The pistle of S. Paul to the Ephesians.The Prologe vpon the epistle of S. Paul to the Ephesians.
In this pistle / and namely in the .iij. fyrst Chapters / Paul sheweth that the Gospell and grace therof was foresene and predestinat of God from before the beginninge / & deserued thorow Christ / & now at the last sent forth that all m
shuld beleue theron / therby to be iustified / made righteous / lyuinge and happie / and to be delyuered from vnder the d
pnaci
of the lawe & captiuite of ceremonies.
And in the fourth he teacheth to auoyde tradicions and mennes doctrines / and to beware of puttynge trust in anye thinge saue Christ / affirminge that he onlye is suffici
t / & that in h
we haue all thinges / & besyde him nede nothinge.
In the. v. and. vj. he exhorteth to exercise the fayth & to declare it abroade thorow good workes / and to auoyde synne / and to arme them with spirituall armoure agaynst the deuell that they myght stonde fast in tyme of tribulacion & vnder the crosse.
The pistle of S. Paul to the Ephesians.The fyrst Chapter.
[Untitled Possibly Huge Image] Paul an Apostle of Iesu Christ / by the will of God.
A
To the saynctes which are at Ephesus / & to them which beleve on Iesus Christ.
Grace be with you and peace from God oure father / and from the Lorde Iesus Christ.
Blessed be God the father of oure lorde Iesus Christ / which hath blessed vs with all maner of spirituall blessinges in hev
ly thyng[es] by Chryst / 1.A accordynge as he had chosen vs in him / before þe fo
daci
of þe worlde was layde / that we shuld be saintes / & without blame before him / thorow loue. And ordeyned vs before thorow Iesus Christ to be heyres vnto him silfe / accordinge to the pleasure of his will / 2.A to þe prayse of the glorie of his grace where with he hath made vs accepted in the beloved.
A
3.A By whom we have redemption thorow his bloude euen the forgevenes of synnes / accordynge to the riches of his grace / which grace he shed on vs aboundantly in all wisdome / and perceavaunce. And hath openned vnto vs the
4.A mistery of his will accordinge to his pleasure / and purposed the same in hym silfe to have it declared when the tyme were full come / þ
t all thynges / bothe þ
e thynges which are in heven / and also the thynges which are in erthe / shuld be gaddered togedder / even in Christ: that is to saye / in him in whom we are made heyres /
5.A and were therto predestinate accordynge to the purpose of him which worketh all thinges after the purpose of his awne will: that we which before beleved in Christ shuld be vnto the prayse of his glory.
In whom also ye (after that ye hearde the worde of trueth / I meane the gospell of youre saluaci
/ wherin ye beleved) were sealed with the holy sprete of promes /
C
which is the ernest of oure inheritaunce / to redeme the purchased
possession and that vnto the laude of his glory.
6.CWherfore even I (after that I hearde of the fayth which ye have in the lorde Iesu / & love vnto all the saynctes) cease not to geve thankes for you / makynge mencion of you in my prayers / that þe God of oure lorde Iesus Christ and the father of glory /
D
myght geve vnto you the sprete of wisdome / and open to you the knowledge of him silfe / and lighten the eyes of youre myndes / þ
t ye myght knowe what that hope is /
7.D where vnto he hath called you / and what the riches of his glorious inheritaunce is apon the sainctes / and what is the excedynge greatnes of his power to vs warde which
8.D beleve accordynge to the workynge of that his mighty power / which he wrought in Christ / when he raysed him from deeth / and set him on his right honde in hevenly thynges / above all rule / power / and myght and dominacion / and above all names that are named / not in this worlde only / but also in the worlde to come: and hath put all thynges vnder his fete / and hath made him aboue all thynges / þ
e heed of þ
e congregacion which is his body and the fulnes of him that filleth all in all thynges.
The .ii. Chapter.
A
And hath quickened you also that were deed in treaspasse & synne /
9.A in þ
e which in tyme passed ye walked / acordynge to the course of this worlde / and after the governer that ruleth in the ayer / the sprete þ
t now
worketh in the children of vnbelefe / amonge which we also had oure conversacion in tyme past / in the lustes of oure flesshe / and fullfilled the will of the flesshe and of the mynde: and were
10.A naturally the children of wrath / even as wel as other.
But God which is rich in mercy thorow his greate love wherwith he loved vs / even when we were deed by synne / hath quickened vs together in Christ (for by grace are ye saved) & hath raysed vs vp together & made vs 11.A sitte together in hevenly thynges thorow
A
Christ Iesus / for to shewe in tymes to come the excedynge ryches of his grace / in kyndnes to vs warde in Christ Iesu. For by grace are ye made safe thorowe fayth / and that not of youre selves. For it is the gyfte of God / & commeth not of workes / lest eny man shuld bost him silfe. For we are his worckmanshippe / created in Christ Iesu vnto good workes / vnto the which god ordeyned vs before / that we shuld walke in them.
Wherfore rem
ber þt ye beynge in tyme passed g
tyls in þe flesshe / & were called vncirc
cision to th
which are called circ
cisi
in the flesshe / which circ
cision is made by hondes: Rem
ber I saye / þt ye were at that tyme [wt] oute Christ / & were reputed aliantes from the c
men welth of Israel / & were stra
gers fr
the 12.A testament[es] of promes / & had no hope / & were with out god in this worlde. But now in Christ Iesu /
C
ye which a whyle agoo were farre of / are made nye by þ
e bloude of Christ.
For he is oure peace / whych hath made of both one / and hath broken doune the 13.C wall þt was a stoppe bitwene vs / and hath also put awaye thorow his flesshe / the cause of hatred (that is to saye / the lawe of commaundementes
D
contayned in the lawe written) for to make of twayne one newe m

