Ephesians 5

Chapter 5

Paul warns Christians to be careful how they live

1You are God's children and he loves you very much. So you must try to be like him. 2Show that you love other people. Remember how much Christ loved us. He gave himself as a sacrifice on our behalf. He offered himself in a way that pleased God, like a sacrifice with a lovely smell.

3So, as God's people, you must never have sex in a wrong way. Do not do any kind of bad thing like that. Do not want to have many things for your own pleasure. That is not how God's people should live. 4Do not speak in a way which uses disgusting words. Do not talk about silly things, like fools do. It is not right for God's people to talk like that. Instead, you should speak in a way which shows that you are thanking God.

5You can be sure about this: If anyone has sex in a wrong way, that person does not belong to God's people. Nobody who does any kind of disgusting thing belongs to God's people. People who want many things just to please themselves are like people who worship an idol. They also do not belong to God's people. Nobody like that belongs to the kingdom where Christ and God rule. They will not receive the good things that God has prepared for his people.

6Do not let anyone have a chance to deceive you with a false message about those kinds of bad things. God will certainly punish people who do not obey him. 7So keep away from those kinds of people. 8Once your minds were completely in the dark. But now you belong to the Lord. As a result, you have become full of light. So now you must live as people who belong to the light. 9The light helps you to live in a way that is good, right and true.

10You should learn more and more to do the things that please the Lord. 11People whose minds are in the dark do things that have no good purpose. Keep away from wrong things like that. Instead, show how bad those things really are. 12People like that should be ashamed of the things that they do secretly. Those things are too bad for us even to talk about. 13But when God's light shines on something, people can see clearly its true nature. 14Everything that becomes clear to see is in the light. That is why it says:

‘Wake up, you people who are asleep!

Rise up from among the dead people!

Then Christ will shine his light on you.’ #5:14 These words may be part of a Christian song.

15So you must be very careful how you live. Live like people who are wise. Do not live like fools. 16Many bad things are happening in these days. So, whenever you have a chance to do something good, do as much as you can. 17Do not live like fools. But instead, understand what the Lord wants you to do. 18Do not drink too much wine so that you become drunk. That will destroy your life. Instead, let God's Spirit fill you. 19He will help you to speak to each other with all kinds of spiritual songs. Sing psalms from the Bible, and Christian songs. Praise the Lord with songs from inside yourselves. 20And always thank God the Father for everything, by our Lord Jesus Christ's name.

Paul talks about wives and husbands

21Serve one another to show that you respect Christ as your master.

22Wives, obey your own husbands, as you obey the Lord. 23A husband has authority over his wife, in the same way that Christ has authority over the church. The church is like Christ's body. As its head, he saves her. 24As the church serves Christ as its master, so wives should serve their husbands in everything.

25Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church. He even agreed to die on its behalf. 26He did that to make us completely clean, as the people of God. It was like he washed us with water, as he brought God's message to us. 27Christ himself did this to bring us to himself as a beautiful group of his people. His church would belong to him completely. It would be pure, without anything bad to spoil it.

28So husbands should love their wives, just as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife shows that he loves himself. 29There is nobody who hates his own body. Everyone feeds his body and he takes care of it. In the same way, the church is like Christ's body that he takes care of. 30We are like the parts of Christ's body. 31The Bible says this: ‘When a man marries, he leaves his father and his mother. Instead, God joins the man and his wife together. The two people become like one body.’ #5:31 See Genesis 2:24. 32This is God's secret and it is difficult to understand. But I am saying that it teaches us about Christ and the church. 33But each one of you husbands should understand this: love your own wife as you love yourself. And every wife among you must respect her husband.

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Ephesians 5: EASY

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