Efesus 1:7

1:7 In him ¹  we have redemption through his blood, ²  the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace

Efesus 1:10

1:10 toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up ³  all things in Christ – the things in heaven ⁴  and the things on earth. ⁵ 

Efesus 1:16

1:16 I do not cease to give thanks for you when I remember you ⁶  in my prayers.

Efesus 2:3

2:3 among whom ⁷  all of us ⁸  also ⁹  formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath ¹⁰  even as the rest… ¹¹ 

Efesus 2:12

2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, ¹²  alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, ¹³  having no hope and without God in the world.

Efesus 2:15

2:15 when he nullified ¹⁴  in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man ¹⁵  out of two, ¹⁶  thus making peace,

Efesus 2:19-20

2:19 So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 2:20 because you have been built ¹⁷  on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, ¹⁸  with Christ Jesus himself as ¹⁹  the cornerstone. ²⁰ 

Efesus 3:1

Paul's Relationship to the Divine Mystery

3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus ²¹  for the sake of you Gentiles –

Efesus 3:5

3:5 Now this secret ²²  was not disclosed to people ²³  in former ²⁴  generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by ²⁵  the Spirit,

Efesus 3:9

3:9 and to enlighten ²⁶  everyone about God’s secret plan ²⁷  – a secret that has been hidden for ages ²⁸  in God ²⁹  who has created all things.

Efesus 3:11

3:11 This was according to ³⁰  the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,

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 4:10

4:10 He, the very one ³¹  who descended, is also the one who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.

Efesus 4:12

4:12 to equip ³²  the saints for the work of ministry, that is, ³³  to build up the body of Christ,

Efesus 4:14

4:14 So ³⁴  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. ³⁵ 

Efesus 5:14

5:14 For everything made evident is light, and for this reason it says: ³⁶ 

“Awake, ³⁷  O sleeper! ³⁸ 

Rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you!” ³⁹ 

Efesus 5:27

5:27 so that he ⁴⁰  may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. ⁴¹ 

Efesus 6:18

6:18 With every prayer and petition, pray ⁴²  at all times in the Spirit, and to this end ⁴³  be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints.

Efesus 6:24

6:24 Grace be ⁴⁴  with all of those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. ⁴⁵ 

[1:7]  ¹ tn Grk “in whom” (the relative clause of v. 7 is subordinate to v. 6). The “him” refers to Christ.

[1:7]  ² sn In this context his blood, the blood of Jesus Christ, refers to the price paid for believers’ redemption, which is the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross.

[1:10]  ³ tn The precise meaning of the infinitive ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι (anakefalaiwsasqai) in v. 10 is difficult to determine since it was used relatively infrequently in Greek literature and only twice in the NT (here and Rom 13:9). While there have been several suggestions, three deserve mention: (1) “To sum up.” In Rom 13:9, using the same term, the author there says that the law may be “summarized in one command, to love your neighbor as yourself.” The idea then in Eph 1:10 would be that all things in heaven and on earth can be summed up and made sense out of in relation to Christ. (2) “To renew.” If this is the nuance of the verb then all things in heaven and earth, after their plunge into sin and ruin, are renewed by the coming of Christ and his redemption. (3) “To head up.” In this translation the idea is that Christ, in the fullness of the times, has been exalted so as to be appointed as the ruler (i.e., “head”) over all things in heaven and earth (including the church). That this is perhaps the best understanding of the verb is evidenced by the repeated theme of Christ’s exaltation and reign in Ephesians and by the connection to the κεφαλή- (kefalh-) language of 1:22 (cf. Schlier, TDNT 3:682; L&N 63.8; M. Barth, Ephesians [AB 34], 1:89-92; contra A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians [WBC], 32-33).

[1:10]  ⁴ tn Grk “the heavens.”

[1:10]  ⁵ sn And the things on earth. Verse 10 ends with “in him.” The redundancy keeps the focus on Christ at the expense of good Greek style. Verse 11 repeats the reference with a relative pronoun (“in whom”) – again, at the expense of good Greek style. Although the syntax is awkward, the theology is rich. This is not the first time that a NT writer was so overcome with awe for his Lord that he seems to have lost control of his pen. Indeed, it happened frequently enough that some have labeled their christologically motivated solecisms an “apostolic disease.”

[1:16]  ⁶ tn Grk “making mention [of you].”

[2:3]  ⁷ sn Among whom. The relative pronoun phrase that begins v. 3 is identical, except for gender, to the one that begins v. 2 (ἐν αἵς [en Jais], ἐν οἵς [en Jois]). By the structure, the author is building an argument for our hopeless condition: We lived in sin and we lived among sinful people. Our doom looked to be sealed as well in v. 2: Both the external environment (kingdom of the air) and our internal motivation and attitude (the spirit that is now energizing) were under the devil’s thumb (cf. 2 Cor 4:4).

[2:3]  ⁸ tn Grk “we all.”

[2:3]  ⁹ tn Or “even.”

[2:3]  ¹⁰ sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”

[2:3]  ¹¹ sn Eph 2:1-3. The translation of vv. 1-3 is very literal, even to the point of retaining the awkward syntax of the original. See note on the word dead in 2:1.

[2:12]  ¹² tn Or “without Christ.” Both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.” Because the context refers to ancient Israel’s messianic expectation, “Messiah” was employed in the translation at this point rather than “Christ.”

[2:12]  ¹³ tn Or “covenants of the promise.”

[2:15]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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.

