Ephesians 4:17-24 - Appeal For New Behavior

¹⁷ Now in the Lord I insist and protest that you must give up living like pagans; for their purposes are futile, ¹⁸ their intelligence is darkened, they are estranged from the life of God by the ignorance which their dulness of heart has produced in them ??19 men who have recklessly abandoned themselves to sensuality, with a lust for the business of impurity in every shape and form.

²⁰ That is not how you have understood the meaning of Christ ²¹ (for it is Christ whom you have been taught, it is in Christ that you have been instructed ??the real Christ who is in Jesus); ²² you must lay aside the old nature which belonged to your former course of life, that nature which crumbles to ruin under the passions of moral deceit, ²³ and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ putting on the new nature, that divine pattern which has been created in the upright and pious character of the Truth.

¹² As God's own chosen, then, as consecrated and beloved, be clothed with compassion, kindliness, humility, gentleness, and good temper ??13 forbear and forgive each other in any case of complaint; as Christ forgave you, so must you forgive. ¹⁴ And above all you must be loving, for love is the link of the perfect life. ¹⁵ Also, let the peace of Christ be supreme within your hearts ??that is why you have been called as members of the one Body. And you must be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the inspiration of Christ dwell in your midst with all its wealth of wisdom; teach and train one another with the music of psalms, with hymns, and songs of the spiritual life; praise God with thankful hearts. ¹⁷ Indeed, whatever you say or do, let everything be done in dependence on the Lord Jesus, giving thanks in his name to God the Father.