Ephesians 3:12

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
In him we have boldness and confident access through faith in him.

King James Version (1611)
In whom we haue boldnesse and accesse, with confidence, by the faith of him.

King James Version
In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

English Standard Version
in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

New American Standard Bible
in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.

New Century Version
In Christ we can come before God with freedom and without fear. We can do this through faith in Christ.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.

Legacy Standard Bible
in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.

Berean Standard Bible
In Him and through faith in Him we may enter God's presence with boldness and confidence.

Contemporary English Version
Christ now gives us courage and confidence, so that we can come to God by faith.

Complete Jewish Bible
In union with him, through his faithfulness, we have boldness and confidence when we approach God.

Darby Translation
in whom we have boldness and access in confidence by the faith of him.

Easy-to-Read Version
In Christ we come before God with freedom and without fear. We can do this because of our faith in Christ.

Geneva Bible (1587)
By whom we haue boldenes and entrance with confidence, by faith in him.

George Lamsa Translation
In whom we have freedom of access with confidence in his faith.

Good News Translation
In union with Christ and through our faith in him we have the boldness to go into God's presence with all confidence.

Lexham English Bible
in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through faith in him.

Literal Translation
in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through His faith.

Amplified Bible
in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him [that is, our faith gives us sufficient courage to freely and openly approach God through Christ].

American Standard Version
in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him.

Bible in Basic English
By whom we come near to God without fear through faith in him.

Hebrew Names Version
in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him.

International Standard Version
in whom we have boldness and confident access through his faithfulness.through faith in him">[fn]Ephesians 2:18; Hebrews 4:16;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
by whom we have freedom and access with the confidence of the faith of him.

Murdock Translation
through whom we have boldness and access, in the confidence of his faith.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
By who we haue boldnesse & entraunce in ye confidence which is by faith of him.

English Revised Version
in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him.

World English Bible
in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
By whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him.

Weymouth's New Testament
in whom we have this bold and confident access through our faith in Him.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
In whom we han trist and nyy comyng, in tristenyng bi the feith of hym.

Update Bible Version
in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him.

Webster's Bible Translation
In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him,

New English Translation
in whom we have boldness and confident access to God because of Christ's faithfulness.

New King James Version
in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.

New Living Translation
Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God's presence.

New Life Bible
We can come to God without fear because we have put our trust in Christ.

New Revised Standard
in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
In whom we have our freedom of speech and introduction with assurance, through the faith of him; -

Douay-Rheims Bible
In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

Revised Standard Version
in whom we have boldness and confidence of access through our faith in him.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
by who we are bolde to drawe nye in ye trust which we have by faith on hi

Young's Literal Translation
in whom we have the freedom and the access in confidence through the faith of him,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
by whom we haue boldnesse and intraunce in all confidece thorow faith on him.

Mace New Testament (1729)
by whom we have freedom of access to God, with confidence, by faith in him.

Simplified Cowboy Version
Because of what Jesus did for us, we can ride with God boldly and confidently.

Contextual Overview

¹This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you're familiar with the part I was given in God's plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief. ⁴As you read over what I have written to you, you'll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God's Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I've been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board. ⁷This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities. And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels! All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we're free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don't let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud! My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church! Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus! Glory down all the generations! Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes! ⁹The Secret Plan of God This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you're familiar with the part I was given in God's plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief. As you read over what I have written to you, you'll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God's Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I've been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board. This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities. And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels! All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we're free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don't let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud! My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church! Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus! Glory down all the generations! Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes! ¹⁰The Secret Plan of God This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you're familiar with the part I was given in God's plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief. As you read over what I have written to you, you'll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God's Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I've been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board. This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities. And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels! ¹¹All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we're free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don't let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud!

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Ephesians 2:18, John 14:6, Romans 5:2, Hebrews 4:14-16, Hebrews 10:19-22

Reciprocal: Leviticus 3:8 - kill it Job 31:37 - as a Psalms 10:17 - thou wilt prepare John 14:13 - in my Hebrews 4:16 - come Hebrews 7:19 - we Hebrews 7:25 - by him Hebrews 10:22 - in full Hebrews 13:6 - boldly 1 John 5:14 - this

Cross-References

Genesis 2:18
God said, "It's not good for the Man to be alone; I'll make him a helper, a companion." So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn't find a suitable companion.

Genesis 3:13
"The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."

Genesis 3:20
The Man, known as Adam, named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.

Genesis 3:21
God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.

Proverbs 19:3
People ruin their lives by their own stupidity, so why does God always get blamed?

Proverbs 28:13
You can't whitewash your sins and get by with it; you find mercy by admitting and leaving them.

Luke 10:29
Looking for a loophole, he asked, "And just how would you define ‘neighbor'?"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

In whom we have boldness and access,.... Into the holy of holies, to the throne of grace there, and to God the Father, as seated on it: Christ is the way of access; union to him gives right of access; through his mediation his people have audience of God, and acceptance with him, both of person and service: and this access is with boldness; which denotes liberty of coming, granted by God, and a liberty in their own souls to speak out their minds plainly and freely; and an holy courage and intrepidity of soul, being free from servile fear, or a spirit of bondage; which is owing to the heart being sprinkled from an evil conscience, to an act of faith, on the person, blood, and righteousness of Christ, and to a view of God, as a God of peace, grace and mercy: and this access may be had

with confidence by the faith of him; with confidence of interest in the everlasting love of God; of relation to him, as a covenant God and Father; of his power, faithfulness, and willingness to fulfil his promises; of his hearing and answering prayer; of the fulness of Christ, the prevalence of his mediation, and of the acceptance of persons and performances through him; and of the work of grace being carried on till the day of Christ; and of entrance at last into the heavenly glory: and this access is not local but spiritual; it is by faith, and so is peculiar to believers; and the confidence with which it may be had, arises from its being by the faith of Christ; not that faith which Christ himself had, and exercised as man, but that of which he is both the object and author; or that by which souls believe in him for acceptance, for righteousness, for pardon, for every supply of grace, and for eternal life and happiness.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

We have boldness - The word used here - παῤῥησίαν parrēsian - means, properly, boldness of speaking; 2 Corinthians 7:4; John 7:26; Acts 4:13, Acts 4:29, Acts 4:31. Here it seems to mean “freedom of utterance;” and the idea is, that we may come to God now in prayer with confidence through the Lord Jesus; see Hebrews 4:16.

And access - see notes Ephesians 2:18.

By the faith of him - By faith in him. The sense is, that we may now come confidently and boldly to the throne of grace for mercy in the name of the Redeemer. Boldness is not rashness; and faith is not presumption; but we may come without hesitating, and with an assurance that our prayers will be heard.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 12. In whom we have boldness — By whom we, Gentiles, have την παρρησιαν, this liberty of speech; so that we may say any thing by prayer and supplication, and την προσαγωγην, this introduction, into the Divine presence by faith in Christ. It is only in his name we can pray to God, and it is only by him that we can come to God; none can give us an introduction but Christ Jesus, and it is only for his sake that God will either hear or save us. It is on the ground of such scriptures as these that we conclude all our prayers in the name, and for the sake, of Jesus Christ our Lord.