Book of Common Prayer

4 I am a prisoner who belongs to the Lord. I beg you, live the way people should live who have been called by God.

² Do not be proud at all. Be very humble. Love one another and be patient with each other.

³ The Spirit has made you all one. Try to stay like that. May you be at peace with one another.

⁴ There is one body of Christ and one Spirit. When God called you, there was one hope before you in your calling.

⁵ There is one Lord, one way to believe, and one baptism.

⁶ There is one God and Father of us all. He is over all. He works through all. And he is living in us all.

⁷ But each one of us has received a blessing, whatever amount Christ has given to each one.

⁸ So then, the holy writings say, `When Christ went up to heaven he took those he had won with him. And he gave gifts to men.'

⁹ Now, what does `he went up' mean? Does it not mean that he also came down to the earth below?

¹⁰ The one who came down is the same one who went up higher than all the heavens. He did this so that he would be everywhere.

¹¹ The gifts he gave are these: some are to be apostles; some prophets; some evangelists; some pastors and teachers.

¹² These gifts are to make God's people better able to do their work for him and to make the body of Christ become stronger.

¹³ The gifts are given so that we will all believe the one way and all know the Son of God. They are given so that we will be really grown-up Christians, like Christ himself.

¹⁴ The body of Christ must grow so that we will no longer be like children. We are like children when we are pushed this way and that way. We change our minds every time people bring a different teaching. Some teachers teach the lies of men and fool people so that they believe wrong things.

¹⁵ We must say what is true and say it with love. In that way we will grow up in all things to be like Christ, who is the head of this body.

¹⁶ The whole body is joined and held together by every joint that it has. It is from Christ that the whole body grows as each different part does its work. It grows so that it becomes stronger in love.

²⁸ Jesus came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarene people. There were graves in that place. Two men came from among the graves to meet him. They had bad spirits in them. They were so bad and strong that people feared to pass that way.

²⁹ They shouted, `Jesus, Son of God, what do you want to do to us? Have you come here to punish us before it is our time?'

³⁰ Many pigs were eating in a place far from them.

³¹ The bad spirits begged Jesus, `If you drive us out of these men, let us go into the pigs.'

³² Jesus said, `Go!' The spirits came out of the men and went into the pigs. All the pigs ran fast down the steep hill into the sea. They died in the water.

³³ The men who cared for the pigs ran to the town. They told everything and what had happened to the men who had the bad spirits.

³⁴ All the people in the town came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to go away out of their country