4 Therefore I, the prisoner united with the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

² Always be humble, gentle and patient, bearing with one another in love, ³ and making every effort to preserve the unity the Spirit gives through the binding power of shalom. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as when you were called you were called to one hope. ⁵ And there is one Lord, one trust, one immersion, ⁶ and one God, the Father of all, who rules over all, works through all and is in all.

⁷ Each one of us, however, has been given grace to be measured by the Messiah’s bounty. ⁸ This is why it says,

⁹ Now this phrase, “he went up,” what can it mean if not that he first went down into the lower parts, that is, the earth? ¹⁰ The one who went down is himself the one who also went up, far above all of heaven, in order to fill all things. ¹¹ Furthermore, he gave some people as emissaries, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers. ¹² Their task is to equip God’s people for the work of service that builds the body of the Messiah, 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.

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. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in every respect grow up into him who is the head, the Messiah. 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.

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. 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. ¹⁹ They have lost all feeling, so they have abandoned themselves to sensuality, practicing any kind of impurity and always greedy for more. ²⁰ But this is not the lesson you learned from the Messiah! ²¹ If you really listened to him and were instructed about him, then you learned that since what is in Yeshua is truth, ²² then, so far as your former way of life is concerned, you must strip off your old nature, because your old nature is thoroughly rotted by its deceptive desires; ²³ and you must let your spirits and minds keep being renewed, ²⁴ and clothe yourselves with the new nature created to be godly, which expresses itself in the righteousness and holiness that flow from the truth.

²⁵ Therefore, stripping off falsehood, let everyone speak truth with his neighbor,^[b] because we are intimately related to each other as parts of a body. ²⁶ Be angry, but don’t sin^[c] — don’t let the sun go down before you have dealt with the cause of your anger; ²⁷ otherwise you leave room for the Adversary.

²⁸ The thief must stop stealing; instead, he should make an honest living by his own efforts. This way he will be able to share with those in need.

²⁹ Let no harmful language come from your mouth, only good words that are helpful in meeting the need, words that will benefit those who hear them. ³⁰ Don’t cause grief to God’s Ruach HaKodesh, for he has stamped you as his property until the day of final redemption. ³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, violent assertiveness and slander, along with all spitefulness. ³² Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted; and forgive each other, just as in the Messiah God has also forgiven you.