King James Version
Ephesians 4
32 verses with commentary
Unity in the Body of Christ
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, of the Lord: or, in the Lord
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:1 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
-1Ephesians 4:1-6, although cast in a hortatory form contain the final summary of the great doctrine of the Epistle—the UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH—in words which have all the glowing freedom of spiritual enthusiasm, and all the clear-cut precision of a creed.
Thus (*a*) the ground of that unity is laid in that spiritual communion of each soul with the “one Spirit,” the “one Lord,” and the “one G...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
17. Greek, "But if, seeking to be justified IN (that is, in believing union with) Christ (who has in the Gospel theory fulfilled the law for us), we (you and I) ourselves also were found (in your and my former communion with Gentiles) sinners (such as from the Jewish standpoint that now we resume, we should be regarded, since we have cast aside the law, thus having put ourselves in the same catego...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
The folly of returning to legal observances for justification.(1-7)
The happy change made in the Gentile believers.(8-11)
The apostle reasons against following false teachers.(12-18)
He expresses his earnest concern for them.(19-20)
And then explains the difference between what is to be expected from the law, and from the gospel.(21-31)
**Verses ...
Read full commentary →With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:2 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering.**—See Colossians 3:12, where the same three qualities are dwelt upon, but there introduced by “compassion and kindness.” They seem to correspond almost exactly to the first, third, and fifth beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, in which the principle of love is wrought out in various forms (as in the other beatitudes the principle of rig...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
18. Greek, "For if the things which I overthrew (by the faith of Christ), those very things I build up again (namely, legal righteousness, by subjecting myself to the law), I prove myself (literally, 'I commend myself') a transgressor." Instead of commending yourself as you sought to do (Ga 2:12, end), you merely commend yourself as a transgressor. The "I" is intended by Paul for Peter to take to ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
The folly of returning to legal observances for justification.(1-7)
The happy change made in the Gentile believers.(8-11)
The apostle reasons against following false teachers.(12-18)
He expresses his earnest concern for them.(19-20)
And then explains the difference between what is to be expected from the law, and from the gospel.(21-31)
**Verses ...
Read full commentary →Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:3 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
-3Ephesians 4:12-16 return from diversity of functions to singleness of object—viz., the perfecting individual souls in the likeness of Christ, and so building up of the whole Church in unity with Him.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19. Here Paul seems to pass from his exact words to Peter, to the general purport of his argument on the question. However, his direct address to the Galatians seems not to be resumed till Ga 3:1, "O foolish Galatians," &c.
**For--**But I am not a "transgressor" by forsaking the law. "For," &c. Proving his indignant denial of the consequence that "Christ is the minister of sin" (Ga 2:17)...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
The folly of returning to legal observances for justification.(1-7)
The happy change made in the Gentile believers.(8-11)
The apostle reasons against following false teachers.(12-18)
He expresses his earnest concern for them.(19-20)
And then explains the difference between what is to be expected from the law, and from the gospel.(21-31)
**Verses ...
Read full commentary →There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:4 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **There is one body, and one Spirit.**—The words “There is” are not in the original, which starts with a striking abruption, and with that terse concentration of thought and word which marks out an embryo creed.
The “one body” is the Body of Christ, “from whom it is fitly framed, joined together, and compacted,” so that in every part “it grows up into Him.” But this communion with God in Chris...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**20. I am crucified--**literally, "I have been crucified with Christ." This more particularizes the foregoing. "I am dead" (Ga 2:19; Php 3:10).
**nevertheless I live; yet not I--**Greek, "nevertheless I live, no longer (indeed) I." Though crucified I live; (and this) no longer that old man such as I once was (compare Ro 7:17). No longer Saul the Jew (Ga 5:24; Col 3:11, but "another man"; compar...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
The folly of returning to legal observances for justification.(1-7)
The happy change made in the Gentile believers.(8-11)
The apostle reasons against following false teachers.(12-18)
He expresses his earnest concern for them.(19-20)
And then explains the difference between what is to be expected from the law, and from the gospel.(21-31)
**Verses ...
Read full commentary →One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:5 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **One Lord, one faith.**—From the idea of “the calling,” the Apostle passes naturally to Him who calls—the “one Lord”—and to the method of His calling to Himself, first, by the “one faith,” and then by the “one baptism” at which profession of that one faith is made. It is on the indwelling of Christ in each heart by faith that the spiritual unity of all Christians—primarily with Him, secondari...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**21. I do not frustrate the grace of God--**I do not make it void, as thou, Peter, art doing by Judaizing.
