WHAT IS THE GOOD LIFE?
Play Audio
If you prefer listening to today’s Bible guide reading, play this audio file.
If the audio bar is not appearing, click here to play the audio.
Opening Prayer
Holy Spirit, lead me in the ways of Jesus. Continue to show me who he is and teach me how to reorient my life in ways that show others the grace and mercy he offers.
Read EPHESIANS 4:1–24
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ
4 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it[a] says:
“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.”[b]
9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions[c]? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Instructions for Christian Living
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Footnotes
- Ephesians 4:8 Or God
- Ephesians 4:8 Psalm 68:18
- Ephesians 4:9 Or the depths of the earth
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How does the life and ministry of the body of Christ fit with the rhythms of your life?
This can be a difficult passage to understand, but it helps if we remember that this is, fundamentally, a pastoral letter. The first Greek word in chapter 4 is parakalo, meaning ‘I urge’. This shows that Paul is desperate for the church to live up to its calling, to grow up into Christ (vv. 15, 16). Paul’s theological argument (vv. 7–10) serves this point. Jesus, acting with humility and gentleness, with patience and in unity with the Spirit, descended to the earth to defeat those things that hold humanity captive, namely sin, death, and the devil. When he then ascended to the throne of God, he took many captives with him (v. 8). This is certainly an odd phrase, but it suggests that Jesus’ ascension, the celebration of his victory, was something that would be shared by the freed prisoners. One day, all believers would, in some mysterious way, mature and grow into the whole fullness of Christ.
Paul sets before the Ephesians this glorious vision and he tells them what the path toward it looks like. We are all called to live as Christ lived, with humility and gentleness, patience, bearing with each other in love, and making efforts toward unity. Christ has given the church gifts of different people to equip the church for this calling. The apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are not the pinnacle of the Christian life: they are servants of Christ, called to help the church be built up.
The good life, therefore, is not glamorous by the norms of culture, but by God’s economy. The servants are not overlooked but celebrated, the humble are not ignored but raised with Christ. The church is beautiful in its display of hard-fought, loving unity, not fame and fortune.
Apply
Paul calls us to reorient our lives around God’s vision for his church. Reflect on where the health of the body of Christ fits with the rhythms of your life.
Closing prayer
Jesus, you have called me to be formed into your image, along with my brothers and sisters in the church. Help me to embrace that life in new ways today.
Book and Author Intros
Extras
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2025 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.