Ephesians 4

Unity in the Body of Christ

1I therefore, aa prisoner for the Lord, urge you to bwalk in a manner worthy of cthe calling to which you have been called, 2with all dhumility and egentleness, with fpatience, gbearing with one another in love, 3eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in hthe bond of peace. 4There is ione body and jone Spirit—just as you were called to the one khope that belongs to your call 5 lone Lord, mone faith, none baptism, 6 oone God and Father of all, pwho is over all and through all and in all. 7But qgrace was given rto each one of us saccording to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8Therefore it says,

t“When he ascended on high uhe led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”
The Greek word anthropoi can refer to both men and women

9( wIn saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into xthe lower regions, the earth?
Or  the lower parts of the earth?
10He who descended is the one who also zascended aafar above all the heavens, that he might abfill all things.) 11And ache gave the adapostles, the prophets, the aeevangelists, the afshepherds
Or pastors
and teachers,
Or  the shepherd-teachers
12 aito equip the saints for the work of ministry, for ajbuilding up akthe body of Christ, 13until we all attain to althe unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, amto mature manhood,
Greek  to a full-grown man
to the measure of the stature of aothe fullness of Christ,
14so that we may no longer be children, aptossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in aqdeceitful schemes. 15Rather, arspeaking the truth in love, we are to asgrow up in every way into him who is atthe head, into Christ, 16 aufrom whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, avwhen each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The New Life

17Now this I say and awtestify in the Lord, axthat you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, ayin the futility of their minds. 18They azare darkened in their understanding, baalienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to bbtheir hardness of heart. 19They bchave become callous and bdhave given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20But that is not the way you belearned Christ!— 21assuming that bfyou have heard about him and bgwere taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22to bhput off biyour old self,
Greek man; also verse 24
which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through bkdeceitful desires,
23and blto be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24and to put on bmthe new self, bncreated after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

25Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you bospeak the truth with his neighbor, for bpwe are members one of another. 26 bqBe angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27and brgive no opportunity to the devil. 28Let the thief no longer steal, but rather bslet him labor, btdoing honest work with his own hands, so buthat he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 bvLet no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give bwgrace to those who hear. 30And bxdo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, byby whom you were sealed for the day of bzredemption. 31 caLet all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 cbBe kind to one another, tenderhearted, ccforgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

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