1 Corinthians 14:20

14:20 Brothers and sisters, ¹  do not be children in your thinking. Instead, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

Ephesians 4:13-14

4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God – a mature person, attaining to ²  the measure of Christ’s full stature. ³  4:14 So ⁴  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. ⁵ 

Ephesians 4:1

Live in Unity

4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, ⁶  urge you to live ⁷  worthily of the calling with which you have been called, ⁸ 

Ephesians 2:12

2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, ⁹  alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, ¹⁰  having no hope and without God in the world.

¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:10.

² tn The words “attaining to” were supplied in the translation to pick up the καταντήσωμεν (katanthswmen) mentioned earlier in the sentence and the εἰς (eis) which heads up this clause.

³ tn Grk “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” On this translation of ἡλικία (Jhlikia, “stature”) see BDAG 436 s.v. 3.

⁴ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

⁵ 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.

⁶ tn Grk “prisoner in the Lord.”

⁷ tn Grk “walk.” The verb “walk” in the NT letters refers to the conduct of one’s life, not to physical walking.

⁸ sn With which you have been called. The calling refers to the Holy Spirit’s prompting that caused them to believe. The author is thus urging his readers to live a life that conforms to their saved status before God.

⁹ tn Or “without Christ.” Both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.” Because the context refers to ancient Israel’s messianic expectation, “Messiah” was employed in the translation at this point rather than “Christ.”

¹⁰ tn Or “covenants of the promise.”