Ephesians 4:1-16
Maintain the unity of the faith
4:1I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
4:2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
4:3making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace:
4:4there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling,
4:5one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
4:6one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
4:7But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
4:8Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high, he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.”
4:9(When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth?
4:10He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.)
4:11He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers
4:12to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
4:13until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.
4:14We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming;
4:15but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
4:16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
St Paul, Ephesians 4: 1-16
[1]Παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς ἐγὼ ὁ δέσμιος ἐν Κυρίῳ ἀξίως περιπατῆσαι τῆς κλήσεως ἧς ἐκλήθητε,
[2]μετὰ πάσης ταπεινοφροσύνης καὶ πρᾳότητος, μετὰ μακροθυμίας, ἀνεχόμενοι ἀλλήλων ἐν ἀγάπῃ,
[3]σπουδάζοντες τηρεῖν τὴν ἑνότητα τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐν τῷ συνδέσμῳ τῆς εἰρήνης.
[4] ἓν σῶμα καὶ ἓν Πνεῦμα, καθὼς καὶ ἐκλήθητε ἐν μιᾷ ἐλπίδι τῆς κλήσεως ὑμῶν·
[5]εἷς Κύριος, μία πίστις, ἓν βάπτισμα·
[6] εἷς Θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ πάντων,
ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων, καὶ διὰ πάντων, καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν ἡμῖν.
[7]῾Ενὶ δὲ ἑκάστῳ ἡμῶν ἐδόθη ἡ χάρις κατὰ τὸ μέτρον τῆς δωρεᾶς τοῦ Χριστοῦ.
[8]διὸ λέγει·
ἀναβὰς εἰς ὕψος ᾐχμαλώτευσεν αἰχμαλωσίαν
καὶ ἔδωκε δόματα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις.
[9]τὸ δὲ ἀνέβη τί ἐστιν εἰ μὴ ὅτι καὶ κατέβη πρῶτον εἰς τὰ κατώτερα μέρη τῆς γῆς;
[10]ὁ καταβὰς αὐτός ἐστι καὶ ὁ ἀναβὰς ὑπεράνω πάντων τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἵνα πληρώσῃ τὰ πάντα.
[11]καὶ αὐτὸς ἔδωκε τοὺς μὲν ἀποστόλους, τοὺς δὲ προφήτας, τοὺς δὲ εὐαγγελιστάς, τοὺς δὲ ποιμένας καὶ διδασκάλους,
[12]πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων εἰς ἔργον διακονίας, εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ,
[13] μέχρι καταντήσωμεν οἱ πάντες εἰς τὴν ἑνότητα τῆς πίστεως καὶ τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον, εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ,
[14 ]ἵνα μηκέτι ὦμεν νήπιοι, κλυδωνιζόμενοι καὶ περιφερόμενοι παντὶ ἀνέμῳ τῆς διδασκαλίας, ἐν τῇ κυβείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἐν πανουργίᾳ πρὸς τὴν μεθοδείαν τῆς πλάνης,
[15]ἀληθεύοντες δὲ ἐν ἀγάπῃ αὐξήσωμεν εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα, ὅς ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλή, ὁ Χριστός,
[16] ἐξ οὗ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα συναρμολογούμενον καὶ συμβιβαζόμενον διὰ πάσης ἁφῆς τῆς ἐπιχορηγίας κατ᾽ ἐνέργειαν ἐν μέτρῳ ἑνὸς ἑκάστου μέρους τὴν αὔξησιν τοῦ σώματος ποιεῖται εἰς οἰκοδομὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ.
Comments
Deutero (?)-Paul packs a lot of meaning in the strings of participial phrases in vv. 12 and 16.
[1] ὁ δέσμιος: the adj. δέσμιος is used substantively: passive sense, ‘bound, captive’ (cl. Gk poetry: LSJ s.v.II); cf. δεσμεύω, ‘I put in chains’. The idea of being bound is announced from the outset.
περιπατῆσαι: aor. inf. < περιπατῶ (έω), ‘I walk up and down’, as in a colonnade (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v., 1). But the vb is meant metaph. here, ‘conduct one’s life’, a nuance already in LXX (Muraoka s.v., 2). Cf. Engl. peripatetic.
[2] μετὰ πάσης ταπεινοφροσύνης καὶ πρᾳότητος, μετὰ μακροθυμίας, ἀνεχόμενοι ἀλλήλων: ταπεινοφροσύνη, ‘humility’ is a Pauline noun (not attested in LXX although the related ταπεινόφρων & ταπεινοφρονέω are: Muraoka s.v.). Πραότης, ‘gentleness’ (cl. Gk prose: LSJ s.v.). Μακροθυμία, late Gk, ‘ability to bear up without giving up’ (LXX Is. 57.15: Muraoka s.v., 1), ‘long-suffering’. ἀνέχομαι, ‘endure, forbear’ (post-cl. Gk: EDNT, s.v.). ἀνεχόμενοι ἀλλήλων, circumstantial part. following the two adverbial prep. phrases– ‘ by being mutually tolerant’; ἀλλήλων (‘of one another’) is a reciprocal pronoun.
