Walk in Love
1 1Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
2
And
2walk in love,
3as Christ loved us and
4gave himself up for us, a
5fragrant
6offering and sacrifice to God.
3
But
7sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness
8must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.
4
Let there be
9no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking,
10which are out of place, but instead
11let there be thanksgiving.
5
For you may be sure of this, that
12everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (
13that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
6
14Let no one
15deceive you with empty words, for because of these things
16the wrath of God comes upon
17the sons of disobedience.
7
Therefore
18do not become partners with them;
8
for
19at one time you were
20darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
21Walk as children of light
9
(for
22the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),
10
and
23try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
11
24Take no part in the
25unfruitful
26works of darkness, but instead
27expose them.
12
For
28it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.
13
But when
29anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible,
14
for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
30"Awake, O sleeper, and
31arise from the dead, and
32Christ will shine on you."
15
33Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
16
34making the best use of the time, because
35the days are evil.
17
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what
36the will of the Lord is.
18
And
37do not get drunk with wine, for that is
38debauchery, but
39be filled with the Spirit,
19
addressing one another in
40psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,
20
41giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father
42in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
21
43submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives and Husbands
22 44Wives,
45submit to your own husbands,
46as to the Lord.
23
For
47the husband is the head of the wife even as
48Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is
49himself its Savior.
24
Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit
50in everything to their husbands.
25
51Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and
52gave himself up for her,
26
that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by
53the washing of water
54with the word,
27
so
55that he might present the church to himself in splendor,
56without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
28
In the same way
57husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29
For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,
30
because
58we are members of his body.
31
59"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and
60the two shall become one flesh."
32
This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
33
However,
61let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she
62respects her husband.