Ephesians 4

So I, a prisoner because I belong to the Lord, urge you to live in a way that matches the calling God gave you.

1I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

NotePaul is writing from actual custody, not using a figure of speech: he was under arrest when the letter was sent. The KJV's "vocation" does not mean a job or profession. In 1611 the word kept its Latin sense of a summons or a call, and it translates the same Greek root as "called" at the end of the verse.

2Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient. Put up with one another in love.

2With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

Note"Meekness" in 1611 English means gentleness and a refusal to throw one's weight around, not timidity. "Longsuffering" is a literal rendering of a Greek word for a long fuse: slowness to anger under provocation. "Forbearing one another" means putting up with each other, not holding back from something.

3Work hard to keep the unity that the Spirit gives, held together by peace.

3Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Note"Endeavouring" sounds mild now but the Greek word means to hurry to do something, to treat it as urgent.

4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when God called you.

4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

5There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

5One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

NoteBaptism was a washing with water that marked a person's public entry into the community of Jesus' followers. It is listed here alongside "one Lord, one faith" as a single shared point of entry.

6There is one God and Father of all, who is over all, works through all, and is in all of you.

6One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

7But each one of us has been given grace, measured out according to the gift Christ gives.

7But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Note"Grace" translates a Greek word for a freely given favor or gift. Here it is pictured as being handed out in portions, each person receiving a measured share.

8That is why the scripture says: "When he went up to the heights, he led a train of captives away with him, and he gave gifts to people."

8Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

NoteThe quotation is Psalm 68:18. The psalm pictures a victorious king going up to his city after a battle, a column of prisoners behind him and spoils to hand out. "He led captivity captive" is a Hebrew way of saying he led away a whole body of captives. The Hebrew of the psalm says the king received gifts from men; the form quoted here says he gave gifts to men, a wording also found in some ancient Jewish versions of the verse.

9(Now what does "he went up" mean, except that he first came down to the lower parts of the earth?

9(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

Note"The lower parts of the earth" can be read two ways in the Greek, and the phrase is genuinely disputed: either the low region that is the earth itself, set against the heights, or the region beneath the earth, the realm of the dead. The wording does not settle which.

10The one who came down is the very same one who went up higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.)

10He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

11And he is the one who gave some people to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers.

11And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

Note"Apostle" means one who is sent out, a commissioned messenger. An "evangelist" is an announcer of good news, the word used of a herald carrying word of a victory. "Pastor" is simply the Latin word for shepherd, and the Greek here is the ordinary word for someone who keeps sheep. In the Greek, "pastors and teachers" share a single article, which may mean one group described two ways or two overlapping groups.

12He did this to equip God's holy people for the work of serving, so that the body of Christ would be built up,

12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Note"Saints" does not mean an elite of especially holy people. It translates a word meaning those set apart, and Paul uses it of every member of the community. "Perfecting" translates a word used for setting a broken bone and for mending fishing nets: putting something into full working order. "Edifying" is a building word, from the Latin for putting up a house, and the building image runs through the next several verses.

13until we all arrive together at one shared faith and one knowledge of the Son of God, fully grown, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.

13Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Note"Perfect" in 1611 English means complete or full-grown, not flawless. "A perfect man" here is set against "children" in the next verse: an adult, at full height. "Stature" means bodily height, and "fulness" means the complete measure of it.

14Then we will no longer be little children, thrown back and forth and blown around by every wind of teaching, taken in by people who trick and scheme and lie in wait to fool us.

14That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Note"Sleight" is the same word as in "sleight of hand," and the Greek behind it is a dice-playing term for cheating with the dice. "Cunning craftiness" translates a word for being willing to try anything to get one's way.

15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow up in every way into him who is the head, that is, Christ.

15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

NoteThe Greek rendered "speaking the truth" is a verb formed from the noun for truth, and it covers more than speech: being truthful, dealing honestly, living in the truth. Translators differ on how wide to make it.

16From him the whole body is fitted and held together by every joint that supplies it. As each part does its own work properly, the body grows and builds itself up in love.

16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

NoteThe picture is anatomical, close to the language of ancient medical writing about how a body holds together. The word rendered "joint" can mean either a joint or the ligament that ties one part to another; either way it is the point of contact through which one part supplies another. "Effectual working" means active functioning, each part doing the job it is for.

17So this is what I say, and I insist on it as one who belongs to the Lord: do not live any longer the way the Gentiles live, with their empty thinking.

