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Ephesians 4 (AMP)

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¹ I THEREFORE, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to and beg you to walk (lead a life) worthy of the calling to which you have been called [{\cf15\I with behavior that is a credit to the summons to God's service, ² Living as becomes you}] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another. ³ Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of the Spirit in the binding power of peace. ⁴ one body and one Spirit--just as there is also one hope to the calling you received-- ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ One God and Father of all, Who is above all , pervading all and in all. ⁷ Yet grace (God's unmerited favor) was given to each of us individually in proportion to the measure of Christ's gift. ⁸ Therefore it is said, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive and He bestowed gifts on men. ⁹ Now what can this, He ascended, mean but that He had previously descended from heaven into , the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰ He Who descended is the same as He Who also has ascended high above all the heavens, that He might fill all things (the whole universe, from the lowest to the highest). ¹¹ And His gifts were some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers. ¹² His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), the work of ministering toward building up Christ's body (the church), ¹³ until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the knowledge of the Son of God, that at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him. ¹⁴ So then, we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead. ¹⁵ Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth . Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). ¹⁶ For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly , grows to full maturity, building itself up in love. ¹⁷ So this I say and solemnly testify in the Lord , that you must no longer live as the heathen (the Gentiles) do in their perverseness of their minds. ¹⁸ Their moral understanding is darkened and their reasoning is beclouded. alienated (estranged, self-banished) from the life of God because of the ignorance (the want of knowledge and perception, the willful blindness) that is deep-seated in them, due to their hardness of heart . ¹⁹ In their spiritual apathy they have become callous and past feeling and reckless and have abandoned themselves to unbridled sensuality, eager and greedy to indulge in every form of impurity . ²⁰ But you did not so learn Christ! ²¹ Assuming that you have really heard Him and been taught by Him, as Truth is in Jesus , ²² Strip yourselves of your former nature which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion; ²³ And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind , ²⁴ And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God's image, in true righteousness and holiness. ²⁵ Therefore, rejecting all falsity and being done now with it, let everyone express the truth with his neighbor, for we are all parts of one body and members one of another. ²⁶ When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down. ²⁷ Leave no room or foothold for the devil . ²⁸ Let the thief steal no more, but rather let him be industrious, making an honest living with his own hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need. ²⁹ Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God's favor) to those who hear it. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God , by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God's own, secured) for the day of redemption (of final deliverance through Christ from evil and the consequences of sin). ³¹ Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind). ³² And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another , as God in Christ forgave you.