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Ephesians 4

1Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were also called in one hope of your calling; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

7But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. 8Therefore it says, “Ascending on high, he took captives captive; he gave gifts to people.” 9Now what does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower regions, the earth? 10The one who descended is himself also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things. 11And he himself gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as announcers of good news, and some as shepherds and teachers, 12to equip the holy ones for the work of service, for building up the body of Christ, 13until we all attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, becoming a mature man, reaching the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and carried around by every wind of teaching, by human trickery, by cunning in schemes of deceit. 15But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every respect into him who is the head, Christ, 16from whom the whole body, fitted and held together through every supporting joint, with each individual part working in its measure, brings about the body's growth for building itself up in love.

17So I say this and testify in the Lord: you must no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds, 18darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance in them, because of the hardening of their hearts. 19Having become callous, they handed themselves over to shameless conduct, to practice every kind of impurity with greed. 20But that is not how you learned Christ, 21assuming you heard him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus: 22to put off, as regards your former way of life, the old person, who is being corrupted according to deceitful desires, 23and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24and to put on the new person, created according to God in the righteousness and holiness of truth.

25Therefore, putting off falsehood, let each of you speak truth with your neighbor, because we are members of one another. 26“Be angry and do not sin”; do not let the sun set on your anger, 27and do not give the devil a place. 28Let the thief no longer steal, but instead labor, doing good with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29Let no rotten speech come out of your mouths, but only what is good for building up as the need requires, so that it may give grace to those who hear. 30And do not grieve God's Holy Spirit, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Let all bitterness and rage and anger and shouting and slander be taken away from you, together with all malice. 32Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another just as God in Christ forgave you.

Translation notes 8

4:4–6 — One and all. The repeated “one” binds the community's calling to its confession. The Greek does not add “us” after the final “all.” Whether each “all” concerns all believers or a wider scope must be judged from the context; the translation leaves the word's scope unexpanded.

4:8 — Captives and gifts. This adapts Psalm 68:18, with “gave gifts” rather than the psalm's “received gifts.” The translation follows the letter's quotation. “Took captives captive” preserves the emphatic capture language without identifying the captives as a particular group.

4:9–10 — Descent. “The lower regions, the earth” takes earth as identifying the lower region in contrast to the heavens. “The lower regions of the earth,” referring to the grave or the realm of the dead, is a substantial alternative. Neither “Hades” nor “Gehenna” occurs here, and the text does not describe a mission to the dead. “First,” found in some witnesses before “descended,” is absent from the base.

4:11–13 — Service and maturity. “Announcers of good news” represents the role traditionally called “evangelists,” and “shepherds” the role called “pastors.” Shepherds and teachers are closely joined grammatically, but the wording does not establish that their roles are identical. The holy ones are most naturally the people equipped to serve; another punctuation treats equipping, serving, and building as parallel responsibilities of the named workers. “A mature man” retains the specifically male image of the united body growing to maturity; it includes the whole community. “Stature” can also mean “age” or “maturity.”

4:15–16 — Truth and the growing body. “Speaking the truth” can include living truthfully, not merely making correct statements. “Joint” can also be understood as “ligament” or a point of connection. The compressed description keeps both Christ as the source of growth and each part's contribution.

4:20–24 — Putting off and putting on. “Learned Christ” retains the striking personal object instead of changing it to learning facts about him. Putting off and putting on are clothing images for a changed human life. “Old person” and “new person” use the general Greek word for a human being; “old self” and “new self” are familiar alternatives. “According to God” can be understood as “in God's likeness.”

4:26–29 — Anger, a place, and rotten speech. Verse 26 quotes Psalm 4:4 in its Greek form. “Be angry” can be read as conceding anger rather than commanding it: “Even if you are angry, do not sin.” Giving the devil a “place” means an opportunity or foothold. “Rotten” describes harmful, worthless speech, contrasted with speech that builds up and benefits its hearers.

4:30–32 — Sealed and forgiven. The sealing image returns from 1:13–14 and points forward to redemption. Forgiving one another follows God's forgiveness, and the next chapter's call to imitate God continues the same appeal.