17This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

Note"Gentiles" means non-Jews. Paul's readers in Ephesus were themselves non-Jews by birth, so he is not telling them to stop being what they are; he is using the word as a Jewish writer would, for outsiders and the way they live. "Vanity" in 1611 does not mean conceit. It means emptiness, futility, the quality of leading nowhere.

18Their understanding has gone dark. They are shut out from the life God gives, because of the ignorance in them, which comes from their hard, closed hearts.

18Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Note"Blindness" here translates a Greek word for hardening, the callus that forms over a broken bone or on worked skin; many translations render it hardness rather than blindness. In ancient usage the "heart" was the seat of thought and decision, closer to what we would call the mind, not chiefly the emotions.

19They have stopped feeling any shame, and they have handed themselves over to indecent living, doing every kind of impure thing and always wanting more.

19Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

Note"Past feeling" translates a medical word for having lost sensation, gone numb. "Lasciviousness" means unrestrained, shameless conduct, often sexual, with the sense of not caring who sees. "Uncleanness" is impurity, a word taken from the vocabulary of what was fit or unfit to bring near God. "With greediness" renders a word for always wanting more than one's share.

20But that is not the way you came to know Christ,

20But ye have not so learned Christ;

21if indeed you heard him and were taught in him, in keeping with the truth that is in Jesus.

21If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

Note"If so be that" does not express doubt. It is the KJV's rendering of a Greek construction that takes the thing as true: since you did in fact hear him.

22You were taught to take off your old self, which belonged to your former way of life and is being ruined by desires that lie to you;

22That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

Note"Conversation" in 1611 English means a person's whole way of living and behaving, not talking. "The old man," and "the new man" in verse 24, mean the old self and the new self. "Put off" and "put on" are the ordinary Greek words for taking off and putting on clothes.

23to be made new in the attitude of your minds;

23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

Note"The spirit of your mind" is an unusual phrase in Greek, and translators divide over whether "spirit" here means the human disposition or attitude, or God's Spirit at work in the mind.

24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true goodness and holiness.

24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Note"Which after God is created" means created according to God, that is, in his likeness. The wording deliberately echoes the account of humanity's creation in Genesis 1.

25So stop lying. Each of you speak the truth to your neighbor, because we all belong to one another as parts of one body.

25Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

NoteThe wording echoes Zechariah 8:16, "Speak every man the truth to his neighbour." "Neighbour" there means a fellow member of the community, the person beside you, not simply someone who lives nearby.

26"Be angry, but do not sin." Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,

26Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

NoteThe first clause quotes Psalm 4:4 in its Greek version. The Greek grammar is disputed: the command form can be read as a plain instruction, as a concession meaning "if you do become angry," or as a condition, and translators have taken it all three ways. "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath" is a way of saying deal with it before nightfall, inside the same day.

27and do not give the devil a place to work.

27Neither give place to the devil.

Note"Give place" means give room, a foothold, an opening to work in. The word translated "devil" means slanderer or accuser.

28Anyone who has been stealing must stop stealing. Instead, let him work hard, doing good with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need.

28Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

NoteManual work was held in low regard by much of Greek and Roman society, which thought of labor with the hands as fit for slaves. The Greek word for "labour" means working to the point of exhaustion.

29Do not let any rotten talk come out of your mouth. Say only what is helpful for building others up, so that your words give something good to those who hear them.

29Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Note"Corrupt" translates a word used of rotten fruit or spoiled fish, food gone off and fit only to be thrown out. "Communication" in 1611 English means talk. "Minister grace unto the hearers" means give the listeners a gift or a favor, something that does them good.

30And do not make God's Holy Spirit sad. God marked you with the Spirit, like a seal on you, for the day of redemption, when he sets his people free.

30And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

NoteA seal was a stamp pressed into wax or clay with a signet ring. It marked ownership of goods and guaranteed that a sealed item reached its destination unopened. "Redemption" is a commercial word: paying a price to buy something or someone back, as when a slave or a prisoner of war was bought out of captivity.

31Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, shouting, and hurtful talk about others, along with every kind of meanness.

31Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

Note"Clamour" means shouting and brawling, raised voices in a quarrel. "Evil speaking" translates the Greek word blasphemia, which in ordinary use meant abusive talk about anyone, not only about God.

32Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God forgave you because of Christ.

32And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Note"Tenderhearted" translates a Greek compound meaning roughly "good in the inward parts." Greek and Hebrew writers located compassion in the internal organs, much as English locates it in the heart.