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Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you,
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which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.
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This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
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I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.
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His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,
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I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
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I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
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so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
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may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
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and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
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Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
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Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
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There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;
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This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.”
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So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,
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to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
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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.
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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.
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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.
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From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
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Instructions for Christian Living
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.
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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.
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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.
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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;
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and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