**for--**justifying the strong expression "frustrate," or "make void."
**is dead in vain--**Greek, "Christ died needlessly," or "without just cause." Christ's having died, shows that the law has no power to justify us; for if the law can justify or make us righteous, the death of Christ ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
The folly of returning to legal observances for justification.(1-7)
The happy change made in the Gentile believers.(8-11)
The apostle reasons against following false teachers.(12-18)
He expresses his earnest concern for them.(19-20)
And then explains the difference between what is to be expected from the law, and from the gospel.(21-31)
**Verses ...
Read full commentary →One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:6 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **One God and Father of all.**—Necessarily, through the Son, we pass to the Father (as the Lord Himself invariably teaches us to do), since He is (to use the old Greek expression) “the fount of Deity.” He is said to be the “Father of all.” We cannot limit this universal Fatherhood; although, undoubtedly, the context shows that the immediate reference is to those who are His children by adoptio...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
The folly of returning to legal observances for justification.(1-7)
The happy change made in the Gentile believers.(8-11)
The apostle reasons against following false teachers.(12-18)
He expresses his earnest concern for them.(19-20)
And then explains the difference between what is to be expected from the law, and from the gospel.(21-31)
**Verses ...
Read full commentary →Spiritual Gifts for the Church
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:7 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **But unto every one of us is given grace.**—This verse should be rendered, *To every one of us the grace* (the one “grace of the Lord Jesus Christ”) *was given*—that is, given in the Divine purpose in the regeneration of the whole body, although it has to be received and made our own, separately in each soul, and gradually in the course of life. It was and is given “according to the measure o...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 3 Ga 3:1-29. Reproof of the Galatians for Abandoning Faith for Legalism. Justification by Faith Vindicated: The Law Shown to Be Subsequent to the Promise: Believers Are the Spiritual Seed of Abraham, Who Was Justified by Faith. The Law Was Our Schoolmaster to Bring Us to Christ, that We Might Become Children of God by Faith.
**1. that ye should not obey the truth--**omitted in the oldest ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
The folly of returning to legal observances for justification.(1-7)
The happy change made in the Gentile believers.(8-11)
The apostle reasons against following false teachers.(12-18)
He expresses his earnest concern for them.(19-20)
And then explains the difference between what is to be expected from the law, and from the gospel.(21-31)
**Verses ...
Read full commentary →Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. captivity: or, a multitude of captives
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:8 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **Wherefore he saith.**—The reference is to Psalms 68—a psalm which (as the quotation from Numbers 10:35, in the first verse, shows) is a psalm celebrating some moving of the ark, traditionally (and most probably) connected with David’s bringing up of the ark (2 Samuel 6) to Mount Zion. The very change from the second person to the third person shows it to be a free quotation; and this is made...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
2. "Was it by the works of the law that ye received the Spirit (manifested by outward miracles, Ga 3:5; Mr 16:17; He 2:4; and by spiritual graces, Ga 3:14; Ga 4:5, 6; Ep 1:13), or by the hearing of faith?" The "only" implies, "I desire, omitting other arguments, to rest the question on this alone"; I who was your teacher, desire now to "learn" this one thing from you. The epithet "Holy" is not pre...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-11**
The happy change whereby the Galatians were turned from idols to the living God, and through Christ had received the adoption of sons, was the effect of his free and rich grace; they were laid under the greater obligation to keep to the liberty wherewith he had made them free. All our knowledge of God begins on his part; we know him because we are known of him. Though our relig...
Read full commentary →(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:9 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9, 10) These verses form a parenthesis, designed to bring out the pervading idea of this and the parallel Epistle—the Divine humanity of Christ as “filling all in all” and “gathering all things” into Himself.
(9) **The lower parts of the earth.**—This may mean either *the regions of the earth, *as “lower” than heaven, or the *regions beneath the earth.* The reasoning of the text in itself would b...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. begun--**the Christian life (Php 1:6).
**in the Spirit--**Not merely was Christ crucified "graphically set forth" in my preaching, but also "the Spirit" confirmed the word preached, by imparting His spiritual gifts. "Having thus begun" with the receiving His spiritual gifts, "are ye now being made perfect" (so the Greek), that is, are ye seeking to be made perfect with "fleshly" ordinances ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-11**
The happy change whereby the Galatians were turned from idols to the living God, and through Christ had received the adoption of sons, was the effect of his free and rich grace; they were laid under the greater obligation to keep to the liberty wherewith he had made them free. All our knowledge of God begins on his part; we know him because we are known of him. Though our relig...
Read full commentary →He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) fill: or, fulfil
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:10 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **That he might fill all things.**—Compare the description in Ephesians 1:23 of the Lord as “filling all in all.” In both cases the reference is more particularly to the gift of the fulness of His grace, flowing from His glorified humanity to all His members. But the words are too wide for any limitation. In heaven and earth, and the realms under the earth, His presence and sovereignty extend...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. Have ye suffered so many things--**namely, persecution from Jews and from unbelieving fellow countrymen, incited by the Jews, at the time of your conversion.
**in vain--**fruitlessly, needlessly, since ye might have avoided them by professing Judaism [Grotius]. Or, shall ye, by falling from grace, lose the reward promised for all your sufferings, so that they shall be "in vain" (Ga 4:11; 1C...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-11**
The happy change whereby the Galatians were turned from idols to the living God, and through Christ had received the adoption of sons, was the effect of his free and rich grace; they were laid under the greater obligation to keep to the liberty wherewith he had made them free. All our knowledge of God begins on his part; we know him because we are known of him. Though our relig...
Read full commentary →And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:11 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **He gave.**—In the original “He” is emphatic—He and He alone, as the ascended Head of humanity. The word “gave,” instead of the more obvious word *set, *or *appointed* (used in 1Corinthians 12:28), is, of course, suggested by Ephesians 4:8. They who are ministers of His gifts are themselves gifts from Him to the Church.
**Some, apostles; and some, prophets . . .**—With this passage we must c...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. He ... that ministereth--**or "supplieth," God (2Co 9:10). He who supplied and supplies to you the Spirit still, to the present time. These miracles do not prove grace to be in the heart (Mr 9:38, 39). He speaks of these miracles as a matter of unquestioned notoriety among those addressed; an undesigned proof of their genuineness (compare 1Co 12:1-31).
**worketh miracles among you--**rather...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-11**
The happy change whereby the Galatians were turned from idols to the living God, and through Christ had received the adoption of sons, was the effect of his free and rich grace; they were laid under the greater obligation to keep to the liberty wherewith he had made them free. All our knowledge of God begins on his part; we know him because we are known of him. Though our relig...
Read full commentary →For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:12 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **For the perfecting . . .**—The parallelism of the three clauses of our version of this verse does not exactly correspond to the original, though we notice that Chrysostom supports it, and therefore evidently saw nothing in the Greek to contradict it. The preposition (*eis*) used in the two latter clauses (which should be *unto work of ministration, unto edification of the body of Christ*) p...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
6. The answer to the question in Ga 3:5 is here taken for granted, It was by the hearing of faith: following this up, he says, "Even as Abraham believed," &c. (Ge 15:4-6; Ro 4:3). God supplies unto you the Spirit as the result of faith, not works, just as Abraham obtained justification by faith, not by works (Ga 3:6, 8, 16; Ga 4:22, 26, 28). Where justification is, there the Spirit is, so that...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-18**
The apostle desires that they would be of one mind with him respecting the law of Moses, as well as united with him in love. In reproving others, we should take care to convince them that our reproofs are from sincere regard to the honour of God and religion and their welfare. The apostle reminds the Galatians of the difficulty under which he laboured when he first came among ...