in him silfe / so makynge peace: and to rec

cile both vnto god in one body thorow his crosse / and slewe hatred therby: and came and preached peace to you which were afarre of / and to them that were nye. For thorow him we both have an open waye in / in one sprete vnto the father.
Now therfore ye are no moare stra
gers & foreners: but citesyns with the saynctes / and of the housholde of god: and are bilt apon the foundacion of the apostles and prophetes / Iesus Christ beynge the heed corner stone / in whom every bildynge coupled togedder / groweth vnto an holy temple in þe lorde / 14.D in wh
ye also are bilt togedder / & made an habitaci
for god in the sprete.
The .iii. Chapter.
A
For this cause I Paul

in þ
e b

des of Iesus christ for youre sak[es] which are hethen: Yf ye have hearde of the ministracion of the grace of god which is geven
15.A me to you warde. For by revelacion shewed he this mistery vnto me / as I wrote above in feawe wordes / wher by when ye rede ye maye knowe myne vnderstondynge in the mistery of Christ / which mistery in tymes passed was not opened vnto the sonnes of men / as it is nowe declared vnto his holy apostles and prophetes
by the sprete: that the gentyls shuld be inheritours also / and of the same body / and partakers of his promis þ
t is in Christ / by þ
e meanes of the gospell / whereof I am made a minister / by the gyfte of the grace of god gev

vnto me thorow þ
e workynge of his power.
Vnto me the lest of all sayntes is this grace geven / that I shuld preache amonge the gentyls the unsearchable ryches of Christ /
B
and to make all men se what the felyshippe of the mistery is / which from the begynnynge of the worlde hath bene hid in God which made all thynges thorow Iesus Christ / to the intent / that now vnto the rulars & powers in heven myght be know

by the c

gregacion þ
e many folde wisdome of god / accordinge to þ
e eternall purpose / which he purposed in Christ Iesu oure lorde / by wh

we are bolde to drawe nye in þ
e trust / which we have by faith on h

Wherfore I desire þ
t ye faynt not because of my trybulaci

s for youre sakes: which is youre prayse.
For this cause I bowe my knees vnto the father of oure lorde Iesus Christ / which is father over all that ys called father In heven & in erth / that he wolde graunt you acordynge to the ryches of his glory /
C
that ye maye be strenghted with myght by his sprete in the inner man / þ
t Christ maye dwell in youre hertes by
16.C fayth / þ
t ye beynge roted & grounded in loue / myght be able to comprehende with all sayntes / what ys that bredth aud length / deepth and heyth: and to knowe what is the love of Christ / which love passeth knowledge:
that ye might be fulfilled with all manner of fulnes which commeth of God.
Vnto him that is able to do excedynge abo
dantly above all that we axe or thynke / accordynge to the power that worketh in vs / be prayse in the congregacion by Iesus Christ / thorow out all generaci
s from tyme to tyme Amen.
The .iiii. Chapter.

