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5
Imitators of God
1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children, 2 and walk in love, just as Christ loved us *NE and WH Christ loved you and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
3 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 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving. 5 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 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 Therefore do not be partakers with them.
Children of Light
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, 9 for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. 10 Test and prove what pleases the Lord.
11 Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible,†SBL begins verse 14 after visible, for everything that is illuminated becomes a light itself. 14 So it is said:
“Wake up, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
15 Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Wives and Husbands
(Song 1:1–17; 1 Peter 3:1–7)
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.‡Or in the fear of Christ.
22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 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. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her 26 to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.
28 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 Indeed, no one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church. 30 For we are members of His body.§BYZ and TR include—of His flesh and of His bones.
31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”*Genesis 2:24 (see also LXX) 32 This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church. 33 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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*5:2 NE and WH Christ loved you

†5:13 SBL begins verse 14 after visible,

‡5:21 Or in the fear of Christ.

§5:30 BYZ and TR include—of His flesh and of His bones.

*5:31 Genesis 2:24 (see also LXX)

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