Unity in the Body of Christ

¹I therefore, ma prisoner for the Lord, urge you to nwalk in a manner worthy of othe calling to which you have been called, ²with all phumility and qgentleness, with rpatience, sbearing with one another in love, ³eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in tthe bond of peace. ⁴There is uone body and vone Spirit—just as you were called to the one whope that belongs to your call— ⁵xone Lord, yone faith, zone baptism, ⁶aone God and Father of all, bwho is over all and through all and in all. ⁷But cgrace was given dto each one of us eaccording to the measure of Christ's gift. ⁸Therefore it says,

f“When he ascended on high ghe led a host of captives,

and he gave gifts to men.”1

⁹(hIn saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into ithe lower regions, the earth?2 ¹⁰He who descended is the one who also jascended kfar above all the heavens, that he might lfill all things.) ¹¹And mhe gave the napostles, the prophets, the oevangelists, the pshepherds3 and teachers,4 ¹²qto equip the saints for the work of ministry, for rbuilding up sthe body of Christ, ¹³until we all attain to tthe unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, uto mature manhood,5 to the measure of the stature of vthe fullness of Christ, ¹⁴so that we may no longer be children, wtossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in xdeceitful schemes. ¹⁵Rather, yspeaking the truth in love, we are to zgrow up in every way into him who is athe head, into Christ, ¹⁶bfrom whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, cwhen 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 dtestify in the Lord, ethat you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, fin the futility of their minds. ¹⁸They gare darkened in their understanding, halienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to itheir hardness of heart. ¹⁹They jhave become callous and khave given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. ²⁰But that is not the way you llearned Christ!— ²¹assuming that myou have heard about him and nwere taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, ²²to oput off pyour old self,6 which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through qdeceitful desires, ²³and rto be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴and to put on sthe new self, tcreated after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

²⁵Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you uspeak the truth with his neighbor, for vwe are members one of another. ²⁶wBe angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷and xgive no opportunity to the devil. ²⁸Let the thief no longer steal, but rather ylet him labor, zdoing honest work with his own hands, so athat he may have something to share with anyone in need. ²⁹bLet 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 cgrace to those who hear. ³⁰And ddo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, eby whom you were sealed for the day of fredemption. ³¹gLet all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. ³²hBe kind to one another, tenderhearted, iforgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.