The Messiah’s Gifts to the Church

1I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to live in a way that is worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2demonstrating all expressions of humility, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another in love. 3Do your best to maintain the unity of the Spirit by means of the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit. Likewise, you were called to the one hope of your calling.

5There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

6one God and Father of all,

who is above all, through all, and in all.

7Now to each one of us grace has been given proportionate to the measure of the Messiah’sa gift. 8That is why Godb says,

“When he went up to the highest place,

he led captives into captivity

and gave gifts to people.”c

9Now what does this “he went up” mean except that he also had goned down into the lower parts of the earth?e 10The one who went down is the same one who went up above all the heavens so that all things would be fulfilled. 11And it is he who gifted some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, and still others to be pastors and teachers, 12to equipf the saints, to do the work of ministry, and to build up the body of the Messiahg 13until all of us are united in the faith and in the full knowledge of God’s Son, and until we attain mature adulthood and the full standard of development in the Messiah.h 14Then we will no longer be little children, tossed like waves and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, or by clever strategies that would lead us astray. 15Instead, by speaking the truth in love, we will grow up completely and become one with the head, that is, one with the Messiah,i 16in whom the whole body is united and held together by every ligament with which it is supplied. As each individual part does its job, the body builds itself up in love.

The Old Life and the New

17Therefore, I tell you and insist onj in the Lord not to live any longer like the gentiles live, thinking worthless thoughts.k 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. 19Since they have lost all sense of shame, they have abandoned themselves to sensuality and practice every kind of sexual perversion without restraint. 20However, that is not the way you came to know the Messiah.l 21Surely you have listened to him and have been taught by him, since truth is in Jesus. 22Regarding your former way of life, you were taughtm to strip off your old nature, which is being ruined by its deceptive desires, 23to be renewed in your mental attitude, 24and to clothe yourselves with the new nature, which was created according to God’s imagen in righteousness and true holiness.

25Therefore, stripping off falsehood, “let each of us speak the truth to his neighbor,”o for we belong to one another. 26“Be angry, yet do not sin.”p Do not let the sun set while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil an opportunity to work.q 28The thief must no longer steal but must work hard and do what is good with his own hands, so that he might earn something to give to the needy.

29Let no filthy talk be heard from your mouths, but only what is good for building up people and meeting the need of the moment.r This way you will administer grace to those who hear you. 30Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, quarreling, and slander be put away from you, along with all hatred. 32And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another just as God has forgiven yous in the Messiah.t