according to the eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Parallel translations
- WEB according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord;
- KJV According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
- NKJV according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,
- NASB This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,
- NLT This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
This was according to God's eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. It anchors the whole plan in God's timeless intention fulfilled in Christ.
Overview
Paul roots all this in 'the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.' The display of God's wisdom through the church is no afterthought but the outworking of a plan settled in eternity and realized in Christ. The Lord Jesus is the one in whom God's eternal purpose comes to fulfillment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 2 Tim 1:9He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began.
- Eph 1:11In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
- Eph 1:4For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love
- Rom 9:11Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand,
- Isa 46:10–11I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
- Isa 14:24–27The LORD of Hosts has sworn: “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand.
- Eph 1:9And He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ
- Rom 8:28–30And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
- Jer 51:29The earth quakes and writhes because the LORD’s intentions against Babylon stand: to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
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Christ at the center
Every spiritual blessing is 'in Christ,' the head over all things for the church, in whom Jew and Gentile are made one new man by his blood.
How Ephesians 3:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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