4:3a–b

and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace: The basic meaning of this verse is this: the Holy Spirit has united believers into one group, so they must do all they can to maintain this unity by living in peace with each other.

This verse has several difficult phrases that contain abstract nouns. To make it easier to understand, you may have to translate these nouns as verbs. For example:

with diligence: You can restate as:

Do your best (Good News Translation)
-or-
Try hard
-or-
Use all your strength

to preserve the unity of the Spirit: You can restate this as:

to maintain/preserve the harmony which the Holy Spirit gives
-or-
the Holy Spirit has united you all into one group. Continue to be one group

through the bond of peace: This is a metaphor. Peace is compared to a rope or something that binds two objects together. So, the idea here is that peace binds Christians together and keeps them unified the way a rope binds or ties two objects together. You can restate this metaphor as:

Through the peace that ties you together (God’s Word)
-or-
by living together in peace which binds/holds us together
-or-
by the peace that binds/ties us together ⌊like a rope that binds/ties two objects together⌋

4:4–6

In verses 4:4–6, Paul listed some of the things that unite all believers:

• they have become one body/group

• they have received the same Holy Spirit

• they confidently expect to receive the same blessings from God

• they have the same Lord

• they believe the same truths

• they have received the same baptism

Furthermore, there is only one God who is the Father of all people.

Paul used the word “one” six times in 4:4–6 to stress that Christians are united. In your language, it may not be possible to use “one” with things like “faith” and “baptism.” This is especially true if you translate these words as verbs instead of nouns. Think of a natural way to translate these verses so that Paul’s emphasis on unity is clear. For example, you could translate “one Spirit” as:

we all have received the same Spirit

In 4:4, Paul uses the pronoun “you.” But the things he says in 4:4–6 are true not only for the Ephesians, but also for Paul and all believers. Because of this, some translators use “we (incl.) ” in these verses.

© 1999, 2019 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

5:3a–b

But among you…there must not be even a hint: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as not be even a hint is literally “not even be named.” There are several ways to understand this expression. It can mean:

(1) There should not even be a reason for rumors or gossip that the Ephesians committed these sins. In other words, Christians should have such pure behavior that it will never cause non-Christians to even talk about Christians doing these kinds of sins. For example:

don’t let it be said that any of you are immoral (Contemporary English Version)

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Contemporary English Version, UBS Handbook, SSA)

(2) These sins should not be mentioned by the Ephesians. This means that Christians themselves should not even talk about such sins in their conversation. For example:

don’t even talk about such things (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

(Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, God’s Word, English Standard Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

(3) These sins should not occur among Christians. For example:

Such sins have no place among God’s people. (New Living Translation (2004))

(NET Bible, New Living Translation (2004), New Century Version)

Paul is urging the Ephesians to keep themselves far away from this sort of sinful behavior. Since Paul is himself, discussing and warning the Ephesians against these sins, (2) seems unlikely. It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), but (3) is also acceptable.

5:3a

as is proper: The word proper means “suitable.”

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

right (New Century Version)
-or-
it should be

among the saints: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as saints is literally “holy ones.” It means “people set apart for God.” This Greek word refers to every believer. It can be translated as:

God’s people
-or-
people who belong to God

Many English versions translate this word as saints. All Christians are saints. This word does not refer only to special people that the modern church regards as “saints.”

See how you translated the similar phrase “saints” in 4:12a. And see Holy, Meaning 1, special use in the Glossary, if you want more information.

5:3b

sexual immorality: The term sexual immorality refers to all types of sexual behavior that are forbidden in God’s law. It includes adultery and all sexual relations outside of marriage. Another way this phrase has been translated is:

sexual sin (New Century Version)

5:3c

impurity: The word impurity is a stronger word for immorality and includes all perverted and unnatural sexual behavior. In the New Testament, this word is often used together with “sexual immorality.” (See Galatians 5:19 and Colossians 3:5.)

In your language, there may not be two different words that mean exactly the same things as “sexual immorality” and impurity. But you can probably find ways to talk about the same things. For example:

adultery and other kinds of sleeping around
-or-
taking a woman who is not your wife or other unacceptable actions like that

Try to make your translation clear, but do not use coarse words that are not appropriate to read in public.

greed: The word greed refers to a never-ending desire to get more than you have or deserve. While it is usually associated with material gain, in this context, it could also refer to a strong desire for sexual pleasure.

Your translation of greed should allow for a general understanding of the word.

General Comment on 5:3a–b

In some languages, it will be more natural to reorder parts of 5:3. For example:

3a Since you are holy people, 3b you must not do anything sexually immoral or 3c shameful/perverted, and you must not be greedy. 3b There must not even be a cause for rumors of such behavior 3a among you.
-or-

3a But among you 3b there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, 3c or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, 3a because these are improper for Godʼs holy people. (New International Version)

© 1999, 2019 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

6:2a

“Honor your father and mother”: The command Honor your father and mother is a quote from the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16). Most English translations put quote marks around these words, or make some kind of mark to show that it is a quote. You should introduce this quote in a way similar to the quote in 5:31a. For example, you could say:

It is written in God’s Book

Honor: The word Honor means to “respect, esteem greatly and act accordingly.” See the note above for 6:1–2 for more information.

your father and mother: In Greek, this command is singular: “Honor your (sing.) father….” This command is not just for one person, of course, but is meant for all people. In Hebrew, all of the commands in the Ten Commandments are singular. This is a common way in the Hebrew language to give commands that are meant for everyone. You should translate this command in a way that is natural in your language.

6:2b

(which is the first commandment with a promise): Here, Paul interrupts his quotation from the Old Testament to add a comment. It is not part of the quotation. The Berean Standard Bible makes this explicit by enclosing 6:2b in parentheses. Other versions such as the New International Version use dashes to show that this clause is not part of the quotation.

One other way to translate this clause is to put it at the end of 6:3. For example:

6:3a–b that everything may go well for you, and you may have a long life on earth.” 6:2b This is an important commandment with a promise. (God’s Word)

Translate this clause in a way that is natural in your language to show that it is not a part of the quotation.

Paul meant that out of all the commandments that God gave, this is the first time he added a promise to his command. Take care that your translation does not say that the command to honor one’s parents is the first commandment in the Ten Commandments. (It is not. It is the fifth commandment.)

General Comment on 6:2–3

It may be clearer to change the order of 6:2a and 6:2b, so that this verse connects better with 6:3 (see 6:2–3 in Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English):

2b The first commandment which the Lord gave and joined a promise to it is this: 2a “Honor your father and mother, 3 so that things may be good for you and you may live for a long time.”

© 1999, 2019 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.