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12 so that God’s people would be thoroughly equipped to minister and build up the body of the Anointed One. 13 These ministries will continue until we are unified in faith and filled with the knowledge of the Son of God, until we stand mature in His teachings and fully formed in the likeness of the Anointed, our Liberating King. 14 Then we will no longer be like children, tossed around here and there upon ocean waves, picked up by every gust of religious teaching spoken by liars or swindlers or deceivers.

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12 to equip[a] the saints for the work of ministry, that is,[b] to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God—a mature person, attaining to[c] the measure of Christ’s full stature.[d] 14 So[e] we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes.[f]

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Footnotes

  1. Ephesians 4:12 tn On the translation of πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων (pros ton katartismon tōn hagiōn) as “to equip the saints” see BDAG 526 s.v. καταρτισμός. In this case the genitive is taken as objective and the direct object of the verbal idea implied in καταρτισμός (katartismos).
  2. Ephesians 4:12 tn The εἰς (eis) clause is taken as epexegetical to the previous εἰς clause, namely, εἰς ἔργον διακονίας (eis ergon diakonias).
  3. Ephesians 4:13 tn The words “attaining to” were supplied in the translation to pick up the καταντήσωμεν (katantēsōmen) mentioned earlier in the sentence and the εἰς (eis) which heads up this clause.
  4. Ephesians 4:13 tn Grk “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” On this translation of ἡλικία (hēlikia, “stature”) see BDAG 436 s.v. 3.
  5. Ephesians 4:14 tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
  6. Ephesians 4:14 tn While the sense of the passage is clear enough, translation in English is somewhat difficult. The Greek says: “by the trickery of men, by craftiness with the scheme of deceit.” The point is that the author is concerned about Christians growing into maturity. He is fearful that certain kinds of very cunning people, who are skilled at deceitful scheming, should come in and teach false doctrines which would in turn stunt the growth of the believers.