Riverside(i)
1 BE imitators of God as beloved children
2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God yielding a fragrant odor.
3 Unchastity or any kind of impurity or greediness must not be mentioned among you, as befits holy people;
4 nor should there be indecent and foolish talk or jesting, which are unbecoming, but rather thanksgiving.
5 For you know well that no unchaste or impure person, no greedy person — who is an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words; for because of these things the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience.
7 Do not, then, be partakers with them.
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live like children of light —
9 for the fruit of light appears in all generosity and righteousness and truth —
10 testing what is pleasing to the Lord,
11 and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them,
12 for the things that they do in secret it is shameful even to speak of.
13 But all things when reproved are shown truly by the light, for everything shown truly is light.
14 Therefore it says, "Wake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead and Christ will give you light."
15 Be strictly careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but as wise.
16 Buy up the opportunity, because these are evil days.
17 Therefore do not be thoughtless, but understand what is the Lord's will.
18 Do not be drunk with wine, in which there is profligacy, but be full of the Spirit,
19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing the harp heartily to the Lord,
20 giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.
21 Be subject to one another in reverence for Christ,
22 wives to their own husbands as in the Lord,
23 because a man is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body.
24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so wives are to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it,
26 that he might make it holy, cleansing it by the washing with water according to his word,
27 that he might present to himself the church glorious, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and faultless.
28 Thus ought men to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself,
29 for no one ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,
30 for we are members of his body.
31 "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.
32 "This mystery is great, but I am speaking of Christ and the church.
33 But each one of you must love his own wife as himself, and the wife must reverence her husband.
6 1 CHILDREN, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2 "Honor your father and your mother." This is the first commandment with a promise,
3 "That it may go well with you and you may be long-lived in the land."
4 And you, fathers, do not irritate your children, but bring them up in the education and admonition of the Lord.
5 Slaves, obey those who according to the flesh are your masters, with reverence and awe in singleness of your hearts as to Christ,
6 not with eye service as pleasers of men, but as Christ's slaves, doing the will of God in a whole-souled way,
7 giving service with cheerfulness as to the Lord and not to men,
8 knowing that whatever good thing each one does that he will be rewarded for by the Lord, whether he be slave or free.
9 And you, masters, do the same by them, avoiding threats, knowing that the Master both of them and of you is in the heavens, and there is no partiality for rank with him.
10 To conclude: Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the complete armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the cunning arts of the Devil.
12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the arch-angels, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly heights.
13 Therefore take the complete armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and, after going through everything, to stand.
14 Stand, then, belted with truth, wearing the breastplate of righteousness,
15 shod with the readiness of the good news of peace.
16 In every event take up the shield of faith by which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the Evil One,
17 and accept the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 Pray at all times in the Spirit with all manner of prayer and entreaty; be awake to this with all intentness and with prayer for all the holy
19 and in my behalf, that words may be given to me when I open my month to make known with fearlessness the mystery of the good news,
20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may tell it fearlessly as I ought.
21 That you also may know my situation, what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord,
22 whom I am sending to you for this very purpose, will tell you everything, so that you may know the news of me and he may encourage your hearts.
23 Peace to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
24 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with undying love!