Imitators of God 1 UDB Imitate God because he loves us, because you are his children. BSB BSB: Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children,
2 UDB Live by loving others, just like Christ loved us when he gave himself up on the cross as the offering and sacrifice to God for our sins, which was very pleasing to God. BSB BSB: and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
3 UDB Do not do any kind of immoral sexual act. Do not do anything that is offensive to God. Do not desire anything other people have. These are sins that should never be done by any of God's people, because we are set apart for God, and our lives should bring him honor as we obey him. BSB BSB: 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.
4 UDB Do not tell obscene stories to others or say foolish things or joke about committing sins. Such things are not what people who belong to God talk about. Instead, thank God for his love when you talk to others. BSB BSB: Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving.
5 UDB You can be sure of this: No person who is sexually immoral or indecent or who is greedy (for this is the same as worshiping idols) will be among God's people over whom Christ rules as king. BSB BSB: 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.
6 UDB Do not let anyone deceive you with false arguments. Because they do these sinful things, God will be angry with the people who disobey him. BSB BSB: Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.
7 UDB So do not join with those who do these kinds of sins. BSB BSB: Therefore do not be partakers with them.
Children of Light 8 UDB Before you believed in the Lord Jesus, you were living in sinful disobedience, as if a dark night surrounded you all the time. But now live in the light of the Lord. BSB BSB: For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,
9 UDB Like light produces good things, so also those who live in the light of Jesus know and do what is good, right, and true. BSB BSB: for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.
10 UDB Test and find out what pleases the Lord. BSB BSB: Test and prove what pleases the Lord.
11 UDB Do not participate together with those who are doing the worthless deeds done in spiritual darkness. Instead, just say, "Those sinful acts are worthless," BSB BSB: Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
12 UDB because the evil things people do in the secret of darkness are too shameful to describe in the light. BSB BSB: For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
13 UDB The light that shines makes it so everything can be seen in that light. BSB BSB: But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that is illuminated becomes a light itself.
14 UDB When the light shines, it shows what it is you are looking at. That is why some have said, "Wake up from your sleep and do not act like dead people. Christ will shine his light on you." BSB BSB: So it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
15 UDB So be very careful how you live. Do not behave as foolish people do. Instead, behave as wise people do. BSB BSB: Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
16 UDB Use the time you have on earth wisely because the days here are filled with evil. BSB BSB: redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 UDB So do not be foolish. Instead, understand what the Lord Jesus wants you to do, and do it! BSB BSB: Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
18 UDB Do not become drunk by drinking alcoholic drinks, which can ruin your life. Instead, let God's Spirit control what you do at all times. BSB BSB: Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
19 UDB Sing to each other with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Sing from your hearts and make music to praise the Lord Jesus. BSB BSB: Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord,
20 UDB At all times thank God the Father for everything because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for you. BSB BSB: 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)
21 UDB Humbly submit yourselves to each other because you honor Christ. BSB BSB: Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 UDB Wives should submit to their own husband's leadership as they do to the Lord Jesus because the husband is the leader of the wife as also Christ is the leader of the worldwide assembly of believers. He is the Savior who has saved all believers from being condemned for their sins. BSB BSB: Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
24 UDB Just as all believers submit themselves to the authority of Christ, the women must submit themselves completely to the authority of their husbands. BSB BSB: Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
26 UDB so that he might set us apart for himself. By the power of his word, Jesus purified believers by removing the punishment for our sins, as if he had washed us with water. BSB BSB: to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
27 UDB Now Christ can present all believers to himself as a completely clean, forgiven, faultless group, without sin. BSB BSB: and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.
28 UDB Each man should love his wife as he loves his own body. When men love their wives, it is as though they love themselves, BSB BSB: In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29 UDB because no one ever hated his own body. Instead, he feeds his own body and cares for it, just like Christ also cares for all us believers in his worldwide assembly. We have become one group of believers that belongs to him. BSB BSB: Indeed, no one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.
31 UDB The scriptures say this about people who marry: "When a man and a woman marry, they should leave their father and mother, and the two of them will be joined together as though they were one person." BSB BSB: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
32 UDB It is difficult to understand the meaning of these things that God has now revealed, but I am telling you about Christ's love for his worldwide assembly of believers. BSB BSB: This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church.
33 UDB However, as for you, each man must love his wife just as he loves himself, and each woman must respect her husband. BSB BSB: Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
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