Ephesians
So then I, the prisoner in the lord, implore you to conduct yourselves
in a way that is worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
with all
humility and meekness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
making every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your
calling,
one lord,
one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all.
But to each of us grace was given according to the measure of the
Messiah’s gift.
That is why it says, “When he ascended on high, he captured a group of captives and gave gifts to people.”
Now what does “he
ascended” mean except that he had also descended into the lower parts of the
earth?
He who descended is the same one who also ascended far above all the
heavens, so that he might fill all things.
It was he who gave some to be
Apostles, and some to be prophets, and some to be evangelists, and some to
be pastor-teachers,
to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up
the body of the Messiah,
until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of
the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full-grown person, to the height of the Messiah’s full stature.
So we are no longer to be
children, tossed back and forth by waves and swayed by every wind of
teaching, by the trickery of people with their sleight of hand and deceitful scheming.
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in all things into
him who is the head, Messiah.
From him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting joint, with the proper working of each individual part, grows and builds itself up in love.
So I tell you this and testify in the lord: you must no longer
conduct yourselves as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.
They are
darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their
ignorance which is due to their hardness of heart.
They have
become callous and have given themselves up to lust, to practice all sorts of
impurity, desiring more and more of it.
But you did not learn that from Messiah —
if
indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus.
About your former way of life, you were taught to put away the old person
who is corrupted by deceitful lusts,
and be renewed in the
spirit of your minds.
You must put on the new person, who in the image of
God
has been created in uprightness and in holiness that is based on the truth.
So then, having put away everything false, “Each one of you speak the truth with your neighbor,” because we are members of one another.
Be angry, yet do not sin.
Do not let the sun set on your anger,
and do not give the Devil an
opportunity.
Let the one who stole steal no longer; instead let him work,
doing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to
share with those who are in need.
Let no corrupt speech come out of your
mouths, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, so
that your words will give grace to those who hear.
And do not grieve God’s holy spirit, with which you were sealed for the Day of redemption.
Let all bitterness,
rage, anger, quarreling, and slander be put away from you, with all malice.
And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in
Messiah has forgiven you.
Ephesians