6. there is one God and Father of all, who is Lord of all, works through all, and is in all.
7. Each one of us has received a special gift in proportion to what Christ has given.
8. As the scripture says:“When he went up to the very heights,he took many captives with him;he gave gifts to people.”
9. Now, what does “he went up” mean? It means that first he came down to the lowest depths of the earth.
10. So the one who came down is the same one who went up, above and beyond the heavens, to fill the whole universe with his presence.
11. It was he who “gave gifts”; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers.
12. He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ.
13. And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature.
14. Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent.
15. Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head.
16. Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love.
17. In the Lord's name, then, I warn you: do not continue to live like the heathen, whose thoughts are worthless
18. and whose minds are in the dark. They have no part in the life that God gives, for they are completely ignorant and stubborn.
19. They have lost all feeling of shame; they give themselves over to vice and do all sorts of indecent things without restraint.
20. That was not what you learnt about Christ!
21. You certainly heard about him, and as his followers you were taught the truth that is in Jesus.
22. So get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to — the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires.