Where Scripture takes it next: the mature body must leave behind the old Gentile way of life and put on the new humanity created according to God.

Evidence boundary: “he descended into the lower parts of the earth” in verse 9 is genuinely debated. It can be read as descent to the realm of the dead, as Christ’s descent to earth/incarnation, or as language that includes his death; Ephesians does not narrate a detailed harrowing-of-hell scene. The close link between “shepherds” and “teachers” is also real, but Greek grammar by itself does not prove one permanently hyphenated office called “pastor-teacher,” nor does this list by itself settle every later debate about a fixed five-office church structure.