Efesus 1:4

1:4 For ¹  he chose us in Christ ²  before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished ³  in his sight ⁴  in love. ⁵ 

Efesus 1:14

1:14 who is the down payment ⁶  of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, ⁷  to the praise of his glory.

Efesus 2:2

2:2 in which ⁸  you formerly lived ⁹  according to this world’s present path, ¹⁰  according to the ruler of the kingdom ¹¹  of the air, the ruler of ¹²  the spirit ¹³  that is now energizing ¹⁴  the sons of disobedience, ¹⁵ 

Efesus 2:10

2:10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. ¹⁶ 

Efesus 2:14

2:14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one ¹⁷  and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility,

Efesus 3:7

3:7 I became a servant of this gospel ¹⁸  according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by ¹⁹  the exercise of his power. ²⁰ 

Efesus 3:20

3:20 Now to him who by the power that is working within us ²¹  is able to do far beyond ²²  all that we ask or think,

Efesus 4:18

4:18 They are darkened in their understanding, ²³  being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.

[1:4]  ¹ tn Grk “just as.” Eph 1:3-14 are one long sentence in Greek that must be broken up in English translation. Verse 4 expresses the reason why God the Father is blessed (cf. BDAG 494 s.v. καθώς 3).

[1:4]  ² tn Grk “in him.”

[1:4]  ³ sn The Greek word translated unblemished (ἀμώμους, amwmous) is often used of an acceptable paschal lamb. Christ, as our paschal lamb, is also said to be unblemished (Heb 9:14; 1 Pet 1:19). Since believers are in Christ, God views them positionally and will make them ultimately without blemish as well (Jude 24; Eph 5:27; Col 1:22).

[1:4]  ⁴ tn Grk “before him.”

[1:4]  ⁵ tn The prepositional phrase ἐν ἀγάπῃ (en agaph, “in love”) may modify one of three words or phrases: (1) “chose,” (2) “holy and unblemished,” both in v. 4, or (3) “by predestining” in v. 5. If it modifies “chose,” it refers to God’s motivation in that election, but this option is unlikely because of the placement of the prepositional phrase far away from the verb. The other two options are more likely. If it modifies “holy and unblemished,” it specifies that our holiness cannot be divorced from love. This view is in keeping with the author’s use of ἀγάπη to refer often to human love in Ephesians, but the placement of the prepositional phrase not immediately following the words it modifies would be slightly awkward. If it modifies “by predestining” (v. 5), again the motivation of God’s choice is love. This would fit the focus of the passage on God’s gracious actions toward believers, but it could be considered slightly redundant in that God’s predestination itself proves his love.

[1:14]  ⁶ tn Or “first installment,” “pledge,” “deposit.”

[1:14]  sn Down payment. The Greek word ἀρραβών (arrabwn) denotes the first payment or first installment of money or goods which serves as a guarantee or pledge for the completion of the transaction. In the NT the term is used only figuratively of the Holy Spirit as the down payment of the blessings promised by God (it is used also in 2 Cor 1:22 and 5:5). In the “already – not yet” scheme of the NT the possession of the Spirit now by believers (“already”) can be viewed as a guarantee that God will give them the balance of the promised blessings in the future (“not yet”).

[1:14]  ⁷ tn Grk “the possession.”

[2:2]  ⁸ sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Grk “walked.”

[2:2]  sn The Greek verb translated lived (περιπατέω, peripatew) in the NT letters refers to the conduct of one’s life, not to physical walking.

[2:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or possibly “Aeon.”

[2:2]  sn The word translated present path is the same as that which has been translated [this] age in 1:21 (αἰών, aiwn).

[2:2]  ¹¹ tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ¹² tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ¹³ sn The ruler of the kingdom of the air is also the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. Although several translations regard the ruler to be the same as the spirit, this is unlikely since the cases in Greek are different (ruler is accusative and spirit is genitive). To get around this, some have suggested that the genitive for spirit is a genitive of apposition. However, the semantics of the genitive of apposition are against such an interpretation (cf. ExSyn 100).

[2:2]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ¹⁵ sn Sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” However, it also contains a subtle allusion to vv. 4-10: Some of those sons of disobedience have become sons of God.

[2:10]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “so that we might walk in them” (or “by them”).

[2:10]  sn So that we may do them. Before the devil began to control our walk in sin and among sinful people, God had already planned good works for us to do.

[2:14]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “who made the both one.”

[3:7]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “of which I was made a minister,” “of which I became a servant.”

[3:7]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “according to.”

[3:7]  ²⁰ sn On the exercise of his power see 1:19-20.

[3:20]  ²¹ sn On the power that is working within us see 1:19-20.

[3:20]  ²² tn Or “infinitely beyond,” “far more abundantly than.”

[4:18]  ²³ 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.