Ephesians 4:1-24

Summary
Paul urges us to live a life worthy of the calling that we have received. We are to be humble and gentle; patient, bearing one another in love while making conscious effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace as we have been called to one father of all.
Christ has given us Grace in abundance for the call He bestowed on Christians. He called some as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip them for works of service; so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all attain to the measure of the fullness of Christ.
The essence of this teaching is for believers to grow from infants who could be tossed back and forth by waves
of diverse teachings to mature Christians who have put on the new man, created to be like God in righteousness and holiness.

LIFE APPLICATION
There are diverse gifts and offices; Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. We are enjoined to mature in Christ and walk in the gifts of the Spirit to edify the body of Christ. We need to be careful of strange doctrines that are capable of causing confusion, rather we should get into the word and mature to the fullness of Christ in us.

Personal Declaration
I grow daily in grace, wisdom and the power of God.

Reading – Ephesians 4:1-24

Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ

4 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

⁷ But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸ This is why it^[a] says:

“When he ascended on high,
    he took many captives
    and gave gifts to his people.”^[b]

⁹ (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions^[c]? ¹⁰ He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head,that is, Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, growsand builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Instructions for Christian Living

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹ Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

²⁰ That, however, is not the way of life you learned ²¹ when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. ²² You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Footnotes:

1. Ephesians 4:8 Or God
2. Ephesians 4:8 Psalm 68:18
3. Ephesians 4:9 Or the depths of the earth