Ephesians 4:16

Read in context

Ephesians 4:14–18 · Berean Standard Bible

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.

15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head.

16 From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love through the work of each individual part.

17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

18 They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.

Greek words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Study Ephesians 4:16

Read the commentary on Ephesians 4

Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Ephesians 4:12

to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ,

John 15:5

I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.

Job 10:10

Did You not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese?

Job 10:11

You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.

Psalms 139:15

My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Psalms 139:16

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.

1 Corinthians 12:12

The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:13

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

1 Corinthians 12:14

For the body does not consist of one part, but of many.

1 Corinthians 12:15

If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

1 Corinthians 12:16

And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

1 Corinthians 12:17

If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?

1 Corinthians 12:18

But in fact, God has arranged the members of the body, every one of them, according to His design.

1 Corinthians 12:19

If they were all one part, where would the body be?

1 Corinthians 12:20

As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

1 Corinthians 12:21

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you.” Nor can the head say to the feet, “I do not need you.”

1 Corinthians 12:22

On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,

1 Corinthians 12:23

and the parts we consider less honorable, we treat with greater honor. And our unpresentable parts are treated with special modesty,

1 Corinthians 12:24

whereas our presentable parts have no such need. But God has composed the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it,

1 Corinthians 12:25

so that there should be no division in the body, but that its members should have mutual concern for one another.

1 Corinthians 12:26

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

1 Corinthians 12:27

Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.

1 Corinthians 12:28

And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, and those with gifts of healing, helping, administration, and various tongues.

Colossians 2:19

He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow.

Ephesians 3:7

I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace, given me through the working of His power.

1 Thessalonians 2:13

And we continually thank God because, when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as the true word of God—the word which is now at work in you who believe.

Ephesians 4:15

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head.

Ephesians 1:4

For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love

Ephesians 3:17

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love,

1 Corinthians 8:1

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

1 Corinthians 13:4

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

1 Corinthians 13:5

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs.

1 Corinthians 13:6

Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth.

1 Corinthians 13:7

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:8

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed.

1 Corinthians 13:9

For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 14:1

Earnestly pursue love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.

Galatians 5:6

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. All that matters is faith, expressed through love.

Galatians 5:13

For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.

Galatians 5:14

The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Galatians 5:22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Philippians 1:9

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,

Colossians 2:2

that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ,

1 Thessalonians 1:3

and continually recalling before our God and Father your work of faith, your labor of love, and your enduring hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 3:12

And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone else, just as our love for you overflows,

1 Thessalonians 4:9

Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.

1 Thessalonians 4:10

And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more

2 Thessalonians 1:3

We are obligated to thank God for you all the time, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing more and more, and your love for one another is increasing.

1 Timothy 1:5

The goal of our instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith.

1 Peter 1:22

Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart.

1 John 4:16

And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.