Read full commentary →Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: in: or, into stature: or, age
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:13 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Till we all come.**—The marginal rendering is correct: *till we all arrive at the unity of the faith.* The “one faith” has been spoken of above; the full grasp of that faith by each and all is the first object of all the ministries of the Church, since by it both the individual perfection and the corporate unity begin to be secured. Such faith always goes on to knowledge, that is (as in Eph...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. they which are of faith--**as the source and starting-point of their spiritual life. The same phrase is in the Greek of Ro 3:26.
**the same--**these, and these alone, to the exclusion of all the other descendants of Abraham.
**children--**Greek, "sons" (Ga 3:29).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-18**
The apostle desires that they would be of one mind with him respecting the law of Moses, as well as united with him in love. In reproving others, we should take care to convince them that our reproofs are from sincere regard to the honour of God and religion and their welfare. The apostle reminds the Galatians of the difficulty under which he laboured when he first came among ...
Read full commentary →That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness , whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:14 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **That we be no more children.**—Here the process of growth is described negatively; in the next verse positively. We are to *be no more children.* The word used here and in 1Corinthians 3:1; 1Corinthians 13:11; Galatians 4:1; Galatians 4:3; Hebrews 5:13 (often rendered “babes”), is a word almost always applied in a bad sense, like our word “childish”—not to the guilelessness, the trustfulnes...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. And--**Greek, "Moreover."
**foreseeing--**One great excellency of Scripture is, that in it all points liable ever to be controverted, are, with prescient wisdom, decided in the most appropriate language.
**would justify--**rather, "justifieth." Present indicative. It is now, and at all times, God's one way of justification.
**the heathen--**rather, "the Gentiles"; or "the nations," as t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-18**
The apostle desires that they would be of one mind with him respecting the law of Moses, as well as united with him in love. In reproving others, we should take care to convince them that our reproofs are from sincere regard to the honour of God and religion and their welfare. The apostle reminds the Galatians of the difficulty under which he laboured when he first came among ...
Read full commentary →But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: speaking: or, being sincere
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:15 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **But speaking the truth in love.**—It has been doubted whether the words “in love” should not be connected with “may grow up,” &c., exactly as in Ephesians 4:16, “maketh increase of the body . . . in love.” But both order and sense seem to point to the connection given in our version. The correct rendering is, *being true in love; *including in this the “being true” to others, by speaking tr...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. they--**and they alone.
**of faith--**(See on Ga 3:7, beginning).
**with--**together with.
**faithful--**implying what it is in which they are "blessed together with him," namely, faith, the prominent feature of his character, and of which the result to all who like him have it, is justification.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-18**
The apostle desires that they would be of one mind with him respecting the law of Moses, as well as united with him in love. In reproving others, we should take care to convince them that our reproofs are from sincere regard to the honour of God and religion and their welfare. The apostle reminds the Galatians of the difficulty under which he laboured when he first came among ...
Read full commentary →From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part , maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:16 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted.**—The word rendered “fitly joined together” is the same used in Ephesians 2:21, with more technical accuracy, of a building—“clamped” or “bonded together.” Here the two words are applied to the union of the limbs of the body, as being “jointed,” and so “brought into close contact.” The latter word is used in Colossians 2:19.
**By...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
10. Confirmation of Ga 3:9. They who depend on the works of the law cannot share the blessing, for they are under the curse "written," De 27:26, Septuagint. Perfect obedience is required by the words, "in all things." Continual obedience by the word, "continueth." No man renders this obedience (compare Ro 3:19, 20). It is observable, Paul quotes Scripture to the Jews who were conversant with it, a...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-18**
The apostle desires that they would be of one mind with him respecting the law of Moses, as well as united with him in love. In reproving others, we should take care to convince them that our reproofs are from sincere regard to the honour of God and religion and their welfare. The apostle reminds the Galatians of the difficulty under which he laboured when he first came among ...
Read full commentary →The New Life in Christ
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:17 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
[5.**Practical Exhortation **(Ephesians 4:17-21).
(1) THE NEW LIFE; first, taught in Christ and learning Christ; and secondly, regenerate in Him to the image of God (Ephesians 4:17-24).
