Christian Standard Bible

New Living Translation

1Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children,

1Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.

2and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.

2Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

3But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints.

3Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people.

4Obscene and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks.

4Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God.

5For know and recognize this: Every sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

5You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

6Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God's wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things.

6Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him.

7Therefore, do not become their partners.

7Don’t participate in the things these people do.

8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light--

8For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!

9for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth--

9For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

10testing what is pleasing to the Lord.

10Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.

11Don't participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them.

11Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.

12For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret.

12It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.

13Everything exposed by the light is made visible,

13But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them,

14for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said: Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

14for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” Living by the Spirit’s Power

15Pay careful attention, then, to how you live--not as unwise people but as wise--

15So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.

16making the most of the time, because the days are evil.

16Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.

17So don't be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

17Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.

18And don't get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit:

18Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit,

19speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord,

19singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.

20giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

20And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Spirit-Guided Relationships: Wives and Husbands

21submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.

21And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord,

22For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord.

23because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body.

23For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church.

24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything.

24As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her

25For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her

26to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.

26to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.

27He did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.

27He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.

28In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

28In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself.

29For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church,

29No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church.

30since we are members of his body.

30And we are members of his body.

31For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

31As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.”

32This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church.

32This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.

33To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.

33So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.