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one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:6 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all.
  • KJV One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
  • NKJV one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
  • NASB one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
  • NLT one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.

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

There is one God and Father who is sovereign over, working through, and present in all his people. This shared Father grounds the unity of the church.

Overview

Paul caps his sevenfold list of 'ones' with the supremacy of the one God and Father. His being 'over all, and through all, and in us all' describes God's transcendence and his intimate, indwelling presence among believers. Because all Christians belong to the same Father through Christ, division within the church contradicts its very nature.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 30

  • Rom 11:36For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.
  • 1 Cor 8:6yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist.
  • Mal 2:10Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why then do we break faith with one another so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?
  • Gal 3:26–28You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
  • Gal 4:3–7So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world.
  • Rev 4:8–11And each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around and within. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
  • 1 Jn 3:24Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.
  • John 20:17“Do not cling to Me,” Jesus said, “for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and tell My brothers, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’”
  • 1 Jn 4:12–15No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.
  • Matt 6:9So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
  • 1 Cor 12:6There are different ways of working, but the same God works all things in all people.
  • 1 Jn 3:1–3Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.
  • 2 Cor 6:16What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”
  • Num 16:22But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”
  • 1 Chr 29:11–12Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in heaven and on earth belongs to You. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom, and You are exalted as head over all.
  • Dan 4:34–35But at the end of those days I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity was restored to me. Then I praised the Most High, and I honored and glorified Him who lives forever: “For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
  • Jer 10:10–13But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.
  • Ps 95:3For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods.
  • Eph 2:22And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.
  • Isa 63:16Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.
  • Matt 6:13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
  • Eph 3:17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love,
  • Dan 5:18–23As for you, O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness, glory and honor.
  • John 14:23Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
  • Gen 14:19and he blessed Abram and said: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,
  • Isa 40:21–23Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth?
  • Eph 6:23Peace to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • Isa 40:11–17He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.
  • John 17:26And I have made Your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love You have for Me may be in them, and I in them.”
  • Eph 1:21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Ephesians videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Ephesians 4:6YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on EphesiansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 4:6 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.