Ephesians - Ferrar Fenton Bible Translation page 1214

EPHESIANS.

Father of all, Who is over all, and

7 through all, and in all; and Who gave to each one of us the gift pmpor· tionatc to the measure of the free gift 8 of Christ. For this, He says, IO II I2 HAVING AscENDE¤ ON HIGH, HB cAP‘rURED cA1>1‘1v1‘rY, AND GAVE GIFTS 1*0 MEN. But Who ascended? Who is He,

if not the same Who descended first into the lowest part ofthe earth ? He Who descended is the very same as He Who ascended above all the heavens, so that He might fill all. And He gave some, apostles; some,

preachers; some, missionaries; and some, pastors and teachers: for the training of the holy in useful work, to construct the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the comprehension of the Son of God ; to a perfect manhood, to the standard height of the perfection of Christ : so that we may be no longer raw recruits, wavering and reeling at every breath of the training, by human cunning with villainy, perverting it into an instrument for error; but, fol- lowing the truth in love, until we attain the whole in Him, Whois the Head 16 Christ; from Whom all the body, har- moniously constructed and balanced through every joint of the combina- tion, with proportionate energy in each of its limbs, the body may grow up an edifice in love with itself. 17 I say this, then, and give evidence inthe Lord, so that you may no longer walk as the heathen walk, in the folly

18 of their mind, with the reason beclouded, being alienated from the Divine life by the want of perception which exists in them, through the

rg hardening of their hearts. Which, having alienated, they recklessly abandoned themselves. to excess in

20 practisingdepravity. But you have not 2r solearned Christ. If, indeed, you have heard Him, and learnt in Him what

22 the truth in ]esus is, you will strip your- selves from the former conduct-—·—of the corrupt old man, with hisdeceptive

23 lusts—·and you will be renewed in 24 the spirit of your mind, and you will be putting on the New Man, the one created God-like in righteousness and holiness for the truth. 25 Therefore, rejecting falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EVERY 0Nn wrru ms NMGHBOURF for we are parts of one Psa. ixvlll. 18. i Zeoh. viii. v6. i

5-·x6

another. BB ANGRY, AN!} SIN NOT? let not the sun set upon your fury; neither give opportunity to the Devil. The thief——let him steal no longer, but rather be industrious; working use- fully with his hands, so that he may have something to spare for the necessitous. Let there not come from your mouth any worthless word ; but something good, demanded by the occasion, such as may give benefit to the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, by Whom you are marked for a day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and lust, and passion, and quarrel, and abuse, be expelled from you, with every baseness; and become useful to one another, good- hearted, gracious, as God also was gracious to you in Christ. Be, then, imitators of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also loved you, and delivered Himself for your sakes as a sweet perfume, an offering and sacrifice to God. But prostitution, and all proliigacy, 26 28 29

or excess, let it never be named among 4 you, as befits the holy; nor obscenity, nor frivolity, nor ribaldry, which are not becoming: but thanksgiving in- 5 stead. For you know the certainty of this, that no fornicator, nor debauchee, nor extortioner (who is an idolater), has an inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God. Never let yourselves 6 be deceived with empty arguments; for through these sins, the angerof God comes upon the sons of careless- ness : be not therefore associates with them. For you were once darkness, but now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light; for the fruit of the light is in all purity and righteous- ness and truth. Search what is most pleasing to the Lord; and do not associate yourselves with the fruitless works of darkness, but much rather reprove them: for it is a shame to relate their hidden practices. But everything reprehensible is revealed under the light; for light is the uni- versal revealer. Therefore He says : ROUSE, SLEEPER, IO Il I2 Ann Amsn mom rr-in 1:>nAn, Arm Cnmsr wxat. sums upon von.? See, then, how carefully you should 15 walk !--not like fools, but, on the con- trary, as intelligent; buying up the 16 opportunity, for the times are wicked. 1 Psa. iv. 4. * Isa. lx. 1, n; lil. 1, 2. l2l4