Saints Translation

By Vincent Melli

Ephesians — Greek text and reception

BishopMature unity

Ephesians 4 — Greek text and reception

Saints Translation: Ephesians [V2]

Each card preserves the Greek reading and its textual and reception notes. This source provides a Greek study edition; Hebrew counterparts and Hebrew–Greek classifications are not supplied.

Chapter 4

One body and one calling

Verse 4:1

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: The prisoner’s exhortation follows the preceding divine gifts. “Walk worthily” resumes conduct language; “calling” and “called” retain the repeated root rather than two unrelated concepts. Reception: R13, R40.

Verse 4:2

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: Humility, gentleness and patience accompany bearing with one another in love. The mutual object prevents construing this solely as the endurance expected of one rank within the Church. Reception: R13, R40.

Verse 4:3

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace:

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: The command concerns diligently keeping the Spirit’s unity. Peace is its bond; the verb does not say that the recipients create the Spirit or manufacture unity from nothing. Reception: R13.

Verse 4:4

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

one body and one Spirit, just as you were also called in one hope of your calling;

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: One body and one Spirit correspond to one hope of calling. The repeated one links corporate life, divine gift and future expectation before the sequence continues in 4:5–6. Reception: R14.

Verse 4:5

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: Lord, faith and baptism each receive “one.” The compact sequence is retained without expanding it into a denominational formula or supplying distinctions absent from the verse. Reception: R14.

Verse 4:6

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: G has “in all,” without an added you or us. Over, through and in are three distinct prepositional descriptions of the one God and Father, not interchangeable repetitions. Reception: R15.

Gifts for the body

Verse 4:7

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: The movement from shared unity to “each one of us” introduces differentiated gifts. Their measure is Christ’s gift, not a stated measure of the recipient’s merit. Reception: R15.

Verse 4:8

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

Therefore it says, “Having ascended on high, He took captivity captive; He gave gifts to human beings.”

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: The source says “gave gifts,” and preserves the cognate expression “took captivity captive.” Its Psalm reuse is translated as transmitted here, without conforming it to a separate Psalms text. Reception: R15.

Verse 4:9

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

Now what does “He ascended” mean, except that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth?

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: The lower parts of the earth may mean the earth’s lower regions or the lower regions, namely earth. G adds no “first”; the translation supplies no named underworld. Reception: R15.

Verse 4:10

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

The One who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: The one who descended is the same one who ascended above all heavens. The purpose is filling all things; retaining that identity prevents dividing the actions between different agents. Reception: R15.

Verse 4:11

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

And He Himself gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as shepherds and teachers,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: The four repeated groups culminate in shepherds and teachers sharing an article. Their precise relation is not decided by inserting a single compound office title. Reception: R16.

Verse 4:12

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, for building up the body of Christ,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: Equipping the saints is followed by work of service and building the body. The punctuation preserves their connection without excluding the saints from participation in ministry. Reception: R16.

Verse 4:13

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: “Mature man” retains the corporate singular anēr, contrasted with children in 4:14. Hēlikia can concern stature or mature age; the fullness phrase remains part of the measure. Reception: R16.

Verse 4:14

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

so that we may no longer be children, tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching, by human trickery, by cunning for the schemes of deceit,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: The verse combines waves, winds of teaching and human deception. Kybeia evokes trickery associated with dice; the translation preserves the deceitful activity without introducing a literal gambling scene. Reception: R16.

Verse 4:15

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

but, being truthful in love, we may grow in all things into Him who is the head, Christ,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: Alētheuō means being truthful, including but not limited to speaking truth. Growth is into Christ the head and occurs in love, retaining both truth and its manner. Reception: R16.

Verse 4:16

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

from whom the whole body, fitted and held together through every supporting joint, according to the working in due measure of each individual part, produces the growth of the body for building itself up in love.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: The body image joins fitting, supporting joints and each part’s measured activity. Growth comes from Christ while the body builds itself in love; neither agency is dropped. Reception: R16.