(2) HENCE THE POWER OF CONQUEST OF SIN GENERALLY—
(*a*)*Falsehood* (Ephesians 4:25);
(*b*)*Passionate anger* (Ephesians 4:26-27);
(*c*)*Dishonesty* (Ephesians 4:28);
(*d*)*Foulness of word* (Ephesians 4:29-30);
(3)...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. by the law--**Greek, "IN the law." Both in and by are included. The syllogism in this verse and Ga 3:12, is, according to Scripture, "The just shall live by faith." But the law is not of faith, but of doing, or works (that is, does not make faith, but works, the conditional ground of justifying). Therefore "in," or "by the law, no man is justified before God" (whatever the case may be before...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-18**
The apostle desires that they would be of one mind with him respecting the law of Moses, as well as united with him in love. In reproving others, we should take care to convince them that our reproofs are from sincere regard to the honour of God and religion and their welfare. The apostle reminds the Galatians of the difficulty under which he laboured when he first came among ...
Read full commentary →Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: blindness: or, hardness
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:18 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **Having the understanding darkened.**—Of this vanity the first result noted is the intellectual. They are “darkened in the understanding,” and so, “by the ignorance in them alienated from the life of God.” The phrase “the life of God” is unique. It may, however, be interpreted by a similar phrase, the “righteousness of God” (Romans 1:7), *i.e., *the righteousness given by God. What the life ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. doeth--**Many depended on the law although they did not keep it; but without doing, saith Paul, it is of no use to them (Ro 2:13, 17, 23; 10:5).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-18**
The apostle desires that they would be of one mind with him respecting the law of Moses, as well as united with him in love. In reproving others, we should take care to convince them that our reproofs are from sincere regard to the honour of God and religion and their welfare. The apostle reminds the Galatians of the difficulty under which he laboured when he first came among ...
Read full commentary →Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:19 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **Who being past feeling . . .**—We note that St. Paul, passing lightly over the intellectual loss, dwells on the moral with intense and terrible emphasis. They are (he says) “past feeling”; or, literally, carrying on the metaphor of callousness, *they have lost the capacity of pain*—the moral pain which is the natural and healthful consequence of sin against our true natures. Consequently, l...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13. Abrupt exclamation, as he breaks away impatiently from those who would involve us again in the curse of the law, by seeking justification in it, to "Christ," who "has redeemed us from its curse." The "us" refers primarily to the Jews, to whom the law principally appertained, in contrast to "the Gentiles" (Ga 3:14; compare Ga 4:3, 4). But it is not restricted solely to the Jews, as Alford think...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-20**
The Galatians were ready to account the apostle their enemy, but he assures them he was their friend; he had the feelings of a parent toward them. He was in doubt as to their state, and was anxious to know the result of their present delusions. Nothing is so sure a proof that a sinner has passed into a state of justification, as Christ being formed in him by the renewal of the...
Read full commentary →But ye have not so learned Christ;
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:20 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **Ye have not so learned Christ.**—Better, *ye did not so learn the Christ.* To “learn Christ” is a phrase not used elsewhere; but easily interpreted by the commoner phrase to “know Christ” (see John 14:7; John 14:9; 2Corinthians 5:16; Philippians 3:10), which is still nearer to it in the original, for the word used for “to know” properly means to perceive or “come to know.” It would seem tha...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
14. The intent of "Christ becoming a curse for us"; "To the end that upon the Gentiles the blessing of Abraham (that is, promised to Abraham, namely, justification by faith) might come in Christ Jesus" (compare Ga 3:8).
**that we might receive the promise of the Spirit--**the promised Spirit (Joe 2:28, 29; Lu 24:49). This clause follows not the clause immediately preceding (for our receiving the...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-20**
The Galatians were ready to account the apostle their enemy, but he assures them he was their friend; he had the feelings of a parent toward them. He was in doubt as to their state, and was anxious to know the result of their present delusions. Nothing is so sure a proof that a sinner has passed into a state of justification, as Christ being formed in him by the renewal of the...
Read full commentary →If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:21 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21) **If so** **be** **that.**—The word is the same which is used in Ephesians 3:2, Colossians 1:23, indicating no real doubt, but only that rhetorical doubt which is strong affirmation.