[2:20]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “having been built.”

[2:20]  ¹⁸ sn Apostles and prophets. Because the prophets appear after the mention of the apostles and because they are linked together in 3:5 as recipients of revelation about the church, they are to be regarded not as Old Testament prophets, but as New Testament prophets.

[2:20]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “while Christ Jesus himself is” or “Christ Jesus himself being.”

[2:20]  ²⁰ tn Or perhaps “capstone” (NAB). The meaning of ἀκρογωνιαῖος (akrogwniaio") is greatly debated. The meaning “capstone” is proposed by J. Jeremias (TDNT 1:792), but the most important text for this meaning (T. Sol. 22:7-23:4) is late and possibly not even an appropriate parallel. The only place ἀκρογωνιαῖος is used in the LXX is Isa 28:16, and there it clearly refers to a cornerstone that is part of a foundation. Furthermore, the imagery in this context has the building growing off the cornerstone upward, whereas if Christ were the capstone, he would not assume his position until the building was finished, which vv. 21-22 argue against.

[3:1]  ²¹ tc Several early and important witnesses, chiefly of the Western text (א* D* F G [365]), lack ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) here, while most Alexandrian and Byzantine mss (Ì⁴⁶ א¹ A B [C] D¹ Ψ 33 1739 [1881] Ï lat sy bo) have the word. However, because of the Western text’s proclivities to add or delete to the text, seemingly at whim, serious doubts should be attached to the shorter reading. It is strengthened, however, by א’s support. Nevertheless, since both א and D were corrected with the addition of ᾿Ιησοῦ, their testimony might be questioned. Further, in uncial script the nomina sacra here could have led to missing a word by way of homoioteleuton (cMuiMu). At the same time, in light of the rarity of scribal omission of nomina sacra (see TCGNT 582, n. 1), a decision for inclusion of the word here must be tentative. NA²⁷ rightly places ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets.

[3:5]  ²² tn Grk “which.” Verse 5 is technically a relative clause, subordinate to the thought of v. 4.

[3:5]  ²³ tn Grk “the sons of men” (a Semitic idiom referring to human beings, hence, “people”).

[3:5]  ²⁴ tn Grk “other.”

[3:5]  ²⁵ tn Or “in.”

[3:9]  ²⁶ tn There is a possible causative nuance in the Greek verb, but this is difficult to convey in the translation.

[3:9]  ²⁷ tn Grk “what is the plan of the divine secret.” Earlier the author had used οἰκονομία (oikonomia; here “plan”) to refer to his own “stewardship” (v. 2). But now he is speaking about the content of this secret, not his own activity in relation to it.

[3:9]  ²⁸ tn Or “for eternity,” or perhaps “from the Aeons.” Cf. 2:2, 7.

[3:9]  ²⁹ tn Or “by God.” It is possible that ἐν (en) plus the dative here indicates agency, that is, that God has performed the action of hiding the secret. However, this usage of the preposition ἐν is quite rare in the NT, and even though here it does follow a perfect passive verb as in the Classical idiom, it is more likely that a different nuance is intended.

[3:11]  ³⁰ tn Grk “according to.” The verse is a prepositional phrase subordinate to v. 10.

[4:10]  ³¹ tn The Greek text lays specific emphasis on “He” through the use of the intensive pronoun, αὐτός (autos). This is reflected in the English translation through the use of “the very one.”

[4:12]  ³² tn On the translation of πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων (pro" ton katartismon twn Jagiwn) as “to equip the saints” see BDAG 526 s.v. καταρτισμός. In this case the genitive is taken as objective and the direct object of the verbal idea implied in καταρτισμός (katartismo").

[4:12]  ³³ tn The εἰς (eis) clause is taken as epexegetical to the previous εἰς clause, namely, εἰς ἔργον διακονίας (ei" ergon diakonia").

[4:14]  ³⁴ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:14]  ³⁵ 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.

[5:14]  ³⁶ sn The following passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

[5:14]  ³⁷ tn Grk “Rise up.”

[5:14]  ³⁸ tn The articular nominative participle ὁ καθεύδων (Jo kaqeudwn) is probably functioning as a nominative for vocative. Thus, it has been translated as “O sleeper.”

[5:14]  ³⁹ sn A composite quotation, possibly from Isa 26:19, 51:17, 52:1, and 60:1.

[5:27]  ⁴⁰ tn The use of the pronoun αὐτός (autos) is intensive and focuses attention on Christ as the one who has made the church glorious.

[5:27]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “but in order that it may be holy and blameless.”

[6:18]  ⁴² tn Both “pray” and “be alert” are participles in the Greek text (“praying…being alert”). Both are probably instrumental, loosely connected with all of the preceding instructions. As such, they are not additional commands to do but instead are the means through which the prior instructions are accomplished.

[6:18]  ⁴³ tn Grk “and toward it.”

[6:24]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “is.”

[6:24]  ⁴⁵ tc Most witnesses (א² D Ψ Ï it sy) have ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”) at the end of the letter. Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. The earliest and best witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א* A B F G 0278 6 33 81 1175 1241 1739* 1881 sa) lack the particle, giving firm evidence that Ephesians did not originally conclude with ἀμήν.

[6:24]  tn Grk “without corruption.” The term “love” is not found at the end of the sentence, but is supplied to clarify the sense in English. The term “undying” which modifies it captures the sense of the kind of love the author is referring to here. He is saying that God’s grace will be with those whose love for Jesus never ceases.