Efesus 2:4-9

2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 2:5 even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! ¹  – 2:6 and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 2:7 to demonstrate in the coming ages ²  the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward ³  us in Christ Jesus. 2:8 For by grace you are saved ⁴  through faith, ⁵  and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 2:9 it is not from ⁶  works, so that no one can boast. ⁷ 

Efesus 2:13-18

2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ⁸  2:14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one ⁹  and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, 2:15 when he nullified ¹⁰  in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man ¹¹  out of two, ¹²  thus making peace, 2:16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. ¹³  2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, 2:18 so that ¹⁴  through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

[2:5]  ¹ tn Or “by grace you have been saved.” The perfect tense in Greek connotes both completed action (“you have been saved”) and continuing results (“you are saved”).

[2:7]  ² tn Or possibly “to the Aeons who are about to come.”

[2:7]  ³ tn Or “upon.”

[2:8]  ⁴ tn See note on the same expression in v. 5.

[2:8]  ⁵ 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.

[2:9]  ⁶ tn Or “not as a result of.”

[2:9]  ⁷ tn Grk “lest anyone should boast.”

[2:13]  ⁸ tn Or “have come near in the blood of Christ.”

[2:13]  sn See the note on “his blood” in 1:7.

[2:14]  ⁹ tn Grk “who made the both one.”

[2:15]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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.

[2:16]  ¹³ tn Grk “by killing the hostility in himself.”

[2:18]  ¹⁴ tn Or “for.” BDAG gives the consecutive ὅτι (Joti) as a possible category of NT usage (BDAG 732 s.v. 5.c).