Ephesians 4-6

Ephesians 4

¹I then, the prisoner in the Lord, make this request from my heart, that you will see that your behaviour is a credit to the position which God's purpose has given you,

²With all gentle and quiet behaviour, taking whatever comes, putting up with one another in love;

³Taking care to keep the harmony of the Spirit in the yoke of peace.

⁴There is one body and one Spirit, even as you have been marked out by God in the one hope of his purpose for you;

⁵One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

⁶One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.

⁷But to every one of us has grace been given in the measure of the giving of Christ.

⁸For this reason he says, He went up on high, taking his prisoners with him, and gave freely to men.

⁹(Now this, He went up, what is it but that he first went down into the lower parts of the earth?

¹⁰He who went down is the same who went up far over all the heavens so that he might make all things complete.)

¹¹And he gave some as Apostles, and some, prophets; and some, preachers of the good news; and some to give care and teaching;

¹²For the training of the saints as servants in the church, for the building up of the body of Christ:

¹³Till we all come to the harmony of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to full growth, to the full measure of Christ:

¹⁴So that we may be no longer children, sent this way and that, turned about by every wind of teaching, by the twisting and tricks of men, by the deceits of error;

¹⁵But saying true words in love, may come to full growth in him, who is the head, even Christ;

¹⁶Through whom all the body, being rightly formed and united together, by the full working of every part, is increased to the building up of itself in love.

¹⁷This I say, then, and give witness in the Lord, that you are to go no longer in the way of the Gentiles whose minds are turned to that which has no profit,

¹⁸Whose thoughts are dark, to whom the life of God is strange because they are without knowledge, and their hearts have been made hard;

¹⁹Who having no more power of feeling, have given themselves up to evil passions, to do all unclean things with overmuch desire.

²⁰For this was not the teaching of Christ which was given to you;

²¹If in fact you gave ear to him, and were given teaching in him, even as what is true is made clear in Jesus:

²²That you are to put away, in relation to your earlier way of life, the old man, which has become evil by love of deceit;

²³And be made new in the spirit of your mind,

²⁴And put on the new man, to which God has given life, in righteousness and a true and holy way of living.

²⁵And so, putting away false words, let everyone say what is true to his neighbour: for we are parts one of another.

²⁶Be angry without doing wrong; let not the sun go down on your wrath;

²⁷And do not give way to the Evil One.

²⁸Let him who was a thief be so no longer, but let him do good work with his hands, so that he may have something to give to him who is in need.

²⁹Let no evil talk come out of your mouth, but only what is good for giving necessary teaching, and for grace to those who give ear.

³⁰And do not give grief to the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were marked for the day of salvation.

³¹Let all bitter, sharp and angry feeling, and noise, and evil words, be put away from you, with all unkind acts;

³²And be kind to one another, full of pity, having forgiveness for one another, even as God in Christ had forgiveness for you.

Ephesians 5

¹Let it then be your desire to be like God, as well-loved children;

²And be living in love, even as Christ had love for you, and gave himself up for us, an offering to God for a perfume of a sweet smell.

³But evil acts of the flesh and all unclean things, or desire for others' property, let it not even be named among you, as is right for saints;

⁴And let there be no low behaviour, or foolish talk, or words said in sport, which are not right, but in place of them the giving of praise.

⁵Being certain of this, that no man who gives way to the passions of the flesh, no unclean person, or one who has desire for the property of others, or who gives worship to images, has any heritage in the kingdom of Christ and God.

⁶Do not be turned from the right way by foolish words; for because of these things the punishment of God comes on those who do not put themselves under him.

⁷Have no part with such men;

⁸For you at one time were dark, but now are light in the Lord: let your behaviour be that of children of light

⁹(Because the fruit of the light is in all righteousness and in everything which is good and true),

¹⁰Testing by experience what is well-pleasing to the Lord;

¹¹And have no company with the works of the dark, which give no fruit, but make their true quality clear;

¹²For the things which are done by them in secret it is shame even to put into words.

¹³But all things, when their true quality is seen, are made clear by the light: because everything which is made clear is light.

¹⁴For this reason he says, Be awake, you who are sleeping, and come up from among the dead, and Christ will be your light.

¹⁵Take care then how you are living, not as unwise, but as wise;

¹⁶Making good use of the time, because the days are evil.

¹⁷For this reason, then, do not be foolish, but be conscious of the Lord's pleasure.

¹⁸And do not take overmuch wine by which one may be overcome, but be full of the Spirit;

¹⁹Joining with one another in holy songs of praise and of the Spirit, using your voice in songs and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

²⁰Giving praise at all times for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father;

²¹Letting yourselves be ruled by one another in the fear of Christ.

²²Wives, be under the authority of your husbands, as of the Lord.

²³For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, being himself the saviour of the body.

²⁴And as the church is under Christ's authority, so let wives be under the rule of their husbands in all things.

²⁵Husbands, have love for your wives, even as Christ had love for the church, and gave himself for it;

²⁶So that he might make it holy, having made it clean with the washing of water by the word,

²⁷And might take it for himself, a church full of glory, not having one mark or fold or any such thing; but that it might be holy and complete.

²⁸Even so it is right for husbands to have love for their wives as for their bodies. He who has love for his wife has love for himself:

²⁹For no man ever had hate for his flesh; but he gives it food and takes care of it, even as Christ does for the church;

³⁰Because we are parts of his body.

³¹For this cause will a man go away from his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

³²This is a great secret: but my words are about Christ and the church.

³³But do you, everyone, have love for his wife, even as for himself; and let the wife see that she has respect for her husband.

Ephesians 6

¹Children, do what is ordered by your fathers and mothers in the Lord: for this is right.

²Give honour to your father and mother (which is the first rule having a reward),

³So that all may be well for you, and your life may be long on the earth.

⁴And, you fathers, do not make your children angry: but give them training in the teaching and fear of the Lord.

⁵Servants, do what is ordered by those who are your natural masters, having respect and fear for them, with all your heart, as to Christ;

⁶Not only under your master's eye, as pleasers of men; but as servants of Christ, doing the pleasure of God from the heart;

⁷Doing your work readily, as to the Lord, and not to men:

⁸In the knowledge that for every good thing anyone does, he will have his reward from the Lord, If he is a servant or if he is free.

⁹And, you masters, do the same things to them, not making use of violent words: in the knowledge that their Master and yours is in heaven, and he has no respect for a man's position.

¹⁰Lastly, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his power.

¹¹Take up God's instruments of war, so that you may be able to keep your position against all the deceits of the Evil One.

¹²For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against authorities and powers, against the world-rulers of this dark night, against the spirits of evil in the heavens.

¹³For this reason take up all the arms of God, so that you may be able to be strong in the evil day, and, having done all, to keep your place.

¹⁴Take your place, then, having your body clothed with the true word, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness;

¹⁵Be ready with the good news of peace as shoes on your feet;

¹⁶And most of all, using faith as a cover to keep off all the flaming arrows of the Evil One.

¹⁷And take salvation for your head-dress and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

¹⁸With prayers and deep desires, making requests at all times in the Spirit, and keeping watch, with strong purpose, in prayer for all the saints,

¹⁹And for me, that words may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make clear without fear the secret of the good news,

²⁰For which I am a representative in chains, and that I may say without fear the things which it is right for me to say.

²¹But so that you may have knowledge of my business, and how I am, Tychicus, the well-loved brother and tested servant in the Lord, will give you news of all things:

²²Whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, so that you may have knowledge of our position, and that he may give comfort to your hearts.

²³Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁴Grace be with all those who have true love for our Lord Jesus Christ.