**Ye have heard him . . .**—The true rendering here is, *ye heard Him, and were taught in Him.* St. Paul begins with the first means of knowledge, the “hearing” His voice, directly or through His ministers; and t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**15. I speak after the manner of men--**I take an illustration from a merely human transaction of everyday occurrence.
**but a man's covenant--**whose purpose it is far less important to maintain.
**if it be confirmed--**when once it hath been ratified.
**no man disannulleth--**"none setteth aside," not even the author himself, much less any second party. None does so who acts in common equ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-27**
The difference between believers who rested in Christ only, and those who trusted in the law, is explained by the histories of Isaac and Ishmael. These things are an allegory, wherein, beside the literal and historical sense of the words, the Spirit of God points out something further. Hagar and Sarah were apt emblems of the two different dispensations of the covenant. The hea...
Read full commentary →That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:22 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(22-24) These verses explain the substance of the teaching of Ephesians 4:21. The original may be interpreted either of the teaching of a fact, “that ye did put off . . . and are being renewed,” &c., or of a duty, “that ye put off . . . and be renewed.” The latter is, on the whole, the more probable, although the former would yield a simpler sense. It is to be noted that the words “put off” and “p...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
16. This verse is parenthetical. The covenant of promise was not "spoken" (so Greek for "made") to Abraham alone, but "to Abraham and his seed"; to the latter especially; and this means Christ (and that which is inseparable from Him, the literal Israel, and the spiritual, His body, the Church). Christ not having come when the law was given, the covenant could not have been then fulfilled, but awai...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-27**
The difference between believers who rested in Christ only, and those who trusted in the law, is explained by the histories of Isaac and Ishmael. These things are an allegory, wherein, beside the literal and historical sense of the words, the Spirit of God points out something further. Hagar and Sarah were apt emblems of the two different dispensations of the covenant. The hea...
Read full commentary →And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:23 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.**—The word translated “renewed” is not the same as the word “new” below. It is properly “to be made young again,” and the process of recovery is described as the natural effect of putting off the decrepitude of the old man, and the decay engendered by fleshly lusts. The effect is seen in “the spirit of the mind”—that is, “in the spiritual nature of...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17. this I say--**"this is what I mean," by what I said in Ga 3:15.
**continued ... of God--**"ratified by God" (Ga 3:15).
**in Christ--**rather, "unto Christ" (compare Ga 3:16). However, Vulgate and the old Italian versions translate as English Version. But the oldest manuscripts omit the words altogether.
**the law which was--**Greek, "which came into existence four hundred thirty years ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-27**
The difference between believers who rested in Christ only, and those who trusted in the law, is explained by the histories of Isaac and Ishmael. These things are an allegory, wherein, beside the literal and historical sense of the words, the Spirit of God points out something further. Hagar and Sarah were apt emblems of the two different dispensations of the covenant. The hea...
Read full commentary →And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. true: or, holiness of truth
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:24 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(24) **And that ye** **put on . . .**—But this effect of “the putting off of the old man” is at once absorbed in the stronger idea of “putting on the new man.” In the “new man” here is implied not merely youthfulness, but the freshness of a higher nature (as in Ephesians 2:15). To “put on the new man” is, therefore, to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” by that divine process of which we have the beg...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**18. the inheritance--**all the blessings to be inherited by Abraham's literal and spiritual children, according to the promise made to him and to his Seed, Christ, justification and glorification (Ga 4:7; Ro 8:17; 1Co 6:9).
**but God, &c.--**The Greek order requires rather, "But to Abraham it was by promise that God hath given it." The conclusion is, Therefore the inheritance is not of, or...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-27**
The difference between believers who rested in Christ only, and those who trusted in the law, is explained by the histories of Isaac and Ishmael. These things are an allegory, wherein, beside the literal and historical sense of the words, the Spirit of God points out something further. Hagar and Sarah were apt emblems of the two different dispensations of the covenant. The hea...
Read full commentary →Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:25 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(25) **For we are members.**—Accordingly the reason given for “putting away lying” is that “we are members one of another.” Truth is the first condition of the mutual confidence which is the basis of all unity. Hence it is the first duty of that “membership one of another,” which follows from our being “one body in Christ” (Romans 12:5; 1Corinthians 12:27). No doubt it is also the first duty to ou...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19. "Wherefore then serveth the law?" as it is of no avail for justification, is it either useless, or contrary to the covenant of God? [Calvin].
