Unity with Christ

4 As a prisoner of the Lord, I beg you to live in a way that is worthy of the people God has chosen to be his own. ² Always be humble and gentle. Patiently put up with each other and love each other. ³ Try your best to let God’s Spirit keep your hearts united. Do this by living at peace. ⁴ All of you are part of the same body. There is only one Spirit of God, just as you were given one hope when you were chosen to be God’s people. ⁵ We have only one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. ⁶ There is one God who is the Father of all people. Not only is God above all others, but he works by using all of us, and he lives in all of us.

⁷ Christ has generously divided out his gifts to us. ⁸ As the Scriptures say,

⁹ When it says, “he went up,” it means that Christ had been deep in the earth. ¹⁰ This also means that the one who went deep into the earth is the same one who went into the highest heaven, so that he would fill the whole universe.

¹¹ Christ chose some of us to be apostles, prophets, missionaries, pastors, and teachers, ¹² so that his people would learn to serve and his body would grow strong.
¹³ This will continue until we are united by our faith and by our understanding of the Son of God. Then we will be mature, just as Christ is, and we will be completely like him.

¹⁴ We must stop acting like children. We must not let deceitful people trick us by their false teachings, which are like winds that toss us around from place to place. ¹⁵ Love should always make us tell the truth. Then we will grow in every way and be more like Christ, the head ¹⁶ of the body. Christ holds it together and makes all of its parts work perfectly, as it grows and becomes strong because of love.

Contemporary English Version (CEV) - for other versions see BibleGateway.com