4:1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
4:2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
4:3 being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4:4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling;
4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
4:6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
4:8 Therefore ①it says,
“WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH,
HE LED CAPTIVE the captives,
AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO PEOPLE.”
▷ ①Or He
4:9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what ①does it mean except that He also ②had descended into the lower parts of the earth?
▷ ①Lit is it except ②One early ms had first descended
4:10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)
4:11 And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as ①pastors and teachers,
▷ ①From Gr for shepherds
4:12 for the equipping of the ①saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ;
▷ ①Lit holy ones; i.e., God’s people
4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the ①knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature ②which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
▷ ①Or true knowledge ②Lit of the fullness
4:14 ①As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness ②in deceitful scheming;
▷ ①Lit So that we will no longer be ②Lit with regard to the scheming of deceit
4:15 but ①speaking the truth in love, ②we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ,
▷ ①Or holding to; or being truthful in ②Or let’s grow up
4:16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together ①by what every joint supplies, according to the ②proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
▷ ①Lit through every joint of the supply ②Lit working in measure
4:17 So I say this, and affirm in the Lord, that you are to no longer walk just as the ①Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their minds,
▷ ①I.e., unbelieving Gentiles
4:18 being darkened in their understanding, ①excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
▷ ①Or alienated
4:19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior ①for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
▷ ①Or greedy for the practice of every kind of impurity
4:20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,
4:21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
4:22 that, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old ①self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
▷ ①Lit person
4:23 and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
4:24 and to put on the new ①self, which ②in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
▷ ①Lit person ②Lit according to God
4:25 Therefore, ridding yourselves of falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you with his neighbor, because we are parts of one another.
4:26 BE ANGRY, AND yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
4:27 and do not give the devil ①an opportunity.
▷ ①Lit a place
4:28 The one who steals must no longer steal; but rather he must labor, producing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with the one who has need.
4:29 Let no ①unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but if there is any good word for edification ②according to the need of the moment, say that, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
▷ ①Lit rotten ②Lit of the need
4:30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, ①by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
▷ ①Lit in
4:31 All bitterness, wrath, anger, ①clamor, and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice.
▷ ①Or shouting
4:32 Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven ①you.
▷ ①Two early mss us