ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Ephesians 4.4-6

Book: Ephesians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

2. with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3. giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

4. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling; 5. one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6. one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.

  1. But unto each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, And gave gifts unto men. (Ephesians 4:2-8, ASV)
WEB

2. with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love; 3. being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

4. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling; 5. one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6. one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all.

  1. But to each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8. Therefore he says, “When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.” (Ephesians 4:2-8, WEB)
KJV

2. With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

4. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

  1. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. captivity: or, a multitude of captives (Ephesians 4:2-8, KJV)
YLT

2. with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, 3. being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of the peace;

4. one body and one Spirit, according as also ye were called in one hope of your calling; 5. one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6. one God and Father of all, who [is] over all, and through all, and in you all,

  1. and to each one of you was given the grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ, 8. wherefore, he saith, 'Having gone up on high he led captive captivity, and gave gifts to men,' (Ephesians 4:2-8, 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

The seven acclamations are the most compressed statement of Christian unity in the New Testament, and they are arranged with more care than a list requires.

The structure is trinitarian. The items group into three clusters, each headed by a divine person:

  • One body, one Spirit, one hope (verse 4), the Spirit and what the Spirit constitutes and guarantees.
  • One Lord, one faith, one baptism (verse 5), the Son and the responses that attach a person to Him.
  • One God and Father of all (verse 6), with the fourfold epi pantōn kai dia pantōn kai en pasin, over all and through all and in all.

Paul is not arguing for the doctrine of the Trinity here. He is using its shape as the self-evident framework of an appeal for unity, which is more telling than an argument would be.

"One baptism." The phrase has carried a great deal of ecclesiological freight, and the honest observation is that the letter does not specify whether the reference is to water baptism, Spirit baptism, or the single reality under both aspects. The context is an appeal against fragmentation, so whatever is in view is something the divided parties are being reminded they share.

The four prepositions. Epi, dia, en with pantōn and pasin describe transcendence, agency and immanence in a single breath. Whether pantōn is masculine (all people) or neuter (all things) is grammatically undecidable and probably not a distinction Paul is drawing. The theological point is that the God appealed to is not one factor among the church's commitments but the one in whom the whole arrangement subsists.

Why the list is placed here. It follows the appeal of verses 1 to 3 to keep the unity of the Spirit and precedes the diversity of gifts in verses 7 to 16. The order is deliberate. Diversity of ministry is introduced only after unity has been grounded in the being of God, so that the gifts differentiate a body rather than partition one.

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.

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.