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The Unity of the Body

¹So, as a prisoner for the Lord, I beg you to live the way God's people should live, because he chose you to be his. ²Always be humble and gentle. Be patient and accept each other with love. ³You are joined together with peace through the Spirita. Do all you can to continue as you are, letting peace hold you together. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit, and God chose you to have one hope. ⁵There is one Lord, one faith, and one baptismb. ⁶There is one God and Father of us all, who rules over everyone. He works through all of us and in all of us.
⁷Christ gave each one of us a special gift. Everyone received what he wanted to give them. ⁸That is why the Scripturesc say,

"He went up high into the sky; he took prisoners with him, and he gave gifts to people."d

⁹When it says, "He went up," what does it mean? It means that he first came down low to earth. ¹⁰So Christ came down, and he is the same one who went up. He went up above the highest heaven in order to fill everything with himself. ¹¹And that same Christ gave these gifts to people: He made some to be apostlese, some to be prophetsf, some to go and tell the Good Newsg, and some to care for and teach God's peopleh. ¹²Christ gave these gifts to prepare God's holy peoplei for the work of serving, to make the body of Christ stronger. ¹³This work must continue until we are all joined together in what we believe and in what we know about the Son of God. Our goal is to become like a full-grown man - to look just like Christ and have all his perfection.
¹⁴Then we will no longer be like babies. We will not be people who are always changing like a ship that the waves carry one way and then another. We will not be influenced by every new teaching we hear from people who are trying to deceive us - those who make clever plans and use every kind of trick to fool others into following the wrong way. ¹⁵No, we will speak the truth with love. We will grow to be like Christ in every way. He is the head, ¹⁶and the whole body depends on him. All the parts of the body are joined and held together, with each part doing its own work. This causes the whole body to grow and to be stronger in love.

The Way You Should Live ¹⁷I have something from the Lord to tell you. I warn you: Don't continue living like those who don't believe. Their thoughts are worth nothing. ¹⁸They have no understanding, and they know nothing because they refuse to listen. So they cannot have the life that God gives. ¹⁹They have lost their feeling of shame and use their lives to do what is morally wrong. More and more they want to do all kinds of evil. ²⁰But that way of life is nothing like what you learned when you came to know Christ. ²¹I know that you heard about him, and in him you were taught the truth. Yes, the truth is in Jesus. ²²You were taught to leave your old self. This means that you must stop living the evil way you lived before. That old self gets worse and worse, because people are fooled by the evil they want to do. ²³You must be made new in your hearts and in your thinking. ²⁴Be that new person who was made to be like God, truly good and pleasing to him.
²⁵So you must stop telling lies. "You must always speak the truth to each other,"j because we all belong to each other in the same body. ²⁶"When you are angry, don't let that anger make you sin,"k and don't stay angry all day. ²⁷Don't give the devil a way to defeat you. ²⁸Whoever has been stealing must stop it and start working. They must use their hands for doing something good. Then they will have something to share with those who are poor.
²⁹When you talk, don't say anything bad. But say the good things that people need - whatever will help them grow stronger. Then what you say will be a blessing to those who hear you. ³⁰And don't make the Holy Spiritl sad. God gave you his Spirit as proof that you belong to him and that he will keep you safe until the day he makes you free. ³¹Never be bitter, angry, or mad. Never shout angrily or say things to hurt others. Never do anything evil. ³²Be kind and loving to each other. Forgive each other the same as God forgave you through Christ.

^aSpirit See “Holy Spirit.”
^bbaptism A Greek word usually referring to the act of dipping or “burying” a person briefly in water, connected with their decision to change their life and turn to God, trusting him to forgive their sins. For people coming to faith in Jesus Christ it was an expression of their trust in his death as the sacrifice God accepted to pay for their sins. Described as a sharing in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, it marked the beginning of their new life in Christ as part of God’s people. See Acts 2:38; Rom. 6:3, 4; Gal. 3:26-28; Col. 2:12, 13.
^cScripture Part of the Scriptures or “Holy Writings” - the Old Testament.
^dPsalm 68:18
^eapostle A follower of Jesus chosen to represent him in a special way. During his earthly ministry, Jesus named twelve men as apostles. They had the specific responsibility and authority to represent him and proclaim his message throughout the world. Later, he appeared to Paul and gave him a similar commission, especially to non-Jewish people. Barnabas, Paul’s missionary companion, and James, the brother of Jesus, are also called apostles, as well as several others in the New Testament. Some of these occurrences of the word, however, have the more general sense of “messenger” or “representative.”
^fprophet A person who speaks a message from God. Many of the books in the Old Testament are messages spoken or written by “the prophets,” who were some of those God chose to speak for him. God often used dreams or visions to tell or show his prophets what they should say.
^gGood News In the Gospels this is usually the news about the coming of God’s kingdom (see above) or its representative Jesus the Messiah. In other places it is, more specifically, the news or message of God’s grace - that he has made a way through Jesus Christ for people to be made right with him and enjoy his blessings now and forever.
^h4:11 to care for … people Literally, “to be shepherds and teachers.”
ⁱholy people Literally, “saints” or “holy ones,” a term used in the New Testament to describe followers of Jesus Christ as God’s special people. They are holy because they have been made pure through Christ and belong only to God. See “holy.”
^j4:25 Quote from Zech. 8:16.
^k4:26 Quote from Ps. 4:4 (Greek version).
^lHoly Spirit Also called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Comforter. In union with God and Christ, he does God’s work among people in the world.