The old and new human being

Verse 4:17

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

So I say this and testify in the Lord: you must no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: The renewed exhortation opposes former Gentile conduct characterized by futile thinking. The source’s warning is translated without substituting a named modern ethnicity for its historical audience. Reception: R17, R41.

Verse 4:18

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

being darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance in them, because of the hardness of their heart.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: Darkened understanding and alienation from God’s life are linked with ignorance and hardness of heart. Both explanatory phrases remain, without reducing the condition to lack of information alone. Reception: R17.

Verse 4:19

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

Having lost sensitivity, they handed themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every impurity in greed.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: The people hand themselves over after losing sensitivity. The source explicitly assigns that action to them and connects impurity with greed; it does not supply God as this verb’s subject. Reception: R17.

Verse 4:20

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

But you did not learn Christ in this way,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: Christ Himself is the object of “learned,” a striking personal expression. The negative contrasts Christian instruction with the conduct just described, not with the acquisition of all knowledge. Reception: R17.

Verse 4:21

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

if indeed you heard Him and were taught in Him, as truth is in Jesus:

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: “If indeed” recalls their hearing and instruction in Him. The wording names Jesus in the truth clause; it is not harmonized to Christ merely because the preceding verse uses that title. Reception: R17.

Verse 4:22

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

that, concerning your former conduct, you put off the old human being, which is being corrupted according to the desires of deceit,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: Putting off the old human being develops clothing imagery and former conduct. The participle describes ongoing corruption through deceitful desires, not a separate physical person to be discarded. Reception: R17, R36.

Verse 4:23

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: Renewal concerns “the spirit of your mind.” Lower-case spirit avoids deciding that this particular phrase directly names the Holy Spirit; the present infinitive sustains the renewal language. Reception: R17.

Verse 4:24

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

and put on the new human being, created according to God in righteousness and holiness of truth.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: The new human being is put on and is created according to God. Righteousness and holiness of truth preserve the clothing and creation images rather than replacing them uniformly with “nature.” Reception: R17.

Truth and kindness toward one another

Verse 4:25

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

Therefore, putting away falsehood, let each speak truth with his neighbor, because we are members of one another.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: Putting away falsehood leads to truthful speech with one’s neighbor. The reason is mutual membership, continuing the body argument rather than merely advising social convenience. Reception: R18.

Verse 4:26

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down upon your anger,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: Both “be angry” and “do not sin” are imperatival forms. Their juxtaposition is retained, followed by a sunset limit; no named group is added as a target for anger. Reception: R18.

Verse 4:27

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

nor give a place to the devil.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: “Nor give a place” continues the preceding prohibition. Topos supplies a place or opportunity for the devil; the translation does not name a literal geographical foothold. Reception: R18.

Verse 4:28

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

Let the one who steals steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working what is good with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with the one in need.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: The prohibition of stealing is followed by productive labor with one’s own hands. The stated purpose is having something to share with the needy, beyond mere self-support. Reception: R18.

Verse 4:29

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

Let no rotten word come out of your mouth, but only what is good for building up as needed, so that it may give grace to those who hear.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: “Rotten” preserves sapros. Speech is measured by the need for building up and benefit to hearers; “give grace” does not itself assert that ordinary speech confers a sacrament. Reception: R18.

Verse 4:30

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: The Holy Spirit of God is the object of the prohibition against grieving. The sealing points toward the day of redemption, linking ethical instruction with the seal language of 1:13–14. Reception: R18.

Verse 4:31

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

Let all bitterness and rage and anger and shouting and slander be taken away from you, with all malice.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: The list keeps bitterness, rage, anger, shouting, slander and malice distinct. “All” frames the removal; the words are not reduced to a general injunction to avoid unpleasant feelings. Reception: R19.

Verse 4:32

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text: Kindness and tenderheartedness lead to mutual forgiveness modeled on God’s action in Christ. G ends “forgave you”; it is not silently changed to us. Reception: R20.

Text: NA28 reads γίνεσθε [δὲ] in brackets (SBLGNT omits δέ); the rendering above follows SBLGNT, and NA28 would read "And be kind to one another".R20