**added--**to the original covenant of promise. This is not inconsistent with Ga 3:15, "No man addeth thereto"; for there the kind of addition meant, and therefore denied, is one that would add new conditions, inconsistent with the grace of the covenan...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-27**
The difference between believers who rested in Christ only, and those who trusted in the law, is explained by the histories of Isaac and Ishmael. These things are an allegory, wherein, beside the literal and historical sense of the words, the Spirit of God points out something further. Hagar and Sarah were apt emblems of the two different dispensations of the covenant. The hea...
Read full commentary →Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:26 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(26) **Be ye angry, and sin not.**—A quotation from the LXX. version of Psalm 4:4. Anger itself is not sin, for our Lord Himself felt it (Mark 3:5) at the “hardness of men’s hearts;” and it is again and again attributed to God Himself, in language no doubt of human accommodation, but, of course, accommodation to what is sinless in humanity. In the form of resentment, and above all of the resentmen...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**20. "Now a mediator cannot be of one (but must be of two parties whom he mediates between); but God is one" (not two: owing to His essential unity not admitting of an intervening party between Him and those to be blessed; but as the One Sovereign, His own representative, giving the blessing directly by promise to Abraham, and, in its fulfilment, to Christ, "the Seed," without new condition, and ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-27**
The difference between believers who rested in Christ only, and those who trusted in the law, is explained by the histories of Isaac and Ishmael. These things are an allegory, wherein, beside the literal and historical sense of the words, the Spirit of God points out something further. Hagar and Sarah were apt emblems of the two different dispensations of the covenant. The hea...
Read full commentary →Neither give place to the devil.
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<strong>[Verse 4:27 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(27) **Neither give place** (*i.e., scope*) **to the devil.**—The name “Devil” is used by St. Paul only in his later Epistles (see Ephesians 6:11; 1Timothy 3:6-7; 1Timothy 6:9; 2Timothy 2:26; Titus 2:3); in the earlier Epistles (Romans 16:20; 1Corinthians 5:5; 1Corinthians 7:5; 2Corinthians 2:11; 2Corinthians 11:14, 2Co_12:7; 1Thessalonians 2:18; 2Thessalonians 2:9) we have the name “Satan,” which...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
21. "Is the law (which involves a mediator) against the promises of God (which are without a mediator, and rest on God alone and immediately)? God forbid."
**life--**The law, as an externally prescribed rule, can never internally impart spiritual life to men naturally dead in sin, and change the disposition. If the law had been a law capable of giving life, "verily (in very reality, and not in t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-27**
The difference between believers who rested in Christ only, and those who trusted in the law, is explained by the histories of Isaac and Ishmael. These things are an allegory, wherein, beside the literal and historical sense of the words, the Spirit of God points out something further. Hagar and Sarah were apt emblems of the two different dispensations of the covenant. The hea...
Read full commentary →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
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:28 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(28) **Let him that stole** (properly, *the stealer*) **steal** **no more. . . .**—In this verse St. Paul treats dishonesty, virtually, although less distinctly, from the same point of view as before. For he is not content with forbidding it, or even with forbidding it as fatal to society; but he directs that it be superseded by the opposite spirit of self-sacrifice, working in order to give to ot...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**22. But--**as the law cannot give life or righteousness [Alford]. Or the "But" means, So far is righteousness from being of the law, that the knowledge of sin is rather what comes of the law [Bengel].
**the scripture--**which began to be written after the time of the promise, at the time when the law was given. The written letter was needed SO as PERMANENTLY to convict man of disobedience to G...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 28-31**
The history thus explained is applied. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free. If the privileges of all believers were so great, according to the new covenant, how absurd for the Gentile converts to be under that law, which could not deliver the unbelieving Jews from bondage or condemnation! We should not have found out this allegory in the h...
Read full commentary →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
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:29 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(29) **Let no corrupt communication . . .**—The word rendered “corrupt,” is a strong word, signifying “rotten”; used in Matthew 7:17-18, and elsewhere in the literal sense, here alone in the metaphorical. By the corrupt word, probably, here is meant especially the foul word, which is rotten in itself, and spreads rottenness in others.
