The Call to Walk Worthily

1 Therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthily of the calling to which you were called,
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
3 being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 One body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Grace Given to Each for Building Up

7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
8 Therefore it says,
“When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive,
and He gave gifts to men.”
9 Now the expression “He ascended,” what is it except that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He who descended is Himself also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, in order that He might fill all things.
11 And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as shepherds and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ,
13 until we all might come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
14 so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.
15 But speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, being fitted together and held together by every joint of supply, according to the working in measure of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Put Off the Old, Put On the New

17 This therefore I say and testify in the Lord: that you no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
18 being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
19 who, having become callous, have given themselves up to sensuality for the practice of every impurity with greediness.
20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,
21 if indeed you heard Him and were taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
22 that you put off, according to your former way of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the desires of deceit,
23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and put on the new man, which according to God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Living as the New Man

25 Therefore, having put off the lie, speak truth each one with his neighbour, because we are members of one another.
26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
27 and do not give place to the devil.
28 The one who steals must steal no longer, but rather must labour, working with his own hands what is good, so that he may have something to share with the one in need.
29 Let no corrupt word go out of your mouth, but only what is good for building up as is needed, that it may give grace to those who hear.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be removed from you, along with all malice.
32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as also God in Christ forgave you.