UST EPH Chapter 4

4 Because of all this, as someone who is in prison because I serve the Lord Jesus, I appeal to you to live in a way that honors Jesus, who called you to live for him. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, enduring the bothersome things that others do because you love each other. 3 Since God’s Spirit has united you, do everything that you can to remain united with one another. Bind yourselves together by acting peacefully toward each other. 4 God only has one family of believers and one Holy Spirit, just as he also called all of you to receive the one and only thing that people can hope for, that belongs to you whom God has called. 5 There is only one Lord, Jesus the Messiah, only one way to believe in him, and they baptized us to show that we belong to him alone. 6 There is one God, who is the Father of all of us, whether Jew or non-Jew. He rules over all of us, works through all of us, and is in all of us.

7 To each one of us God has given spiritual gifts in just the way that the Messiah has decided that we should have them. 8 That is why the scripture says,

As he went up to the high place,

he brought with him many people whom he had captured,

and gave gifts to his people.

9 The words “he went up” certainly make us know that the Messiah had also previously gone down to the lower parts of the earth. 10 The Messiah, who came down to earth from heaven, is also the one who returned upward to the most exalted position in heaven in order that he might fill the universe. 11 As gifts to his people, he appointed some of them to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to seek out people to tell them the good news about Jesus, and some to care for and to teach the groups of believers. 12 God appointed all of them to prepare God’s people to do the work of serving others so that all the people who belong to the Messiah might become spiritually strong. 13 This work will continue until all of us together become what God wants us to be: united as we together fully trust in the Son of God and experience his working in us, and completely mature as a group of believers—as fully mature in trusting and knowing God as the Messiah himself. 14 Then we will no longer be spiritually immature, as little children are immature. We will no longer follow every new teaching, always changing what we believe like a boat that goes one way and then the other as the wind and waves change direction. We will not allow clever people who teach what is false to deceive us with their lies. 15 Rather than that, as we lovingly speak to each other what is true, let us become more and more like the Messiah in every way as he directs us, just like a person’s head directs the person’s body. 16 He is the one who joins us all together and keeps us connected to each other. He teaches us how to support each other and to work in a coordinated way as he gives the ability that is appropriate to each one of us, just as a person’s head does that for the parts of his body. In this way, as we love each other, we will grow together and make each other stronger.

17 For that reason, and with the authority of the Lord Jesus, I tell you this: from now on you must not live in the same way as the other non-Jews live. The way that they live comes from an empty way of thinking. 18 They are unable to think clearly about what is right or wrong because they try to live completely separated from God. They do this because they do not know what they are missing and because they stubbornly refuse to obey God. 19 They have become unable to sense if something is good or bad, and so they have devoted themselves to doing whatever shameful things their bodies desire. They commit all kinds of immoral acts and want to do them more and more.

20 But that is not how you learned to live when you learned about the Messiah, 21 to the extent that you have heard and understood the message about Jesus and have learned from him, since his way is the true way to live. 22 Your teachers taught you to stop living the way that you used to live. Because you desired to do evil things, you deceived yourselves into thinking that those things were good. Living like that was destroying you spiritually. 23 So you must let God give you a new spirit and a new way of thinking, 24 and you must start living like the new person that God created you in his own image to be. He created you to live in the right way with each other and with himself, in the true way of Jesus.

25 So stop lying to one another. Speak truthfully to each other because we belong to each other as members of God’s family. 26 Be angry about sinful behavior, but do not sin because you are angry. Before the end of each day, take care of whatever has made you angry 27 so that you will not allow the devil to do evil things among you. 28 Those who have been stealing must not steal anymore. Instead, they must work hard, doing good work by their own efforts so that they may have something to give to those who are needy. 29 Do not say harmful things. Instead, say good things that will encourage people when they need help so that God can work through your words to benefit those who hear. 30 God has marked you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, who will be with you until the day that the Messiah will rescue you from this world. So do not make the Holy Spirit of God sad by how you live. 31 Do your best to completely stop behaving in these ways: Do not be resentful or furious toward others or even become angry with others. Do not shout abusively at others or slander others. Never act maliciously in any way. 32 Rather than behave like that, be kind to one another. Act mercifully toward each other. Forgive each other in the same way that God also forgave you through what the Messiah has done for you.

EPH C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6