Ephesians 4:1-16

Easy-to-Read Version

The Unity of the Body

4 So, 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. ² Always be humble and gentle. Be patient and accept each other with love. ³ You are joined together with peace through the Spirit. Do all you can to continue as you are, letting peace hold you together. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, and God chose you to have one hope. ⁵ There is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. ⁶ There is one God and Father of us all, who rules over everyone. He works through all of us and in all of us.

⁷ Christ gave each one of us a special gift. Everyone received what he wanted to give them. ⁸ That is why the Scriptures say,

⁹ When it says, “He went up,” what does it mean? It means that he first came down low to earth. ¹⁰ So 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. ¹¹ And that same Christ gave these gifts to people: He made some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to go and tell the Good News, and some to care for and teach God’s people.^{[a] 12} Christ gave these gifts to prepare God’s holy people for the work of serving, to make the body of Christ stronger. ¹³ This 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.

¹⁴ Then 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. ¹⁵ No, we will speak the truth with love. We will grow to be like Christ in every way. He is the head, ¹⁶ and 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.