²Certainly, you have heard how God gave me the responsibility of bringing his kindness^bto you. ³You have heard that he let me know this mystery through a revelation. I’ve already written to you about this briefly. ⁴When you read this, you’ll see that I understand the mystery about Christ. ⁵In the past, this mystery was not known by people as it is now. The Spirit has now revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets. ⁶This mystery is the Good News that people who are not Jewish have the same inheritance as Jewish people do. They belong to the same body and share the same promise that God made in Christ Jesus. ⁷I became a servant of this Good News through God’s kindness freely given to me when his power worked ⸤in me⸥.

⁸I am the least of all God’s people. Yet, God showed me his kindness by allowing me to spread the Good News of the immeasurable wealth of Christ to people who are not Jewish. ⁹He allowed me to explain the way this mystery works. God, who created all things, kept it hidden in the past. ¹⁰He did this so that now, through the church, he could let the rulers and authorities in heaven know his infinite wisdom. ¹¹This was God’s plan for all of history which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹²We can go to God with bold confidence through faith in Christ. ¹³So then, I ask you not to become discouraged by the troubles I suffer for you. In fact, my troubles bring you glory.

Paul Prays That God Would Strengthen Christians

¹⁴This is the reason I kneel in the presence of the Father ¹⁵from whom all the family in heaven and on earth receives its name. ¹⁶I’m asking God to give you a gift from the wealth of his glory. I pray that he would give you inner strength and power through his Spirit. ¹⁷Then Christ will live in you through faith. I also pray that love may be the ground into which you sink your roots and on which you have your foundation. ¹⁸This way, with all of God’s people you will be able to understand how wide, long, high, and deep his love is. ¹⁹You will know Christ’s love, which goes far beyond any knowledge. I am praying this so that you may be completely filled with God.

²⁰Glory belongs to God, whose power is at work in us. By this power he can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. ²¹Glory belongs to God in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time and eternity! Amen.

4TH CHAPTER

Christ’s Gifts to the Church

¹I, a prisoner in the Lord, encourage you to live the kind of life which proves that God has called you. ²Be humble and gentle in every way. Be patient with each other and lovingly accept each other. ³Through the peace that ties you together, do your best to maintain the unity that the Spirit gives. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit. In the same way you were called to share one hope. ⁵There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over everything, through everything, and in everything.

⁷God’s favor^ahas been given to each of us. It was measured out to us by Christ who gave it. ⁸That’s why the Scriptures say:

“When he went to the highest place,

he took captive those who had captured us

and gave gifts to people.”

⁹Now what does it mean that he went up except that he also had gone down to the lowest parts of the earth? ¹⁰The one who had gone down also went up above all the heavens so that he fills everything.

¹¹He also gave apostles, prophets, missionaries, as well as pastors and teachers as gifts ⸤to his church⸥. ¹²Their purpose is to prepare God’s people to serve and to build up the body of Christ. ¹³This is to continue until all of us are united in our faith and in our knowledge about God’s Son, until we become mature, until we measure up to Christ, who is the standard. ¹⁴Then we will no longer be little children, tossed and carried about by all kinds of teachings that change like the wind. We will no longer be influenced by people who use cunning and clever strategies to lead us astray. ¹⁵Instead, as we lovingly speak the truth, we will grow up completely in our relationship to Christ, who is the head. ¹⁶He makes the whole body fit together and unites it through the support of every joint. As each and every part does its job, he makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Live as God’s People

¹⁷So I tell you and encourage you in the Lord’s name not to live any longer like other people in the world. Their minds are set on worthless things. ¹⁸They can’t understand because they are in the dark. They are excluded from the life that God approves of because of their ignorance and stubbornness. ¹⁹Since they no longer have any sense of shame, they have become promiscuous. They practice every kind of sexual perversion with a constant desire for more.

²⁰But that is not what you learned from Christ’s teachings. ²¹You have certainly heard his message and have been taught his ways. The truth is in Jesus. ²²You were taught to change the way you were living. The person you used to be will ruin you through desires that deceive you. ²³However, you were taught to have a new attitude. ²⁴You were also taught to become a new person created to be like God, with a life that truly has God’s approval and is holy.

²⁵So then, get rid of lies. Speak the truth to each other, because we are all members of the same body.

²⁶Be angry without sinning. Don’t go to bed angry. ²⁷Don’t give the devil any opportunity ⸤to work⸥.

²⁸Thieves must quit stealing and, instead, they must work hard. They should do something good with their hands so that they’ll have something to share with those in need.

²⁹Don’t say anything that would hurt ⸤another person⸥. Instead, speak only what is good so that you can give help wherever it is needed. That way, what you say will help those who hear you. ³⁰Don’t give God’s Holy Spirit any reason to be upset with you. He has put his seal on you for the day you will be set free ⸤from the world of sin⸥.

³¹Get rid of your bitterness, hot tempers, anger, loud quarreling, cursing, and hatred. ³²Be kind to each other, sympathetic, forgiving each other as God has forgiven you through Christ.

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Footnotes

a 3:1 Some manuscripts omit “Jesus.”
b 3:2 Or “grace.”
a 4:7 Or “grace.”