Passage

Ephesians 4.30

Book: Ephesians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

28. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have whereof to give to him that hath need. 29. Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying as the need may be, that it may give grace to them that hear.

30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice: 32. and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:28-32, ASV)

WEB

28. Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, producing with his hands something that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need. 29. Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.

30. Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice. 32. And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:28-32, WEB)

KJV

28. Let 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. ^{to give: or, to distribute} 29. Let 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. ^{to: or, to edify profitably}

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

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:28-32, KJV)

YLT

28. whoso is stealing let him no more steal, but rather let him labour, working the thing that is good with the hands, that he may have to impart to him having need. 29. Let no corrupt word out of your mouth go forth, but what is good unto the needful building up, that it may give grace to the hearers;

30. and make not sorrowful the Holy Spirit of God, in which ye were sealed to a day of redemption.

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice, 32. and become one to another kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, according as also God in Christ did forgive you. (Ephesians 4:28-32, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle.
Audience: Believers at Ephesus. Several of the earliest witnesses, including P46 and the original hands of Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, lack the words "in Ephesus" at 1:1, which has long suggested the letter circulated among the churches of the Roman province of Asia rather than addressing one congregation alone.
Location: Written from imprisonment. Paul calls himself "the prisoner of Christ Jesus" (Eph 3:1, 4:1) and "an ambassador in chains" (Eph 6:20); the traditional identification is the Roman custody of Acts 28.
Time period: c. AD 60-62 on the traditional Roman-imprisonment dating.

Theological reading

Kai mē lypeite to pneuma to hagion tou theou, en hō esphragisthēte eis hēmeran apolytrōseōs.

The verb is the argument. Lypeō means to grieve, to cause pain or sorrow. Its object must be a person, and the command assumes the Spirit can be pained by how believers speak and act. This is the strongest single-verse evidence in the New Testament for the personhood of the Holy Spirit, because impersonal forces are not grieved. Set alongside the Spirit's speaking (Acts 13:2), willing (1 Cor 12:11), being lied to (Acts 5:3-4) and interceding (Rom 8:26), the grieving here forms a cumulative case that the Spirit is a who and not a what.

The Isaiah background. The wording echoes Isaiah 63:10, where Israel "rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit," in a passage that goes on to say He turned to become their enemy. Paul is applying a prophetic category to the church rather than coining a new one, which is part of why the imperative carries such weight.

The seal. Esphragisthēte is aorist passive, a completed action performed on the believer rather than by them. A seal in the ancient world marked ownership and guaranteed the integrity of contents until delivery. The destination is stated: eis hēmeran apolytrōseōs, for the day of redemption. So the verse holds together two things that are often set against each other. The believer's future is secured by an act already accomplished, and the believer's present conduct can genuinely grieve the person who secured it. Neither half cancels the other, and readings that keep only one lose the tension Paul plainly intends.

Context. The command sits between the vice list of verse 31 and the virtues of verse 32, so the grieving in view is not abstract impiety but bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour and slander inside the congregation. The Spirit who made the two into one new man (2:15) is grieved by the speech that pulls them apart again.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G0629 - apolytrosis, apolytrosis, Strong's G0629
G4151 - pneuma, pneuma, Strong's G4151
G2316 - theos, theos, Strong's G2316

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.