[3] ἐν τῷ συνδέσμῳ τῆς εἰρήνης: σύνδεσμος, ‘bond, fastening’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v.); also figuratively, as here, ‘bond of union’, e.g. ὁ σύνδεσμος τῆς πόλεως, Plato, Republic 520a, referring to the good citizens who keep the city-state together (LSJ s.v., Ι.20). δέσμιος (v.1) is etym. related to σύνδεσμος.
[8] ἔδωκε δόματα: ‘he gave gifts’, δόματα (sg., δόμα) is a cognate (or internal) accusative. Δόμα is an LXX word.
[11] καὶ αὐτὸς ἔδωκε: the 3rd pers. personal pron. αὐτὸς (‘he’) is emphatic, resuming the subject of vv. 8-10, viz. ‘Christ’. ‘ΗΕ it is who gave.’ ἔδωκε (‘gave’) picks up the theme of gifts (δόματα) from v. 11.
[12] πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων εἰς ἔργον διακονίας, εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ: καταρτισμός, late Gk, ‘equipping, preparation’ (EDNT, s.v.). The noun does not occur in LXX; but the vb καταρτίζω does, and may shed light on the nuances of the noun in this verse: ‘to give requisite strength and make ready’, c. acc. (Muraoka s.v., 2b). Thus πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων = ‘for the purpose of strengthening and preparing the Christians’.
εἰς ἔργον διακονίας: ‘for the task of rendering service’, ‘for the work of ministry’. ἔργον, ‘task, work’, and διακονία, ‘service, ministration’ are cl. Gk (LSJ s.v.). The prep. phrase εἰς ἔργον διακονίας is dependent on the previous one (πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων), and completes its meaning: Christians are made fit to serve.
εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ: οἰκοδομὴ, late Gk (e.g., LXX), ‘act of building’; here used fig., of the action or process of building the Church (EDNT s.v., 3b). This prep. phrase is the climax of the preceding ones: the previous actions culminate in the building of the body of Christ.
[13]μέχρι καταντήσωμεν οἱ πάντες εἰς τὴν ἑνότητα τῆς πίστεως: καταντῶ (άω), late Gk (e.g., LXX), ‘come down to, arrive’; used fig. here. ‘until all of us arrive at the oneness/ unity of the faith’.
καὶ τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ: ἐπίγνωσις, late Gk, c. gen., ‘knowledge’; cf. ἐπιγιγνώσκω in LXX: ‘to come to know the character and nature of’, c. acc. (Muraoka s.v., 1a). Thus: ‘(until we come to know, cf. ἐπι-/ ‘after’) the Son of God’.
εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον: ‘(until all of us arrive) at the fully mature man’—’man’ in the generic, universalising sense of ‘human being’. (On the latter sense in the NT, see EDNT s.v. ἀνήρ, 2.)
εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ: ‘(until all of us arrive) at the full measure of the stage which is the fullness of Christ’. μέτρον,’ full measure, limit, goal’ (as in Iliad 11.225, μέτρον ἤβης, ‘the age which is puberty’). Μέτρον connotes completion, fullness, achieving a goal. ἡλικία, ‘age’; ‘stage of life’; ‘ physical stature’ (EDNT s.v.). πλήρωμα, ‘fullness, fulfilment’.
[16] τὸ σῶμα συναρμολογούμενον καὶ συμβιβαζόμενον διὰ πάσης ἁφῆς τῆς ἐπιχορηγίας κατ᾽ ἐνέργειαν ἐν μέτρῳ ἑνὸς ἑκάστου μέρους τὴν αὔξησιν τοῦ σώματος ποιεῖται: ‘the body, joined together and united by means of every ligament that constitutes the support- structure—with each part fully functioning—produces the growth of the body.’
This involved sentence, after rehearsing a series of three unconnected participial phrases, at length ends with the word with which it began, σῶμα (‘body’). The author uses the medical (physiological) term ὰφή and possibly other specialised medical usages, συμβιβαζόμενον (‘ brought together’, ‘united’), ἐπιχορηγία (‘structure’?), and the phrase κατ᾽ ἐνέργειαν (‘in accordance with the function’). I have taken τῆς ἐπιχορηγίας as a gen. of definition (‘every ligament that constitutes the support-structure’). Further on this verse, see J. Armitage Robinson, p. 188.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 