A
I therfore which am in bondes for the lordes sake / exhorte you / that ye walke worthy of the vocacion wherwith ye are called /
17.A in all humblenes of mynde / and meknes / and longe sufferynge / forbearinge one another thorowe love / and that ye be dylig

t to kepe þ
e vnitie of þ
e sprete in the bonde of peace /
18.A beynge one body / and one sprete / ev

as ye are called in one hope of youre callynge. Let ther be but one lorde / one fayth / one baptim: one god and father of all / which is above all / thorow all and in you all.
Vnto every one of vs is geven grace acordinge to the measure of þe gyft of christ. Wherfore he sayth: He is gone vp an hye / and hath ledde captivitie captive / & hath geven gyftes vnto men. That he ascended: what meaneth it /
B
but that he also descended fyrst into the lowest parties of the erth? He that descended / is even the same also that ascended vp / even above all hevens / to fulfill all thinges.
And the very same made some Apostles / some prophet[es] / some Evangelistes / some Sheperdes / 19.B some Teachers: þt the sainctes might have all thing[es] necessarie to worke & minister
with all / to the edifyinge of the body of christ / tyll we every one (in the vnitie of fayth / and knowledge of the sonne of god) growe vp vnto a parfayte man / after þ
e measure of
20.B age of the fulnes of Christ.

That we hence forth be no moare chyldren / wauerynge and caryed with every wynde of doctryne / by the wylynes of men and craftynes / wherby they laye a wayte for vs to deceave vs.
B
But let vs folowe the trueth in loue / and in all thynges growe in him which is the heed / that ys to saye Christ / in whom all the body ys coupled and knet togedder in every ioynt wherwith one ministreth to another (accordinge to the operacion as every parte hath his measure) and increaseth the body / vnto the edyfyinge of it silfe in love.
This I saye therfore & testifie in þe lorde / that ye hence forth walke not as other gentyls walke / in vanitie of their mynde / blynded in their vnderstondynge / beynge straungers from the lyfe which is in god thorow the ignorancy that is in them / 21.B because of the blyndnes of their hertes: which beynge past repentaunce / have geven them selves vnto wantannes /
C
to worke all manner of vnclennes / even with gredynes. But ye have not so learned Christ / if so be ye have hearde of him / and are taught in him / even as the trueth is in Iesu. So then as concernynge the c

versacion in tyme past / laye from you that olde m

/ which is corrupte thorow the deceavable lustes
22.C 
and be ye renued in the sprete of youre
myndes /
23.C and put on that newe man / which after the ymage of God is shapen in ryghtewesnes and true holynes.
F
Wherfore put awaye lyinge / and speake every man truth vnto his neghbour / for as moche as we are members one of another. Be angrye but synne not let not the sonne go doune apon your wrathe
24.F nether geue place vnto þ
e backbyter. Let him þ
t stole / steale no moare / but let him rather laboure with his hondes some good thinge that he maye have to geve vnto him that nedeth.
25.F Let no filthy c
municacion procede out of youre mouthes: 26.F but þt whych is good to edefye with all / when nede ys: that it maye have faveour with the hearers. And greve not the holy sprete of God / by whome ye are sealed vnto the daye of redempcion. Let all bitternes fearsnes and wrath / 27.F rorynge and cursyd speakynge / be put awaye from you / with all maliciousnes. Be ye courteouse one to another / and mercifull / forgevynge one another / ev
as god for Christes sake forgave you.
The .v. Chapter.

A
Be ye folowers of god as dere children / and walke in love even as Christ loved vs & gave him silfe for vs / an offerynge and a sacrifyce of a swete saver to god. So that fornicacion and all vnclennes /
28.A or coveteousnes be not once named amonge you / as it be commeth saynctes: nether filthynes / nether folishe talkyng / nether gestinge which are not comly: but rather gevynge of thankes For this ye knowe / þ
t no whormonger / other
vnclene person /
29.A or coveteous person which is the worshipper of ymages / hath eny inheritaunce in the kyngdome of Christ & of God.
B
Let no m

