Efesus 1:22

1:22 And God ¹  put ²  all things under Christ’s ³  feet, ⁴  and he gave him to the church as head over all things. ⁵ 

Efesus 2:8

2:8 For by grace you are saved ⁶  through faith, ⁷  and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Efesus 2:15

2:15 when he nullified ⁸  in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man ⁹  out of two, ¹⁰  thus making peace,

Efesus 3:21

3:21 to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Efesus 4:14

4:14 So ¹¹  we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. ¹² 

Efesus 4:18-19

4:18 They are darkened in their understanding, ¹³  being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. 4:19 Because they are callous, they have given themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. ¹⁴ 

Efesus 5:5

5:5 For you can be confident of this one thing: ¹⁵  that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Efesus 5:19

5:19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music ¹⁶  in ¹⁷  your hearts to the Lord,

Efesus 6:13

6:13 For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground ¹⁸  on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand.

[1:22]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:22]  ² tn Grk “subjected.”

[1:22]  ³ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:22]  ⁴ sn An allusion to Ps 8:6.

[1:22]  ⁵ tn Grk “and he gave him as head over all things to the church.”

[2:8]  ⁶ tn See note on the same expression in v. 5.

[2:8]  ⁷ tc The feminine article is found before πίστεως (pistews, “faith”) in the Byzantine text as well as in A Ψ 1881 pc. Perhaps for some scribes the article was intended to imply creedal fidelity as a necessary condition of salvation (“you are saved through the faith”), although elsewhere in the corpus Paulinum the phrase διὰ τῆς πίστεως (dia th" pistew") is used for the act of believing rather than the content of faith (cf. Rom 3:30, 31; Gal 3:14; Eph 3:17; Col 2:12). On the other side, strong representatives of the Alexandrian and Western texts (א B D* F G P 0278 6 33 1739 al bo) lack the article. Hence, both text-critically and exegetically, the meaning of the text here is most likely “saved through faith” as opposed to “saved through the faith.” Regarding the textual problem, the lack of the article is the preferred reading.

[2:15]  ⁸ tn Or “rendered inoperative.” This is a difficult text to translate because it is not easy to find an English term which communicates well the essence of the author’s meaning, especially since legal terminology is involved. Many other translations use the term “abolish” (so NRSV, NASB, NIV), but this term implies complete destruction which is not the author’s meaning here. The verb καταργέω (katargew) can readily have the meaning “to cause someth. to lose its power or effectiveness” (BDAG 525 s.v. 2, where this passage is listed), and this meaning fits quite naturally here within the author’s legal mindset. A proper English term which communicates this well is “nullify” since this word carries the denotation of “making something legally null and void.” This is not, however, a common English word. An alternate term like “rendered inoperative [or ineffective]” is also accurate but fairly inelegant. For this reason, the translation retains the term “nullify”; it is the best choice of the available options, despite its problems.

[2:15]  ⁹ tn In this context the author is not referring to a new individual, but instead to a new corporate entity united in Christ (cf. BDAG 497 s.v. καινός 3.b: “All the Christians together appear as κ. ἄνθρωπος Eph 2:15”). This is clear from the comparison made between the Gentiles and Israel in the immediately preceding verses and the assertion in v. 14 that Christ “made both groups into one.” This is a different metaphor than the “new man” of Eph 4:24; in that passage the “new man” refers to the new life a believer has through a relationship to Christ.

[2:15]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “in order to create the two into one new man.” Eph 2:14-16 is one sentence in Greek. A new sentence was started here in the translation for clarity since contemporary English is less tolerant of extended sentences.

[4:14]  ¹¹ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:14]  ¹² tn While the sense of the passage is clear enough, translation in English is somewhat difficult. The Greek says: “by the trickery of men, by craftiness with the scheme of deceit.” The point is that the author is concerned about Christians growing into maturity. He is fearful that certain kinds of very cunning people, who are skilled at deceitful scheming, should come in and teach false doctrines which would in turn stunt the growth of the believers.

[4:18]  ¹³ tn In the Greek text this clause is actually subordinate to περιπατεῖ (peripatei) in v. 17. It was broken up in the English translation so as to avoid an unnecessarily long and cumbersome statement.

[4:19]  ¹⁴ sn Greediness refers to an increasing desire for more and more. The point is that sinful passions and desires are never satisfied.

[5:5]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “be knowing this.” See also 2 Pet 1:20 for a similar phrase: τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες (touto prwton ginwskonte").

[5:19]  ¹⁶ tn See BDAG 1096 s.v. ψάλλω.

[5:19]  ¹⁷ tn Or “with.”

[6:13]  ¹⁸ tn The term ἀνθίστημι (anqisthmi) carries the idea of resisting or opposing something or someone (BDAG 80 s.v.). In Eph 6:13, when used in combination with στῆναι (sthnai; cf. also στῆτε [sthte] in v. 14) and in a context of battle imagery, it seems to have the idea of resisting, standing firm, and being able to stand your ground.