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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Ephesians 4 GNT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/ephesians/4.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/ephesians/4-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">GNT</a> > Ephesians 4</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../ephesians/3.htm" title="Ephesians 3">◄</a> Ephesians 4 <a href="../ephesians/5.htm" title="Ephesians 5">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Good News Translation</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s">The Unity of the Body</h3><p class="par"><span class="v49_4_1"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.1" class="v49_4_1">1</span>I urge you, then—I who am a prisoner because I serve the Lord: live a life that measures up to the standard God set when he called you. </span><span class="v49_4_2"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.2" class="v49_4_2">2</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Eph.4.2!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Be always humble, gentle, and patient. Show your love by being tolerant with one another. </span><span class="v49_4_3"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.3" class="v49_4_3">3</span>Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together. </span><span class="v49_4_4"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.4" class="v49_4_4">4</span>There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope to which God has called you. </span><span class="v49_4_5"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.5" class="v49_4_5">5</span>There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; </span><span class="v49_4_6"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.6" class="v49_4_6">6</span>there is one God and Father of all people, who is Lord of all, works through all, and is in all.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v49_4_7"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.7" class="v49_4_7">7</span>Each one of us has received a special gift in proportion to what Christ has given. </span><span class="v49_4_8"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.8" class="v49_4_8">8</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Eph.4.8!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> As the scripture says,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v49_4_8">“When he went up to the very heights,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v49_4_8">he took many captives with him;</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v49_4_8">he gave gifts to people.”</span></p><p class="m"><span class="v49_4_9"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.9" class="v49_4_9">9</span>Now, what does “he went up” mean? It means that first he came down to the lowest depths of the earth.<a href="#fn" id="link_Eph.4.9!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span><span class="v49_4_10"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.10" class="v49_4_10">10</span>So the one who came down is the same one who went up, above and beyond the heavens, to fill the whole universe with his presence. </span><span class="v49_4_11"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.11" class="v49_4_11">11</span>It was he who “gave gifts to people”; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. </span><span class="v49_4_12"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.12" class="v49_4_12">12</span>He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. </span><span class="v49_4_13"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.13" class="v49_4_13">13</span>And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature. </span><span class="v49_4_14"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.14" class="v49_4_14">14</span>Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent. </span><span class="v49_4_15"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.15" class="v49_4_15">15</span>Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head. </span><span class="v49_4_16"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.16" class="v49_4_16">16</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Eph.4.16!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love.</span></p><h3 class="s">The New Life in Christ</h3><p class="par"><span class="v49_4_17"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.17" class="v49_4_17">17</span>In the Lord's name, then, I warn you: do not continue to live like the heathen, whose thoughts are worthless </span><span class="v49_4_18"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.18" class="v49_4_18">18</span>and whose minds are in the dark. They have no part in the life that God gives, for they are completely ignorant and stubborn. </span><span class="v49_4_19"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.19" class="v49_4_19">19</span>They have lost all feeling of shame; they give themselves over to vice and do all sorts of indecent things without restraint.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v49_4_20"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.20" class="v49_4_20">20</span>That was not what you learned about Christ! </span><span class="v49_4_21"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.21" class="v49_4_21">21</span>You certainly heard about him, and as his followers you were taught the truth that is in Jesus. </span><span class="v49_4_22"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.22" class="v49_4_22">22</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Eph.4.22!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> So get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to—the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires. </span><span class="v49_4_23"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.23" class="v49_4_23">23</span>Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, </span><span class="v49_4_24"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.24" class="v49_4_24">24</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Eph.4.24!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> and you must put on the new self, which is created in God's likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v49_4_25"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.25" class="v49_4_25">25</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Eph.4.25!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> No more lying, then! Each of you must tell the truth to the other believer, because we are all members together in the body of Christ. </span><span class="v49_4_26"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.26" class="v49_4_26">26</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Eph.4.26!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> If you become angry, do not let your anger lead you into sin, and do not stay angry all day. </span><span class="v49_4_27"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.27" class="v49_4_27">27</span>Don't give the Devil a chance. </span><span class="v49_4_28"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.28" class="v49_4_28">28</span>If you used to rob, you must stop robbing and start working, in order to earn an honest living for yourself and to be able to help the poor. </span><span class="v49_4_29"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.29" class="v49_4_29">29</span>Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you. </span><span class="v49_4_30"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.30" class="v49_4_30">30</span>And do not make God's Holy Spirit sad; for the Spirit is God's mark of ownership on you, a guarantee that the Day will come when God will set you free. </span><span class="v49_4_31"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.31" class="v49_4_31">31</span>Get rid of all bitterness, passion, and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort. </span><span class="v49_4_32"><span class="reftext" id="Eph.4.32" class="v49_4_32">32</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Eph.4.32!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Instead, be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you through Christ.</span></p><a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">4.9: </char><char style="fq" closed="false">the lowest depths of the earth; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">or </char><char style="fq" closed="false">the lower depths, the earth itself.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 1992 American Bible Society. 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