The Daily Audio Bible

Therefore I Exhort You To Walk Worthily of Your Calling, Keeping The Unity of The Spirit

4 Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, ² with all humblemindedness and gentleness, with patience bearing-with one another in love, ³ being diligent to keep^[a] the unity of ^[b] the Spirit in the bond of ^[c] peace—

God Made Us One, And Gave Gifts And Grace To Each One of Us

⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling; ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and Father of all, the One over all and through all and in all; ⁷ and to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

For Scripture Says Jesus Ascended On High And Gave Gifts To His People

⁸ For this reason it says, “having ascended to on-high, He led captivity captive^[d], He gave gifts to people” [Ps 68:18].

⁹ Now what does the “He ascended” mean except that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth^[e]? ¹⁰ The One having descended is Himself also the One having ascended far above all the heavens, in order that He might fill all things.

He Gave Gifted People To Equip The Saints To Build Up The Body of Christ To Maturity

¹¹ And He Himself gave some as apostles, and others as prophets, and others as evangelists, and others as shepherds and teachers, ¹² for^[f] the equipping^[g] of the saints for the work of ministry^[h], for the building-up of the body of Christ ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature^[i] man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴ so that we may no longer be children, being tossed-about and carried-around by every wind of teaching, by the trickery of people, by craftiness with-regard-to^[j] the scheme of ^[k] error^[l], ¹⁵ but that while speaking-the-truth in love, we may grow as to all things into Him Who is the head— Christ, ¹⁶ from Whom the whole body, being fitted-together^[m] and held-together by every joint of supply according to the working in measure of each individual part, is producing the growth of the body for the building-up of itself in love.