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841 THE PLAN OF SALVATIONEphesians 1, Jerusalem.
Blessed be God the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with all the
spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ.

Before the world was made,
he chose us, chose us in Christ,
to be holy and spodess,
and to live through love in his presence,
determining that we should become
his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ
for his own kind purposes,
to make us praise the glory of his grace,
his free gift to us in the Beloved,
in whom, through his blood,
we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins.


Such is the richness of the grace
which he has showered on us
in all wisdom and insight.

He has let us know the mystery of his purpose,
the hidden plan he so kindly made in Christ
from the beginning to act upon
when the times had run their course to the end:
that he would bring everything
together under Christ, as head,
everything in the heavens and
everything on earth.


And it is in him that we were claimed as God's own,
chosen from the beginning,
under the predetermined plan of the one
who guides all things as he decides by his own will;
chosen to be, for his greater glory,
the people who would put their
hopes in Christ before he came.

Now you too, in him, have heard the message
of the truth and the good news of your salvation,
and have believed it;
and you too have been stamped with the seal
of the Holy Spirit of the Promise,
the pledge of our inheritance which brings freedom
for those whom God has taken for his own,
to make his glory praised.