EPHESIANS 4 [†]I therefore, m a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to n walk in a manner worthy of o the calling to which you have been called, 2[†]with all p humility and q gentleness, with r patience, s bearing with one another in love, 3[†]eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in t the bond of peace. 4[†]There is u one body and v one Spirit—just as you were called to the one w hope that belongs to your call— 5[†] x one Lord, y one faith, z one baptism, 6[†] a one God and Father of all, b who is over all and through all and in all. 7[†]But c grace was given d to each one of us e according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8[†]Therefore it says,
f “When he ascended on high g he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”
9[†]( h In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into i the lower regions, the earth? 10[†]He who descended is the one who also j ascended k far above all the heavens, that he might l fill all things.) 11[†]And m he gave the n apostles, the prophets, the o evangelists, the p shepherds and teachers, 12[†] q to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for r building up s the body of Christ, 13[†]until we all attain to t the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, u to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of v the fullness of Christ, 14[†]so that we may no longer be children, w tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in x deceitful schemes. 15[†]Rather, y speaking the truth in love, we are to z grow up in every way into him who is a the head, into Christ, 16[†] b from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, c when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
17[†]Now this I say and d testify in the Lord, e that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, f in the futility of their minds. 18They g are darkened in their understanding, h alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to i their hardness of heart. 19They j have become callous and k have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20But that is not the way you l learned Christ!— 21assuming that m you have heard about him and n were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22[†]to o put off p your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through q deceitful desires, 23[†]and r to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24[†]and to put on s the new self, t created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
25[†]Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you u speak the truth with his neighbor, for v we are members one of another. 26[†] w Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27and x give no opportunity to the devil. 28[†]Let the thief no longer steal, but rather y let him labor, z doing honest work with his own hands, so a that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29[†] b Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give c grace to those who hear. 30[†]And d do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, e by whom you were sealed for the day of f redemption. 31[†] g Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32[†] h Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, i forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:10 far above. Christ is the supreme head of the church who fills all things (see 1:23) with his glory, power, and sovereign prerogative to dispense gifts to his people (see 4:11–16).
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:30 grieve. Grieving the Holy Spirit means to cause him sorrow by one’s sin. sealed. See note on 1:13. The day of redemption is the day of Christ’s return (see Luke 21:28; Rom. 8:23).
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:6 over all … through all … in all. God is omnipresent (see Ps. 139:7–12; Isa. 66:1). Thus the Christian church is “one body” (Eph. 4:4), wherever its separate congregations may be found throughout the world (see Rom. 3:30).
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:1–6 Exhortation to Unity. Paul exhorts the church to unity based on the truths of the one God and his one work of salvation.
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:23 renewed. Paul expressed the negative side of the new creation in v. 22 as putting off the “old self,” while vv. 23–24 express the positive side as an entire transformation of believers’ inner selves, focusing here on their minds (see also John 3:3–6; Col. 3:9–10). Christians sometimes distinguish between knowledge of head and of heart, but the Bible shows that they should love and serve the Lord with all that is in them, including their minds, at all times (Deut. 6:5; 10:12; 13:3; Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27). The “renewal” or “transformation” of the mind (Rom. 12:2) is a process in which believers begin to think in new and right ways as they meditate on the truths of God’s Word.
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:4 Spirit. Just as a human body has one spirit that animates it, so Christ’s body, the church, is enlivened by one Holy Spirit who enlivens Christians to eternal life. one hope. Christians do not have separate “hopes” but are together called to eternal life and to enjoy God forever in resurrection glory. They are also called to express that unity this side of eternity. On the church as a body, see Rom. 12:4–8; 1 Cor. 12:12–31.
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:5 One Lord refers to Jesus Christ. One faith refers to the doctrinal truths Christians commonly confess. “One Spirit” (v. 4), “one Lord [Christ]” (v. 5), and “one God and Father” (v. 6) constitute a Trinitarian formula. one baptism. Christians have disagreed about the proper mode of baptism beginning in the early history of the church. “One baptism” here, however, may refer to the baptism of all believers into one body (as described in 1 Cor. 12:13), which is the result of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit when one becomes a genuine believer in Christ. If this view is correct, water baptism would be an outward sign of the inward reality of the believer being in Christ as the result of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 3:5, 8; Titus 3:5). There is therefore a profound spiritual unity of all genuine believers who are “in Christ” (see John 17:21, 23), founded on “one faith” in “one Lord,” irrespective of denominational differences. Others hold that the reference here is to water baptism, but would disagree concerning the proper mode.
