I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called,
with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.
But unto each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Wherefore he saith,
{Psalm 68:18.}When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive,
And gave gifts unto men.
(Now this, He ascended, what is it but that he also descended {Some ancient authorities insert first.}into the lower parts of the earth?
He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)
And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ:
till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;
but {Or, dealing, truly}speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, even Christ;
from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together {Greek: through every joint of the supply.}through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love.
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the vanity of their mind,
being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart;
who being past feeling gave themselves up to lasciviousness, {Or, to make a trade of}to work all uncleanness with {Or, covetousness Compare chapter 5:3; Colossians 3:5.}greediness.
But ye did not so learn Christ;
if so be that ye heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus:
that ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, that waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit;
and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and put on the new man, {Or, that is after God, created & c.}that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
Wherefore, putting away falsehood, {Zechariah 8:16.}speak ye truth each one with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.
{Psalm 4:4.}Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your {Greek: provocation.}wrath:
neither give place to the devil.
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.
Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for {Greek: the building up of the need.}edifying as the need may be, that it may give grace to them that hear.
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:
and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave {Many ancient authorities read us.}you.
Querverweise zu Epheser 4,14 Eph 4,14
{Or, Whom shall he teach…and whom shall he make…breasts. for &c.}Whom will he teach knowledge? and whom will he make to understand the {Or, report}message? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts?
and from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
And as these went their way, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to behold? a reed shaken with the wind?
And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray.
He lurketh in secret as a lion in his covert;He lieth in wait to catch the poor:He doth catch the poor, when he draweth him in his net.
and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Wherefore watch ye, remembering that by the space of three years I ceased not to admonish every one night and day with tears.
Ye know that when ye were Gentiles ye were led away unto those dumb idols, howsoever ye might be led.
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul;The mighty gather themselves together against me:Not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Jehovah.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the {Greek: greater.}greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them that are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the {Or, teaching}doctrine which ye learned: and turn away from them.
But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.
For we are not as the many, {Or, making merchandise of the word of God. Compare 2 Peter 2:3}corrupting the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ.
The godly man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ.
For they that are such serve not our Lord Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and fair speech they beguile the hearts of the innocent.
Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by rough winds, are yet turned about by a very small rudder, whither the impulse of the steersman willeth.
but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
Do not thou therefore yield unto them: for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, who have bound themselves under a curse, neither to eat nor to drink till they have slain him: and now are they ready, looking for the promise from thee.
I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were not yet able to bear it: nay, not even now are ye able;
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your {Greek: thoughts. See chapter 3:14.}minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ.
And no marvel; for even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light.
It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.
Brethren, be not children in mind: yet in malice be ye babes, but in mind be {Greek: of full age. Compare chapter 2:6.}men.
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if ye receive a different spirit, which ye did not receive, or a different {Greek: good tidings. See marginal note on chapter 2:12.}gospel, which ye did not accept, ye do well to bear with him.
even he, whose {Greek: presence.}coming is according to the working of Satan with all {Greek: power and signs and wonders of falsehood.}power and signs and lying wonders,
For when by reason of the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need again {Or, that one teach you which are the rudiments}that some one teach you the rudiments of the {Greek: beginning.}first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food.
For every one that partaketh of milk is {Or, inexperienced in}without experience of the word of righteousness; for he is a babe.
But solid food is for {Or, perfect}fullgrown men, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.
I marvel that ye are so quickly removing from him that called you in the grace of Christ unto a different {Greek: good tidings. See marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel;
and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that {Or, are perishing}perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
{Or, which is nothing else save that there &c.}which is not another gospel: only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the {Greek: good tidings. See marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel of Christ.
For, uttering great swelling words of vanity, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just escaping from them that live in error;
O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified?
And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like unto a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his sight. And he maketh the earth and them that dwell therein to {See marginal note on chapter 3:9}worship the first beast, whose death-stroke was healed.
And he doeth great signs, that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men.
And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived.
This I say, that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech.
For though I am absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
rooted and builded up in him, and established {Or, by}in your faith, even as ye were taught, abounding {Some ancient authorities insert in it.}in thanksgiving.
{Or, See whether}Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the {Or, elements See Galatians 4:3 margin}rudiments of the world, and not after Christ:
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs in his sight, wherewith he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that {See marginal note on chapter 3:9}worshipped his image: they two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone:
to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is just at hand;
let no man beguile you in any wise: for it will not be, except the falling away come first, and the man of {Many ancient authorities read lawlessness.}sin be revealed, the son of perdition,
he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or {Greek: an object of worship. Acts 17:23.}that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the {Or, sanctuary}temple of God, setting himself forth as God.
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
not a novice, lest being puffed up he fall into the {Greek: judgment.}condemnation of the devil.
If thou put the brethren in mind of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which thou hast followed until now:
but refuse profane and old wives' fables. And exercise thyself unto godliness:
This thou knowest, that all that are in Asia turned away from me; of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.
and their word will {Or, spread}eat as doth a gangrene: of whom is Hymenæus and Philetus;
men who concerning the truth have {Greek: missed the mark. 1 Timothy 1:6.}erred, saying that {Some ancient authorities read a resurrection.}the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some.
For of these are they that creep into houses, and take captive silly women laden with sins, led away by divers lusts,
ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
And even as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also withstand the truth; men corrupted in mind, reprobate concerning the faith.
But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be evident unto all men, as theirs also came to be.
But evil men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
For the time will come when they will not endure the {Greek: healthful.}sound {Or, teaching}doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts;
Be not carried away by divers and strange teachings: for it is good that the heart be established by grace; not by meats, wherein they that {Greek: walked.}occupied themselves were not profited.
But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in {Or, sects of perdition}destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
And many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of.
And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not.
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest {Or, that not all are of us}that they all are not of us.
These things have I written unto you concerning them that would lead you astray.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world.