deceave you with vayne wordes.
30.BFor thorow soche thinges c

meth the wrath of God vpon the chyldr

of vnbelefe. Be not therfore companions with them. Ye were once dercknes / but are now light in the Lorde.
Walke as chyldren of light. For the frute of the sprete is in all goodnes / rightewesnes & trueth.
Accept that which is pleasinge to the Lorde: and have no fellishippe with the vnfrutfull workes of dercknes:
C
but rather rebuke them. For it is shame even to name those thinges which are done of them in secrete:
31.C but all thinges / when they are rebuked of the light / are manifest. For whatsoever is manifest / that same is light. Wherfore he sayth: awake thou that slepest / and stond vp from deeth / and Christ shall geve the light.
Take hede therfore that ye walke circ
spectly: not as foles: but as wyse 32.C redemynge the tyme: for þe dayes are evyll. Wherfore / be ye not vnwyse / but vnderstonde what the will of the Lorde is / & be not dronke with wyne /
D
wherin is excesse: but be fulfilled with the sprete / speakynge vnto youre selves in psalmes / & ymnes / & spretuall songes / synginge & makinge melodie to þ
e Lorde in youre hertes / gevinge thankes all wayes for all thinges vnto God the father / in the name of oure Lorde Iesu Christ:
33.D submittinge youre selves one to another in the feare of God.
34.DWemen submit youre selves vnto youre awne husbandes / as vnto the Lorde. For the husbande is the wyves heed /
E
even as Christ is the heed of the congregacion / & the same is the saveoure of the body.
35.ETherfore as the c

gregacion is in subieccion to Christ / lykwyse let the wyves be in subieccion to their husbandes in all thinges.
36.EHusbandes love youre wyves / even as Christ loved the congregacion / & gave him silfe for it / to sanctifie it / and clensed it in the
37.E fountayne of water thorow the worde /
F
to make it vnto him selfe / a glorious congregacion with oute spot or wrynckle / or eny soche thinge: but that it shuld be holy and with out blame.
So ought men to love their wyves / as their awne bodyes. He that loveth his wyfe / loveth him sylfe. For no m
ever yet / hated his awne flesshe: but norissheth and cherisseth it even as the lorde doth the congregacion. For we are members of his body / of his flesshe /
G
& of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave father and mother / and shall c

tinue with his wyfe /
38.G and two shalbe made one flesshe. This is a great secrete / but I speake bitwene Christ and the c

gregacion. Neverthelesse do ye so that every one of you love his wyfe truely even as him silfe. And let þ
e wyfe se that she feare her husb

de.
The .vi. Cha.
39.Chyldren obey youre fathers & mothers in the Lorde: for so is it right. Honoure thy father & mother /
A
that is the fyrst commaundement that hath eny promes / that
thou mayst be in good estate / & lyve longe on the erthe.
B
And ye fathers / move not youre children to wrath:
40.B but bringe th

vp [wt] the norter & informaci

of þ
e Lorde. Serva

tes be obedient vnto youre carnall masters /
41.B with feare & trimblinge / in singlenes of youre hert[es] / as vnto Christ: not [wt] service in þ
e eye sight / as men pleasars: but as the serva

tes of Christ / doynge þ
e will of God fr

the herte with good will servinge þ
e Lorde / & not men.
42.BAnd remember that whatsoever good thinge eny man doeth / that shall he receave agayne of the Lorde / whether he be bonde or fre.
C
And ye masters / do ev

the same thinges vnto them / puttinge awaye threateninges: and remember that even youre master also is in heven / nether is ther eny respecte of person with him.
Finally my brethr
/ be stronge in the Lorde / & in the power of his myght. Put on þe armour of God / that ye maye stonde stedfast agaynst þe crafty assautes of the devyll. For we wrestle not agaynst flesshe and bloud: but agaynst rule / agaynst power / & agaynst worldy rulars of þe darckenes of this worlde / agaynst spretuall wickednes for hevenly thinges.
D
For this cause take vnto you the
43.D armoure of God / þ
t ye maye be able to resist in the evyll daye / and to stonde perfect in all thinges.
Stonde therfore & youre loynes gyrd aboute with veritie / havinge on the brest plate of rightewesnes / and shood with showes prepared by the gospell of peace. Above all take to you the shelde of fayth / wherwith ye maye
quenche all þ
e fyrie dartes of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvaci

/ & the swearde of the sprete / which is the worde of God.

And praye all wayes with all m

ner prayer & supplicaci

: & þ
t in the sprete: & watch thervnto [wt] all instance & supplicaci

for all saynctes / and for me / that vttraunce maye be gev

vnto me / that I maye open my mouth boldly / to vtter the secretes of the gospell / whereof I am a messenger in bondes / that therin I maye speake frely / as it becommeth me to speake.
D
But that ye maye also knowe what condicion I am in & what I do / Tichicus my deare brother and faythfull minister in the Lorde / shall shewe you of all thinges / whom I sent vnto you for the same purpose / that ye myght knowe what case I stonde in / & that he myght comfort youre hertes.
Peace be with the brethren / and love with fayth / from God the father & from the Lorde Iesu Christ. Grace be with all them which love oure lorde Iesus Christ in puernes. Am
Sent from Rome vnto the Ephesyans by Tichicus.