**The use of edifying.**—This is a mistranslation, by inversion...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**23. faith--**namely, that just mentioned (Ga 3:22), of which Christ is the object.
**kept--**Greek, "kept in ward": the effect of the "shutting up" (Ga 3:22; Ga 4:2; Ro 7:6).
**unto--**"with a view to the faith," &c. We were, in a manner, morally forced to it, so that there remained to us no refuge but faith. Compare the phrase, Psa 78:50, Margin; Psa 31:8.
**which should afterwards, &...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 28-31**
The history thus explained is applied. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free. If the privileges of all believers were so great, according to the new covenant, how absurd for the Gentile converts to be under that law, which could not deliver the unbelieving Jews from bondage or condemnation! We should not have found out this allegory in the h...
Read full commentary →And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:30 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(30) **And grieve not the holy Spirit.**—This verse refers to all the practical commands given above. The four cardinal sins forbidden are regarded as “grieving the Holy Spirit of God.” In that expression, even more than in the cognate expressions of “quenching the Spirit” (1Thessalonians 5:19), and “resisting the Holy Ghost” (Acts 7:51), there is implied a personal relation to a Divine Person, ca...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
24. "So that the law hath been (that is, hath turned out to be) our schoolmaster (or "tutor," literally, "pedagogue": this term, among the Greeks, meant a faithful servant entrusted with the care of the boy from childhood to puberty, to keep him from evil, physical and moral, and accompany him to his amusements and studies) to guide us unto Christ," with whom we are no longer "shut up" in bondage,...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 28-31**
The history thus explained is applied. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free. If the privileges of all believers were so great, according to the new covenant, how absurd for the Gentile converts to be under that law, which could not deliver the unbelieving Jews from bondage or condemnation! We should not have found out this allegory in the h...
Read full commentary →Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:31 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3 *a*) In Ephesians 4:31 to Ephesians 5:2, he deals with malignity, as utterly unworthy of the love of God manifested to us in Jesus Christ.
(31) **Let all bitterness.**—There is a similar enumeration in the parallel passage, Colossians 3:8; and in all such catalogues in St. Paul’s Epistles, while it is vain to seek for formal and elaborate system, there is always profound method and connection o...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
25. "But now that faith is come," &c. Moses the lawgiver cannot bring us into the heavenly Canaan though he can bring us to the border of it. At that point he is superseded by Joshua, the type of Jesus, who leads the true Israel into their inheritance. The law leads us to Christ, and there its office ceases.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 28-31**
The history thus explained is applied. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free. If the privileges of all believers were so great, according to the new covenant, how absurd for the Gentile converts to be under that law, which could not deliver the unbelieving Jews from bondage or condemnation! We should not have found out this allegory in the h...
Read full commentary →And be ye kind one to another , tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>[Verse 4:32 text would be quoted here]</strong> This verse in Ephesians chapter 4 addresses theological theme. Key Greek terms include to be determined. <br><br>The theological focus is doctrinal emphasis, demonstrating Paul's emphasis on the cosmic Christ and the church as His body/bride/temple. The phrase emphasizes union with Christ as the foundation of all spiritual blessings.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(32) **Kind . . . tenderhearted.**—“Kindness” is gentleness in bearing with wrong (Luke 6:35; Romans 11:22; Ephesians 2:7; 1Peter 2:3). “Tenderheartedness” (see 1Peter 3:8) is more positive warmth of sympathy and love. Both issue in free “forgiveness,” after the model of the universal and unfailing forgiveness “of God in Christ” to us—the only model we dare to follow, suggested by our Saviour Hims...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**26. children--**Greek, "sons."
**by--**Greek, "through faith." "Ye all" (Jews and Gentiles alike) are no longer "children" requiring a tutor, but SONS emancipated and walking at liberty.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
The folly of returning to legal observances for justification.(1-7)
The happy change made in the Gentile believers.(8-11)
The apostle reasons against following false teachers.(12-18)
He expresses his earnest concern for them.(19-20)
And then explains the difference between what is to be expected from the law, and from the gospel.(21-31)
**Verses ...
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