Ephesians 4
He Ascended on High and Led Captivity Captive
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The Unity of the Spirit
4:1Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called,
4:2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
4:3being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace:
4:4one body and one Spirit, just as you were also called in one hope of your calling;
4:5one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
4:6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Gifts for Building Up the Body
4:7But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
4:8Therefore it says, “Having ascended on high, He took captivity captive; He gave gifts to human beings.”
4:9Now what does “He ascended” mean, except that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth?
4:10The One who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.
4:11And He Himself gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as shepherds and teachers,
4:12for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, for building up the body of Christ,
4:13until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
4:14so that we may no longer be children, tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching, by human trickery, by cunning for the schemes of deceit,
4:15but, being truthful in love, we may grow in all things into Him who is the head, Christ,
4:16from whom the whole body, fitted and held together through every supporting joint, according to the working in due measure of each individual part, produces the growth of the body for building itself up in love.
The Old Life Put Off
4:17So I say this and testify in the Lord: you must no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
4:18being darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance in them, because of the hardness of their heart.
4:19Having lost sensitivity, they handed themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every impurity in greed.
4:20But you did not learn Christ in this way,
4:21if indeed you heard Him and were taught in Him, as truth is in Jesus:
4:22that, concerning your former conduct, you put off the old human being, which is being corrupted according to the desires of deceit,
4:23and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
4:24and put on the new human being, created according to God in righteousness and holiness of truth.
The New Life Put On
4:25Therefore, putting away falsehood, let each speak truth with his neighbor, because we are members of one another.
4:26Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down upon your anger,
4:27nor give a place to the devil.
4:28Let the one who steals steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working what is good with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with the one in need.
4:29Let no rotten word come out of your mouth, but only what is good for building up as needed, so that it may give grace to those who hear.
4:30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
4:31Let all bitterness and rage and anger and shouting and slander be taken away from you, with all malice.
4:32Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V2 · working draft awaiting specialist review.