Ephesians 3:14–4:21

Prayer for Spiritual Strength

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom wevery family3 in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to xthe riches of his glory yhe may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit zin your inner being, 17 aso that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being brooted and cgrounded in love, 18 may have strength to dcomprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and eheight and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ fthat surpasses knowledge, that gyou may be filled with all hthe fullness of God.

20 iNow to jhim who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, kaccording to the power at work within us, 21 lto him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Unity in the Body of Christ

4 I therefore, ma prisoner for the Lord, urge you to nwalk in a manner worthy of othe calling to which you have been called, 2 with all phumility and qgentleness, with rpatience, sbearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in tthe bond of peace. 4 There is uone body and vone Spirit—just as you were called to the one whope that belongs to your call— 5 xone Lord, yone faith, zone baptism, 6 aone God and Father of all, bwho is over all and through all and in all. 7 But cgrace was given dto each one of us eaccording to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says,

f“When he ascended on high ghe led a host of captives,

and he gave gifts to men.”1

9 (hIn saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into ithe lower regions, the earth?2 10 He who descended is the one who also jascended kfar above all the heavens, that he might lfill all things.) 11 And mhe gave the napostles, the prophets, the oevangelists, the pshepherds3 and teachers,4 12 qto equip the saints for the work of ministry, for rbuilding up sthe body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to tthe unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, uto mature manhood,5 to the measure of the stature of vthe fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, wtossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in xdeceitful schemes. 15 Rather, yspeaking the truth in love, we are to zgrow up in every way into him who is athe head, into Christ, 16 bfrom whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, cwhen each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The New Life

17 Now this I say and dtestify in the Lord, ethat you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, fin the futility of their minds. 18 They gare darkened in their understanding, halienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to itheir hardness of heart. 19 They jhave become callous and khave given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you llearned Christ!— 21 assuming that myou have heard about him and nwere taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,