Parallel Bible results for "ephesians 4"

Ephesians 4

The Bible in Basic English BBE

1 I 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,

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

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

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

5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

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

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

8 For 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?

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

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

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

13 Till 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:

14 So 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;

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

16 Through 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.

17 This 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,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

27 And do not give way to the Evil One.

28 Let 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.

29 Let 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.

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

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

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

Good News Translation GNT

1 I urge you, then - I who am a prisoner because I serve the Lord: live a life that measures up to the standard God set when he called you.

2 Be always humble, gentle, and patient. Show your love by being tolerant with one another.

3 Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together.

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope to which God has called you.

5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

6 there is one God and Father of all people, who is Lord of all, works through all, and is in all.

7 Each one of us has received a special gift in proportion to what Christ has given.

8 As the scripture says, "When he went up to the very heights, he took many captives with him; he gave gifts to people."

9 Now, what does "he went up" mean? It means that first he came down to the lowest depths of the earth.

10 So the one who came down is the same one who went up, above and beyond the heavens, to fill the whole universe with his presence.

11 It was he who "gave gifts to people"; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers.

12 He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ.

13 And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature.

14 Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent.

15 Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head.

16 Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love.

17 In the Lord's name, then, I warn you: do not continue to live like the heathen, whose thoughts are worthless

18 and whose minds are in the dark. They have no part in the life that God gives, for they are completely ignorant and stubborn.

19 They have lost all feeling of shame; they give themselves over to vice and do all sorts of indecent things without restraint.

20 That was not what you learned about Christ!

21 You certainly heard about him, and as his followers you were taught the truth that is in Jesus.

22 So get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to - the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires.

23 Your hearts and minds must be made completely new,

24 and you must put on the new self, which is created in God's likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.

25 No more lying, then! Each of you must tell the truth to the other believer, because we are all members together in the body of Christ.

26 If you become angry, do not let your anger lead you into sin, and do not stay angry all day.

27 Don't give the Devil a chance.

28 If you used to rob, you must stop robbing and start working, in order to earn an honest living for yourself and to be able to help the poor.

29 Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you.

30 And do not make God's Holy Spirit sad; for the Spirit is God's mark of ownership on you, a guarantee that the Day will come when God will set you free.

31 Get rid of all bitterness, passion, and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort.

32 Instead, be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you through Christ.