Ephesians 6:23

Ephesians 6:23, in plain English

Paul blesses you with peace and love—gifts that come from God the Father and Jesus together—and he's attaching faith itself to that love, as if faith is what makes love real and effective.

Why it's here

This blessing comes at the very end of the letter, after Paul has spent six chapters teaching about spiritual warfare, family relationships, and standing firm. He's not wishing these things passively; he's pronouncing them over a church that needs them. In the first century, a blessing from an apostle carried real spiritual weight—it was taken seriously as an invocation of God's favor.

Who's speaking

Paul, pronouncing a benediction over the church

Where it sits in the story

Blessings like this echo all through Scripture—from the priestly blessing in Numbers to Jesus blessing his disciples. They remind us that our Christian life isn't something we achieve on our own; it's something God gives us. Paul is pointing the church back to the source of everything that sustains them.

The scholarly reading

Paul invokes a blessing of peace and love—grounded in faith and flowing from both God the Father and Christ—upon the Ephesian believers.

Language and setting

This benediction (εἰρήνη ... ἀγάπη μετὰ πίστεως) concludes the letter's practical exhortations and returns to the cosmic peace that Paul articulated in 2:14-16, where Christ reconciles hostile parties. The triadic invocation—"God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ"—appears deliberate and syntactically significant; the copulative construction (καί) conjoins them as joint sources of grace, which some patristic theologians (notably John of Damascus in his *Exposition of the Orthodox Faith*) read as an early formulation of Trinitarian thinking, though more cautiously interpreted as affirming Christ's lordly prerogative.

Voice

Paul, offering apostolic benediction

Significance

The closing blessing functions as a formal seal on the epistle and echoes the greeting structure of Hellenistic letters while simultaneously embedding it within christological significance—peace and love are not mere pleasantries but eschatological realities already breaking into the present age through the Christ-event, preparing believers for the consummation Paul envisions throughout Ephesians.

21Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know about me and what I am doing.

22I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about us, and that he may encourage your hearts.

23Peace to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

24Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.

Read all of Ephesians 6 — The battle isn't against flesh and blood. Belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith — Paul arms believers for an invisible war.