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Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children,
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and walk in love, just as Christ loved us (a) and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
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But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed.
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Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving.
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For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
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Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.
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Therefore do not be partakers with them.
Children of Light
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For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,
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for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.
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Test and prove what pleases the Lord.
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Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
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For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
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But everything exposed by the light becomes visible,(b) for everything that is illuminated becomes a light itself.
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So it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
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Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
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redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
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Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
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Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
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Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord,
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always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Wives and Husbands
(Song of Solomon 1:1–17; 1 Peter 3:1–7)
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Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.(c)
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Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
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For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior.
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Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
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Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her
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to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
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and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.
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In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
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Indeed, no one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.
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For we are members of His body.(d)
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“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”(e)
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This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church.
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Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Footnotes