Ephesians 5

So be imitators of God, since you are his dear children.

1Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

NoteThe King James "followers" does not mean followers in the modern sense of people who go along behind. The Greek word is mimetai, the root of our word mimic, and it means imitators: people who copy what they see someone else do. It was ordinary language for how a child picks up a parent's manner, or an apprentice a master's craft.

2And live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. He was an offering and a sacrifice to God, with a pleasing smell.

2And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Note"A sweetsmelling savour" is a set phrase from the older Hebrew scriptures, where the smoke of an animal burned on an altar was said to rise as a pleasing aroma to God. It was standard temple language meaning the offering had been accepted, not a comment on how the smoke actually smelled.

3But sexual sin, and every kind of impurity, and greed should not even be mentioned among you. That is how God's holy people ought to live.

3But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;

Note"Saints" in the King James is not a title for a small class of exceptional people. The Greek word means simply those set apart for God, and the letters use it for every member of the congregation, ordinary people included. "Covetousness" in 1611 English means greed, the itch to have more.

4There should be no filthy talk, no foolish talk, and no crude joking. None of that fits who you are. Instead, give thanks.

4Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.

Note"Not convenient" has shifted since 1611. It did not mean inconvenient or awkward; it meant unfitting, not proper to the occasion or to the sort of people being addressed. "Jesting" translates a Greek word for quick, clever talk that turns coarse: not humor as such, but wit used crudely.

5You can be sure of this: no one who is sexually immoral, impure, or greedy has any share in the kingdom of Christ and of God. A greedy person is really worshiping an idol.

5For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Note"Whoremonger" is the King James word for a sexually immoral person generally, not specifically someone who buys or sells sex. An "idolater" was someone who bowed to a carved or cast image of a god, a common and visible practice in a Greek city like Ephesus, so calling greed idolatry compares it to something the readers watched happen in the streets. "Inheritance" carries the sense of an allotted share in an estate, the way portions of land were parceled out to families.

6Do not let anyone fool you with empty words. It is because of things like these that God's anger comes on the people who disobey him.

6Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

Note"Children of disobedience" is a Hebrew-style idiom carried over into Greek. "Children of" or "sons of" plus a quality means people characterized by that quality, so the phrase means the disobedient, not anyone's actual offspring. The same idiom produces "children of light" two verses later.

7So do not take part with them.

7Be not ye therefore partakers with them.

8At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.

8For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

Note"Sometimes" in 1611 English means at one time, formerly, once. It does not mean occasionally.

9(The fruit that the Spirit produces is every kind of goodness, right living, and truth.)

9(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)

NoteThe King James reads "the fruit of the Spirit" here; the oldest surviving Greek copies read "the fruit of the light," which fits the run of light and darkness images around it. The difference is one word in the manuscripts, and translations split on it.

10Keep testing what pleases the Lord, so you know what it is.

10Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

Note"Proving" is the older English sense of putting something to the test to find out what it is, as metal is assayed or a scale is proved. It does not mean demonstrating a conclusion already reached.

11Have nothing to do with the deeds of darkness, which produce nothing good. Instead, bring them out into the open.

11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Note"Reprove" here does not mean to scold. The Greek word means to bring into the open, to show a thing for what it is, which is why the next verse continues with light making things visible.

12It is shameful even to talk about the things those people do in secret.

12For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

13But everything the light exposes is made plain to see, and anything that is made plain to see becomes light itself.

13But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

14That is why it says, "Wake up, you who are sleeping. Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

14Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Note"He saith" introduces a quotation, but these lines are not found in this form anywhere in the older scriptures. They read like a snatch of an early Christian song, possibly one used at baptisms, and they echo the language of Isaiah 60:1 about rising and light shining.

15So watch carefully how you live. Do not live like fools, but like wise people.

15See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

Note"Circumspectly" is built from Latin words meaning to look around. The Greek word underneath means precisely or carefully, the care of someone watching where each foot lands.

16Make the most of every chance you are given, because these are evil days.

16Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Note"Redeeming the time" is marketplace language: the verb means buying something up, the way a trader corners the available stock. The word for "time" is not clock time but the opportune moment, the chance that is there now and will not be later.

17So do not be foolish. Instead, understand what the Lord wants.

17Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to wild, out-of-control living. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

18And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

Note"Wherein is excess" translates a Greek word for reckless squandering, the behavior of someone throwing away money, health and reputation with no thought for tomorrow. The same word describes the prodigal son's spending.

19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.

19Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Note"Speaking to yourselves" is 1611 English for speaking to one another; the Greek pronoun is reciprocal, not reflexive. As for the three kinds of song, the terms overlap and the first readers would not have drawn hard lines between them: "psalms" suggests the sung poems of the Hebrew scriptures, "hymns" songs of praise, "spiritual songs" songs prompted by the Spirit.

20Always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

20Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

NoteThe Greek behind "unto God and the Father" has a single article covering both words, meaning one person described two ways: the God who is also Father. It is not naming two.

21Put yourselves under one another out of deep respect for God.

21Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

Note"Fear" here is the older sense of awe or reverence before someone greater, the attitude of a subject before a king, not fright. The King James reads "of God"; the earliest Greek copies read "of Christ." In Greek this verse ends the long sentence that began at verse 18 and runs straight into verse 22 without a break.

22Wives, put yourselves under your own husbands, as you do under the Lord.

22Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

NoteIn the oldest Greek copies this verse has no verb of its own. It borrows "submit" from verse 21, so the line reads something like "wives, to your own husbands, as to the Lord." The verb itself was ordinary Greek for arranging yourself under someone, used of ranks in an army and of order in a household.

23For the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church. Christ is also the savior of that body.

23For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

Note"Head" translates the Greek kephale, and what it meant figuratively is genuinely disputed. In some Greek usage it carries the sense of source or origin, as the head of a river; in other usage it means the one in authority. Both senses were live in the first century, and the choice between them is not settled by the grammar here.

24So just as the church puts itself under Christ, wives should do the same for their own husbands in everything.

24Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for it.

25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

26He did this to set the church apart for God and to make it clean, washing it with water through the word,

26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

Note"The washing of water" is a bath, and in the Greek and Jewish world a bride was bathed and dressed before being handed over at her wedding, so the picture running through these verses is a wedding preparation. Ancient readers would also have heard baptism in it. "Sanctify" means to set apart for God's use, not to make morally nice.

27so that he could present the church to himself in all its glory, with no stain or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and without any flaw.

27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Note"Present it to himself" continues the wedding picture: at a wedding the bride was formally presented to the bridegroom. "Without blemish" is borrowed from the sacrificial rules, where an animal offered on the altar had to be free of defects, so the word carried the sense of passing an inspection.

28In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself.

28So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

29No one ever hated his own body. He feeds it and takes care of it, just as the Lord does for the church,

29For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

Note"Cherisheth" in 1611 English keeps the Greek word's concrete force: to keep warm. It was used of a bird brooding over its young. Paired with "nourisheth," feeding, it describes the plain daily work of keeping a body alive.

30because we are parts of his body, made of his flesh and his bones.

30For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

Note"Of his flesh, and of his bones" appears in the manuscripts the King James translators used but not in the earliest surviving copies, which stop at "members of his body." The phrase echoes Adam's words about Eve in Genesis 2:23, "bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh," which sets up the quotation in the next verse.

31"This is why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two of them will become one flesh."

31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

NoteThis verse is a quotation of Genesis 2:24, the comment that follows the making of the first woman. In that world leaving father and mother was a striking way to put it, since a married son normally stayed within his father's household.

32This is a great mystery, but I am speaking about Christ and the church.

32This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Note"Mystery" does not mean a puzzle or something unknowable. The Greek word musterion means a secret that was hidden and has now been told, and the letters use it for things disclosed rather than things withheld. "Great" here means weighty or profound, not large.

33Still, each one of you must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must show deep respect for her husband.

33Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.