Efesus 3:14

Prayer for Strengthened Love

3:14 For this reason ¹  I kneel ²  before the Father, ³ 

Efesus 2:18

2:18 so that ⁴  through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Efesus 6:2

6:2 “Honor your father and mother,” ⁵  which is the first commandment accompanied by a promise, namely,

Efesus 5:31

5:31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become ⁶  one flesh. ⁷ 

¹ sn For this reason resumes the point begun in v. 1, after a long parenthesis.

² tn Grk “I bend my knees.”

³ tc Most Western and Byzantine witnesses, along with a few others (א² D F G Ψ 0278 1881 Ï lat sy), have “of our Lord Jesus Christ” after “Father,” but such an edifying phrase cannot explain the rise of the reading that lacks it, especially when the shorter reading is attested by early and important witnesses such as Ì⁴⁶ א* A B C P 6 33 81 365 1175 1739 co Or Hier.

⁴ tn Or “for.” BDAG gives the consecutive ὅτι (Joti) as a possible category of NT usage (BDAG 732 s.v. 5.c).

⁵ sn A quotation from Exod 20:12 and Deut 5:16.

⁶ tn Grk “the two shall be as one flesh.”

⁷ sn A quotation from Gen 2:24.