The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
New International Version NIV
11 Furthermore, he gave some people as emissaries, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers.
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So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,
12 Their task is to equip God's people for the work of service that builds the body of the Messiah,
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to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
13 until we all arrive at the unity implied by trusting and knowing the Son of God, at full manhood, at the standard of maturity set by the Messiah's perfection.
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until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 We will then no longer be infants tossed about by the waves and blown along by every wind of teaching, at the mercy of people clever in devising ways to deceive.
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Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in every respect grow up into him who is the head, the Messiah.
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Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
16 Under his control, the whole body is being fitted and held together by the support of every joint, with each part working to fulfill its function; this is how the body grows and builds itself up in love.
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From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
17 Therefore I say this - indeed, in union with the Lord I insist on it: do not live any longer as the pagans live, with their sterile ways of thinking.
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So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
18 Their intelligence has been shrouded in darkness, and they are estranged from the life of God, because of the ignorance in them, which in turn comes from resisting God's will.
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They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
19 They have lost all feeling, so they have abandoned themselves to sensuality, practicing any kind of impurity and always greedy for more.
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Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 But this is not the lesson you learned from the Messiah!
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That, however, is not the way of life you learned
21 If you really listened to him and were instructed about him, then you learned that since what is in Yeshua is truth,
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when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.