1 So I, a prisoner for the Lord's sake, entreat you to live lives worthy of the call you have received, 2 with perfect humility and gentleness, with patience, lovingly bearing with one another, 3 continuing with eager earnestness to maintain the unity of the Spirit through the tie of peace. 4 There is but one body and one Spirit, just as there is but one hope resulting from the call you have received; 5 there is but one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over us all, who pervades us all, and who is within us all.
7 But in accordance with the measure of Christ's gift, His favor has been bestowed upon each one of us. 8 Concerning this the Scripture says: "He led a host of captives, when He went up on high, and granted gifts to men."
9 What does "He went up" mean, except that He had first gone down into the lower regions of the earth? 10 The very One that went down has gone up, too, far above all the heavens, to fill the universe. 11 And He has given some men to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers, 12 for the immediate equipment of God's people for the work of service, for the ultimate building up of the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to unity in faith and to perfect knowledge of the Son of God, namely, to a mature manhood and to a perfect measure of Christ's moral stature; 14 so that we may not be babies any longer, or like sailors tossed about and driven around by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men through their cunning in inventing new methods of error. 15 But, on the other hand, we shall go on holding to the truth and in love growing up into perfect union with Him, that is, Christ Himself who is the Head. 16 For it is under His direction that the whole body is perfectly adjusted and united by every joint that furnishes its supplies; and by the proper functioning of each particular part there is brought about the growing of the body for its building up in love.
17 So I mean this and now testify to it in the name of the Lord: You must now stop living as the heathen usually do, in the frivolity of their minds, 18 with darkened understanding, estranged from the life of God because of the ignorance that exists among them and because of the stubbornness of their hearts; 19 for in their recklessness they have abandoned themselves to sensuality which leads to excessive practices of all sorts of immorality.
20 But this is not the way you have learned what Christ means, 21 if, as I take it, you have heard Him and in union with Him have been taught the truth as it is seen in Jesus, 22 to lay aside, with your former way of living, your old self which is on the way to destruction in accordance with its deceptive impulses; 23 and to have a new attitude of mind 24 and put on the new self which has been created in the likeness of God, which fruits in right and holy living inspired by the truth.
25 So you must lay aside falsehood and each of you practice telling the truth to his neighbor, for we are parts of one another. 26 If you do get angry, you must stop sinning in your anger. Do not ever let the sun go down on your anger; 27 stop giving the devil a chance. 28 The man who used to steal must now stop stealing; rather, he must keep on working and toiling with his own hands at some honest vocation, so as to have something to contribute to the needy. 29 You must stop letting any bad word pass your lips, but only words that are good for building up as the occasion demands, so that they will result in spiritual blessing to the hearers. 30 You must stop offending the Holy Spirit of God by whom you have been stamped for the day of redemption. 31 You must remove all bitterness, rage, anger, loud threats, and insults, with all malice. 32 You must practice being kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has graciously forgiven you.