Unity of the Spirit
Therefore I, athe prisoner in the Lord, bexhort you to cwalk worthy of the dcalling with which you have been ecalled, 2 with all ahumility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another bin love, 3 being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the abond of peace. 4 There is aone body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one bhope of your calling; 5 aone Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all awho is over all and through all and in all.
7 But ato each one of us bgrace was given caccording to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says,
“aWhen He ascended on high,
He bled captive a host of captives,
And He gave gifts to men.”
9 (Now this expression, “He aascended,” what does it mean except that He also descended into bthe lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended afar above all the heavens, so that He might bfill all things.) 11 And He Himself agave bsome as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as cevangelists, and some as pastors and dteachers, 12 afor the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of bthe body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to athe unity of the faith, and of the bfull knowledge of the Son of God, to a cmature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the dfullness of Christ, 14 so that we are ano longer to be children, btossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by ccraftiness in ddeceitful scheming, 15 but speaking the truth ain love, we are to bgrow up in all aspects into Him who is the chead, that is Christ, 16 from whom athe whole body, being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly bmeasured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself cin love.
Put On the New Man
17 aTherefore this I say, and testify in the Lord, bthat you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the cfutility of their mind, 18 being adarkened in their mind, balienated from the life of God because of the cignorance that is in them, because of the dhardness of their heart. 19 And they, having abecome callous, bhave given themselves over to csensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not alearn Christ in this way— 21 if indeed you aheard Him and were btaught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 to alay aside, in reference to your former conduct, the bold man, which is being corrupted in accordance with the clusts of deceit, 23 and to be arenewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and to aput on the bnew man, which cin the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
25 Therefore, alaying aside falsehood, bspeak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are cmembers of one another. 26 aBe angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not agive the devil an opportunity. 28 He who steals must steal no longer, but rather ahe must labor, bperforming with his own hands what is good, cso that he will have something to share with one who has need. 29 Let no aunwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for bbuilding up what is needed, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30 aAnd do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were bsealed for the day of redemption. 31 aLet all bitterness and anger and wrath and shouting and slander be bput away from you, along with all cmalice. 32 aInstead, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, graciously forgiving each other, bjust as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven you.