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:31 All bitterness means “every kind of bitterness.” “All” also modifies the other items in the list, telling readers to put away all wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice. “Bitterness” may head the list because it so often leads to the other sins that Paul names. Bitterness comes from a heart that is not right before God (Acts 8:21–23); it is a primary characteristic of an unregenerate person (Rom. 3:10–14); and it causes destruction and defilement (Heb. 12:15). Bitterness and resentment are thus incompatible with Christian character and must be put away. People often are very careless with their speech (“slander”), even though the tongue can ignite a forest fire of harm to others (James 3:5–6).
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:1–16 Unity of the Body of Christ. Paul now turns to exhortation (with three subsections in vv. 1–6, 7–10, and 11–16) based upon the truths he has been teaching—a common format for his letters, in which doctrinal truths are stated first (here, chs. 1–3), then application to life is built on that doctrine (chs. 4–6). The exhortations of Scripture become empty moralism without this gospel foundation.
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:22 put off your old self. As Christians seek to do this, God makes it a reality, as seen in Col. 3:9–10. Even Paul’s Gentile readers can be part of the new creation in Christ. (As the esv footnote indicates, “self” is the generic Gk. for “man” or “human”—perhaps an allusion to Adamic man apart from Christ.) Ephesians 4:22 describes the negative side of regeneration, while vv. 23–24 point to the positive side. corrupt. People need inner transformation because their hearts are “deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” (Jer. 17:9).
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:29 corrupting talk. As with the “stopping” and “starting” noted in v. 28, Christians are to stop evil speech, substituting talk that is good for building up and giving grace. “Corrupting” (Gk. sapros) also applies to “bad” (rotten) fruit (Luke 6:43) or “bad” (putrid) fish (Matt. 13:48). To “give grace” in speaking means to benefit others rather than corrupt them through what is said.
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:11 Christ gives specific spiritual gifts to people in the church whose primary mission is to minister the Word of God (v. 12). For apostles, see note on 1:1. Regarding prophets, different views on the nature of the gift of prophecy in the NT affect one’s understanding of this verse (see notes on 2:20; 1 Cor. 12:10). Since the Greek construction here is different from Eph. 2:20 and 3:5, some see this verse as a broader reference to the gift of prophecy generally in the NT church, rather than a reference to the “foundational” prophets mentioned in 2:20 and 3:5. From the Greek word for the “gospel” (euangelion), evangelists denotes people like Philip and Timothy who proclaimed the gospel (Acts 21:8; 2 Tim. 4:5). shepherds (or “pastors” [esv footnote]). In the OT these are kings and judges (2 Sam. 5:2; 7:7). In the NT, elders “shepherd” by watching over and nurturing the church (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:1–2). There is some uncertainty as to whether “shepherds and teachers” refers here to two different ministry roles or functions, or whether the reference is to a single “shepherd-teacher” ministry role (cf. esv footnote), since Paul uses a different Greek conjunction at the end of the list, joining the two nouns more closely together than the other nouns in the list. If “teachers” are a separate group, they can be understood as a special branch of shepherds (overseers, elders) responsible for instruction in God’s Word (cf. 1 Tim. 5:17).
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:1 prisoner. Paul’s imprisonment for the sake of the gospel is for the Lord (see 3:1). His exhortations have great power, since he himself has taken these matters seriously enough to suffer confinement in the Lord’s service. Christians are to live in a manner worthy of the adoption, holiness, and unity to which they were called (see 1:4–5; 4:4).
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:26–27 Be angry. Not all anger is sin, but the believer should not be consumed by anger, nor should one’s anger even be carried over into the next day, as this will only give an opportunity to the devil.
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:3 Peace is a state of reconciliation and love and therefore acts as a bond to unite believers in Christ. Believers do not create unity but are to preserve the unity already established.
