusalem, while I was praying one day in the Temple, I fell into a trance,

²¹ But Jesus said to me 'Go; for I will send you to the Gentiles far away'."

⁹ So a great uproar ensued, and some of the Teaches of the Law belonging to the Pharisees' party stood up and hotly protested: "We find nothing whatever wrong in this man. Suppose a spirit did speak to him, or an angel--"

¹⁵ 'Who are you, Lord?' I asked. And the Lord said: "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting; ¹⁶ But get up and stand upright; for I have appeared to you in order to appoint you a servant and a witness of those revelations of me which you have already had, and of those in which I shall yet appear to you, ¹⁷ Since I am choosing you out from your own people and from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, ¹⁸ To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God; so that they may receive pardon for their sins, and a place among those who have become God's People, by faith in me.' ¹⁹ After that, King Agrippa, I did not fail to obey the heavenly vision;

²⁵ Brothers, for fear that you should think too highly of yourselves, I want you to recognize the truth, hitherto hidden, that the callousness which has come over Israel is only partial, and will continue only till the whole Gentile world has been gathered in.

²⁵ Now to him who is able to strengthen you, as promised in the Good News entrusted to me and in the proclamation of Jesus Christ, in accordance with the revelation of that hidden purpose, which in past ages was kept secret but now has been revealed

⁹ It is what Scripture speaks of as-'What eye never saw, nor ear ever heard, what never entered the mind of man-even all that God has prepared for those who love him.' ¹⁰ Yet to us God revealed it through his Spirit; for the Spirit fathoms all things, even the inmost depths of God's being.

¹² I, at least, did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through a revelation made by Jesus Christ.

¹⁶ Saw fit to reveal his Son in me, so that I might tell the Good News of him among the Gentiles, then at once, instead of consulting any human being, ¹⁷ Or even going up to Jerusalem to see those who were Apostles before me, I went to Arabia, and came back again to Damascus. ¹⁸ Three years afterwards I went up to Jerusalem to make the acquaintance of Peter, and I stayed a fortnight with him. ¹⁹ I did not, however, see any other Apostle, except James, the Master's brother.

⁹ When he made known to us his hidden purpose. And it also accords with the good-will which God purposed to exhibit in Christ, ¹⁰ In view of that Divine Order which was to mark the completion of the ages, when he should make everything, both in Heaven and on earth, center in him. ¹¹ In him, I say, for by our union with him we became God's Heritage, having from the first been destined for this in the intention of him who, in all that happens, is carrying out his own fixed purpose;

¹⁷ My prayer is that the God of Jesus Christ our Lord, the all- glorious Father, may inspire you with wisdom and true insight through a fuller knowledge of himself;

¹¹ Remember, therefore, that you were once Gentiles yourselves, as your bodies showed; you were called 'The Uncircumcised' by those who were called 'The Circumcised'--circumcised only by the hand of man! ¹² Remember that you were at that time far from Christ; you were shut out from the citizenship of Israel; you were strangers to the Covenants founded on God's Promise; you were in the world without hope and without God. ¹³ But now, through your union with Christ Jesus, you who once were 'far off' have, by the shedding of the blood of the Christ, been brought 'near.' ¹⁴ He it is who is our Peace. He made the two divisions of mankind one, broke down the barrier that separated them, ¹⁵ And in his human nature put an end to the cause of enmity between them--the Law with its injunctions and ordinances--in order to create, through union with himself, from Jew and Gentile, one New Man and thus make peace. ¹⁶ And when, upon the cross, he had destroyed their mutual enmity, he sought by means of his cross to reconcile them both to God, united in one Body. ¹⁷ He came with the Good News of peace for you who were 'far off,' and of peace for those who were 'near'; ¹⁸ For it is through him that we, the Jews and the Gentiles, united in the one Spirit, are now able to approach the Father. ¹⁹ It follows, then, that you are no longer strangers and aliens, but are fellow-citizens with Christ's People and members of God's Household. ²⁰ You have been built up upon the foundation laid by the Apostles and Prophets, Christ Jesus himself being 'the corner- stone.' ²¹ United in him, every part of the building, closely joined together, will grow into a Temple, consecrated by its union with the Lord. ²² And, through union in him, you also are being built up together, to be a dwelling-place for God through the Spirit.

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.

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;

²⁶ That Truth which has been hidden from former ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to God's People, ²⁷ To whom it was his pleasure to make known the surpassing glory of that hidden Truth when proclaimed among the Gentiles--'Christ among you! Your Hope of glory!'