Unity in the Body of Christ
1 mI therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to nwalk oin a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with ppatience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the qbond of peace.
The New Life
17 Now this I say and ntestify in the Lord, that you must ono longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the pfutility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, qalienated from the life of God because of the rignorance that is in them, due to their shardness of heart. 19 They have become tcallous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is unot the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were vtaught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to wput off your xold self,1 which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be yrenewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the znew self, acreated after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore, having put away bfalsehood, let each one of you cspeak the truth with his neighbor, for dwe are members one of another. 26 eBe angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and fgive no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest gwork with his own hands, hso that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 iLet no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for jbuilding up, as fits the occasion, kthat it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And ldo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were msealed for the nday of redemption. 31 oLet all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be pkind to one another, tenderhearted, qforgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Walk in Love
1 Therefore rbe imitators sof God, as beloved children. 2 And twalk uin love, as Christ loved us vand wgave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3 But xsexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 yLet there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 zFor you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous a(that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you bwith empty words, for cbecause of these things the wrath of God comes upon the dsons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for eat one time you were fdarkness, but now you are light in the Lord. gWalk as hchildren of light 9 (for the ifruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to jdiscern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 kTake no part in the unfruitful lworks of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But mwhen anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
n“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will oshine on you.”
15 Look carefully then phow you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the qdays are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but runderstand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get sdrunk with wine, for that is debauchery, tbut be filled with the Spirit, 19 uaddressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the vname of our Lord Jesus Christ,
