Knox Bible

1

As God’s favoured children, you must be like him.

2

Order your lives in charity, upon the model of that charity which Christ shewed to us, when he gave himself up on our behalf, a sacrifice breathing out fragrance as he offered it to God.

3

As for debauchery, and impurity of every kind, and covetousness, there must be no whisper of it among you; it would ill become saints;

4

no indecent behaviour, no ribaldry or smartness in talk; that is not your business, your business is to give thanks to God.

5

This you must know well enough, that nobody can claim a share in Christ’s kingdom, God’s kingdom, if he is debauched, or impure, or has that love of money which makes a man an idolater.

6

Do not allow anyone to cheat you with empty promises; these are the very things which bring down God’s anger on the unbelievers;

7

you do ill to throw in your lot with them.

8

Once you were all darkness; now, in the Lord, you are all daylight. You must live as men native to the light;

9

where the light has its effect, all is goodness, and holiness, and truth;

10

your lives must be the manifestation of God’s will.✻

11

As for the thankless deeds men do in the dark, you must not take any part in them; rather, your conduct must be a rebuke to them;

12

their secret actions are too shameful even to bear speaking of.

13

It is the light that rebukes such things and shews them up for what they are; only light shews up.✻

14

That is the meaning of the words, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.✻

15

See then, brethren, how carefully you have to tread, not as fools,

16

but as wise men do, hoarding the opportunity that is given you, in evil times like these.

17

No, you cannot afford to be reckless; you must grasp what the Lord’s will is for you.

18

Do not besot yourselves with wine; that leads to ruin. Let your contentment be in the Holy Spirit;

19

your tongues unloosed in psalms and hymns and spiritual music, as you sing and give praise to the Lord in your hearts.

20

Give thanks continually to God, who is our Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

21

and, as you stand in awe of Christ, submit to each other’s rights.

22

Wives must obey their husbands as they would obey the Lord.

23

The man is the head to which the woman’s body is united, just as Christ is the head of the Church, he, the Saviour on whom the safety of his body depends;

24

and women must owe obedience at all points to their husbands, as the Church does to Christ.

25

You who are husbands must shew love to your wives, as Christ shewed love to the Church when he gave himself up on its behalf.

26

He would hallow it, purify it by bathing it in the water to which his word gave life;

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he would summon it into his own presence, the Church in all its beauty, no stain, no wrinkle, no such disfigurement; it was to be holy, it was to be spotless.

28

And that is how husband ought to love wife, as if she were his own body; in loving his wife, a man is but loving himself.

29

It is unheard of, that a man should bear ill-will to his own flesh and blood; no, he keeps it fed and warmed; and so it is with Christ and his Church;

30

we are limbs of his body; flesh and bone, we belong to him.✻

31

That is why a man will leave his father and mother and will cling to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

32

Yes, those words are a high mystery, and I am applying them here to Christ and his Church.✻

33

Meanwhile, each of you is to love his wife as he would love himself, and the wife is to pay reverence to her husband.