Ephesians 4:1-32 NASB20 - Bible AI

¹Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,

²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

³being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling;

⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

⁶one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

⁷But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

⁸Therefore [63]it says,

⁸“WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE the captives, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO PEOPLE.”

⁹(Now this expression, “He ascended,” what [64]does it mean except that He also [65]had descended into the lower parts of the earth?

¹⁰He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)

¹¹And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as [66]pastors and teachers,

¹²for the equipping of the [67]saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ;

¹³until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the [68]knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature [69]which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴[70]As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness [71]in deceitful scheming;

¹⁵but [72]speaking the truth in love, [73]we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ,

¹⁶from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together [74]by what every joint supplies, according to the [75]proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

The Christian’s Walk

¹⁷So I say this, and affirm in the Lord, that you are to no longer walk just as the [76]Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their minds,

¹⁸being darkened in their understanding, [77]excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

¹⁹and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior [78]for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

²⁰But you did not learn Christ in this way,

²¹if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,

²²that, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old [79]self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

²³and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

²⁴and to put on the new [80]self, which [81]in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

²⁵Therefore, ridding yourselves of falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you with his neighbor, because we are parts of one another.

²⁶BE ANGRY, AND yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

²⁷and do not give the devil [82]an opportunity.

²⁸The one who steals must no longer steal; but rather he must labor, producing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with the one who has need.

²⁹Let no [83]unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but if there is any good word for edification [84]according to the need of the moment, say that, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

³⁰Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, [85]by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

³¹All bitterness, wrath, anger, [86]clamor, and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice.

³²Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven [87]you.