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:8 it says. Paul cites Ps. 68:18, where the one who ascends is the triumphant Lord God. Paul sees this as referring to Christ Jesus in his resurrection as head of the church. gifts. In Ps. 68:18, the divine victor is seen “receiving gifts among men,” but Paul adapts the passage to his purposes (as NT authors sometimes do in citing the OT) to show that Christ gave gifts to his people from his spoils of victory (interestingly, ancient Syriac and Aramaic translations of Ps. 68:18 also have “gave”). The “gifts” given by Christ turn out to be the church leaders described in Eph. 4:11. The captives over whom Christ triumphed are most likely demons (cf. this theme of victory over demonic forces in 1:19–22).
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:11–16 The Gifts for Edification of the Church. The list in v. 11 is not complete since deacons are omitted. The focus here is gifted people who articulate the gospel.
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:13 The diversity of gifts serves to bring about the unity of Christ’s people. Mature manhood extends the body metaphor used earlier for the church and contrasts with “children” in the next verse (see Heb. 5:11–14). Some people think that the learning of doctrine is inherently divisive, but it is people who divide the church, whereas the knowledge of the Son of God (both knowing Christ personally and understanding all that he did and taught) is edifying and brings about “mature manhood” when set forth in love (Phil. 3:10). The work of the gifted ministers (Eph. 4:11) was to proclaim and teach the word centered on Christ rather than on speculative or eccentric teachings of their own (cf. 1 Cor. 2:2). measure. Christ Jesus is the standard of the maturity to which the church must aspire. Christ’s fullness is the full expression of his divine and human perfection (see Eph. 1:23; 3:19; Col. 1:19; 2:9).
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:15 The truth must not be used as a club to bludgeon people into acceptance and obedience but must always be presented in love. The truth leads the Christian to maturity, which is defined here as growing up into Christ. As head, Christ leads, directs, and guides the body (see 5:23; 1 Cor. 11:3).
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:7–10 The Different Gifts. Paul describes diverse gifts in the church. These come from the ascended Christ.
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:24 put on the new self (lit., “man”; see note on v. 22). Paul focuses on the individual aspect of the corporate “new man” as described in 2:15. Believers are created anew in Christ (see also 2:10). Created after the likeness of God further shows the connection with the original creation in Genesis, where “God created man in his own image” (Gen. 1:27; cf. 1 Cor. 15:49).
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:2 Humility was regarded as distasteful by the pagan world of Paul’s day. Pride was more highly prized. All of the virtues mentioned—humility, gentleness, patience, and most of all, love—were displayed in Christ’s own character and are to be evident in the daily walk of every Christian.
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:32 Being kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving flows from constantly remembering that God first forgave us and that we need his forgiveness daily, as the Lord’s Prayer reminds us: “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt. 6:12; cf. Luke 11:4).
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:14 children. Immaturity in the truths of Christian doctrine makes the church like gullible children tossed helplessly by the waves and wind of cunning and deceitful schemes of false teachers (1 Pet. 2:1; 1 John 4:1–3; Jude 4; Rev. 2:2).
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:16 joint. Paul continues the body metaphor to describe the church’s maturity. Every member (i.e., every believer, viewed as a limb, or unit, in Christ’s body) plays a crucial role in this growth. in love. There is no Christian maturity or true Christian ministry without love (1 Corinthians 13), and every act of love in the name of Christ is valued and remembered by him, as each part is working properly (illustrated in Eph. 4:25–32; cf. Matt. 25:31–43; 26:6–13).
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:12 Those church leaders with various gifts (v. 11) are to equip the saints (all Christians) so that they can do the work of ministry. All Christians have spiritual gifts that should be used in ministering to one another (1 Cor. 12:7, 11; 1 Pet. 4:10).
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:28 Paul uses the thief to illustrate how repentance impacts one’s lifestyle. Repentance involves both stopping (negative) and starting (positive). The thief must stop stealing and start doing honest work. Stealing arises out of laziness and greed, so the repentant thief must display the opposite: diligence at labor and willingness to share.
EPHESIANS—NOTE ON 4:7 Grace … according to the measure of Christ’s gift does not refer to different levels of saving grace but of grace given to serve Christ’s church. To hold an office in Christ’s church (see 3:2; 4:11–16) requires a special calling from Christ himself, who rules his body as its head (see 1:22; 4:15; 5:23).