Efesus 4:20

4:20 But you did not learn about Christ like this,

Efesus 4:22

4:22 You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside ¹  the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires,

Efesus 4:24

4:24 and to put on the new man who has been created in God’s image ²  – in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth. ³ 

Efesus 3:14

Prayer for Strengthened Love

3:14 For this reason ⁴  I kneel ⁵  before the Father, ⁶ 

Efesus 3:17

3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love,

Efesus 4:12

4:12 to equip ⁷  the saints for the work of ministry, that is, ⁸  to build up the body of Christ,

Efesus 5:16

5:16 taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Efesus 6:24

6:24 Grace be ⁹  with all of those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. ¹⁰ 

Efesus 2:2

2:2 in which ¹¹  you formerly lived ¹²  according to this world’s present path, ¹³  according to the ruler of the kingdom ¹⁴  of the air, the ruler of ¹⁵  the spirit ¹⁶  that is now energizing ¹⁷  the sons of disobedience, ¹⁸ 

Efesus 2:18

2:18 so that ¹⁹  through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Efesus 6:2

6:2 “Honor your father and mother,” ²⁰  which is the first commandment accompanied by a promise, namely,

Efesus 6:14

6:14 Stand firm therefore, by fastening ²¹  the belt of truth around your waist, ²²  by putting on the breastplate of righteousness,

Efesus 3:16

3:16 I pray that ²³  according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person,

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 ²⁴  one flesh. ²⁵ 

Efesus 5:33

5:33 Nevertheless, ²⁶  each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, ²⁷  and the wife must ²⁸  respect ²⁹  her husband.

Efesus 6:16

6:16 and in all of this, ³⁰  by taking up the shield ³¹  of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Efesus 1:13

1:13 And when ³²  you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation) – when you believed in Christ ³³  – you were marked with the seal ³⁴  of the promised Holy Spirit, ³⁵ 

Efesus 2:15

2:15 when he nullified ³⁶  in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man ³⁷  out of two, ³⁸  thus making peace,

[4:22]  ¹ tn An alternative rendering for the infinitives in vv. 22-24 (“to lay aside… to be renewed… to put on”) is “that you have laid aside… that you are being renewed… that you have put on.” The three infinitives of vv. 22 (ἀποθέσθαι, apoqesqai), 23 (ἀνανεοῦσθαι, ananeousqai), and 24 (ἐνδύσασθαι, endusasqai), form part of an indirect discourse clause; they constitute the teaching given to the believers addressed in the letter. The problem in translation is that one cannot be absolutely certain whether they go back to indicatives in the original statement (i.e., “you have put off”) or imperatives (i.e., “put off!”). Every other occurrence of an aorist infinitive in indirect discourse in the NT goes back to an imperative, but in all of these examples the indirect discourse is introduced by a verb that implies a command. The verb διδάσκω (didaskw) in the corpus Paulinum may be used to relate the indicatives of the faith as well as the imperatives. This translation implies that the infinitives go back to imperatives, though the alternate view that they refer back to indicatives is also a plausible interpretation. For further discussion, see ExSyn 605.

[4:24]  ² tn Or “in God’s likeness.” Grk “according to God.” The preposition κατά used here denotes a measure of similarity or equality (BDAG 513 s.v. B.5.b.α).

[4:24]  ³ tn Or “in righteousness and holiness which is based on truth” or “originated from truth.”

[3:14]  ⁴ sn For this reason resumes the point begun in v. 1, after a long parenthesis.

[3:14]  ⁵ tn Grk “I bend my knees.”

[3:14]  ⁶ 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.

[4:12]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn The εἰς (eis) clause is taken as epexegetical to the previous εἰς clause, namely, εἰς ἔργον διακονίας (ei" ergon diakonia").

[6:24]  ⁹ tn Or “is.”

[6:24]  ¹⁰ 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.

[2:2]  ¹¹ sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ¹⁸ 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.

[2:18]  ¹⁹ tn Or “for.” BDAG gives the consecutive ὅτι (Joti) as a possible category of NT usage (BDAG 732 s.v. 5.c).

[6:2]  ²⁰ sn A quotation from Exod 20:12 and Deut 5:16.

[6:14]  ²¹ sn The four participles fastening… putting on…fitting…taking up… indicate the means by which believers can take their stand against the devil and his schemes. The imperative take in v. 17 communicates another means by which to accomplish the standing, i.e., by the word of God.

[6:14]  ²² tn Grk “girding your waist with truth.” In this entire section the author is painting a metaphor for his readers based on the attire of a Roman soldier prepared for battle and its similarity to the Christian prepared to do battle against spiritually evil forces. Behind the expression “with truth” is probably the genitive idea “belt of truth.” Since this is an appositional genitive (i.e., belt which is truth), the author simply left unsaid the idea of the belt and mentioned only his real focus, namely, the truth. (The analogy would have been completely understandable to his 1st century readers.) The idea of the belt is supplied in the translation to clarify the sense in English.

[3:16]  ²³ tn Grk “that.” In Greek v. 16 is a subordinate clause to vv. 14-15.

[5:31]  ²⁴ tn Grk “the two shall be as one flesh.”

[5:31]  ²⁵ sn A quotation from Gen 2:24.

[5:33]  ²⁶ tn The translation of πλήν (plhn) is somewhat difficult in this context, though the overall thrust of the argument is clear. It could be an adversative idea such as “but,” “nevertheless,” or “however” (see NIV, NASB, NRSV), or it could simply be intended to round out and bring to conclusion the author’s discussion. In this latter case it could be translated with the use of “now” (so A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians [WBC], 384).

[5:33]  ²⁷ tn Grk “Nevertheless, you also, one by one, each his own wife so let him love as himself.” This statement is cumbersome and was cleaned up to reflect better English style.

[5:33]  ²⁸ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause was taken as imperatival, i.e., “let the wife respect….”

[5:33]  ²⁹ tn The Greek verb φοβέομαι (fobeomai) here has been translated “respect” and the noun form of the word, i.e., φόβος (fobos), has been translated as “reverence” in 5:21.

[6:16]  ³⁰ tn Grk “in everything.”

[6:16]  ³¹ sn The Greek word translated shield (θυρεός, qureos) refers to the Roman soldier’s large rectangular wooden shield, called in Latin scutum, about 4 ft (1.2 m) high, covered with leather on the outside. Before a battle in which flaming arrows might be shot at them, the soldiers wet the leather covering with water to extinguish the arrows. The Roman legionaries could close ranks with these shields, the first row holding theirs edge to edge in front, and the rows behind holding the shields above their heads. In this formation they were practically invulnerable to arrows, rocks, and even spears.

[1:13]  ³² tn Grk “in whom you also, when…” (continuing the sentence from v. 12).

[1:13]  ³³ tn Grk “in whom also having believed.” The relative pronoun “whom” has been replaced in the translation with its antecedent (“Christ”) to improve the clarity.

[1:13]  ³⁴ tn Or “you were sealed.”

[1:13]  ³⁵ tn Grk “the Holy Spirit of promise.” Here ἐπαγγελίας (epangelias, “of promise”) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[2:15]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ 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.