but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
Parallel translations
- WEB but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ;
- KJV But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
- BSB Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head.
- NASB but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ,
- NLT Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Instead of being deceived, believers are to speak truth in love and so grow up into Christ, the head. Truth and love together produce genuine maturity.
Overview
Over against the deceit of false teachers, Paul calls the church to truthfulness joined with love. This combination, neither truth without love nor love without truth, is the means of healthy growth 'into him, who is the head, Christ.' All Christian maturity is movement toward greater conformity to Christ, the church's head and life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- 1 Jn 3:18My little children, let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth.
- Eph 4:25Therefore putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members of one another.
- Zech 8:16These are the things that you shall do: speak every man the truth with his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates,
- 1 Pet 1:22Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently:
- 2 Pet 3:18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
- 1 Pet 2:2as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may grow,
- Eph 1:22He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly,
- Rom 12:9Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.
- Eph 2:21in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord;
- Ps 32:2Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit.
- John 1:47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”
- 2 Cor 4:2But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
- Eph 5:23For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the assembly, being himself the savior of the body.
- Col 1:18–19He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
- Judg 16:15She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.”
- Mal 4:2But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.
- 2 Cor 8:8I speak not by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your love.
- Hos 14:5–7I will be like the dew to Israel. He will blossom like the lily, and send down his roots like Lebanon.
- Jas 2:15–16And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,
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Christ at the center
Every spiritual blessing is 'in Christ,' the head over all things for the church, in whom Jew and Gentile are made one new man by his blood.
How Ephesians 4:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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