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Ephesians 4

Unity of the Spirit

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Therefore I,  athe prisoner of the Lord,  bimplore you to  cwalk in a manner worthy of the  dcalling with which you have been  ecalled,

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with all  ahumility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another  bin love,

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being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the  abond of peace.

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There is  aone body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one  bhope of your calling;

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 aone Lord, one faith, one baptism,

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one God and Father of all  awho is over all and through all and in all.

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But  ato each one of us  bgrace was given  caccording to the measure of Christ's gift.

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Therefore  1it says, " aWHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE  bLED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN."

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(Now this expression, "He  aascended," what  1does it mean except that He also  2had descended into  bthe lower parts of the earth?

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He who descended is Himself also He who ascended  afar above all the heavens, so that He might  bfill all things.)

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And He  agave  bsome as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as  cevangelists, and some as pastors and  dteachers,

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 afor the equipping of the  1saints for the work of service, to the building up of  bthe body of Christ;

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until we all attain to  athe unity of the faith, and of the  1 bknowledge of the Son of God, to a  cmature man, to the measure of the stature  2which belongs to the  dfullness of Christ.

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 1As a result, we are  ano longer to be children,  btossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by  ccraftiness  2in  ddeceitful scheming;

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but  1speaking the truth  ain love,  2we are to  bgrow up in all aspects into Him who is the  chead, even Christ,

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from whom  athe 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  bin love.

The Christian's Walk

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 aSo this I say, and affirm together with the Lord,  bthat you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the  cfutility of their mind,

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being  adarkened in their understanding,  1 bexcluded from the life of God because of the  cignorance that is in them, because of the  dhardness of their heart;

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and they, having  abecome callous,  bhave given themselves over to  csensuality  1for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

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But you did not  alearn  1Christ in this way,

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if indeed you  ahave heard Him and have  bbeen taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,

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that, in reference to your former manner of life, you  alay aside the  bold  1self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the  clusts of deceit,

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and that you be  arenewed in the spirit of your mind,

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and  aput on the  bnew  1self, which  2 cin the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

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Therefore,  alaying aside falsehood,  bSPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are  cmembers of one another.

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 aBE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

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and do not  agive the devil  1an opportunity.

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He who steals must steal no longer; but rather  ahe must labor,  bperforming with his own hands what is good,  cso that he will have something to share with  1one who has need.

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Let no  1 aunwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for  bedification  2according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

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 aDo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,  1by whom you were  bsealed for the day of redemption.

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 aLet all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be  bput away from you, along with all  cmalice.

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 aBe kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other,  bjust as God in Christ also has forgiven  1you.



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by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved.
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(Produced: Sat Dec 22 11:24:26 2007)

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