Efesus 2:8

2:8 For by grace you are saved ¹  through faith, ²  and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Efesus 4:4

4:4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling,

Efesus 4:31

4:31 You must put away every kind of bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and evil, slanderous talk.

Efesus 5:19

5:19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music ³  in ⁴  your hearts to the Lord,

Efesus 6:4

6:4 Fathers, ⁵  do not provoke your children to anger, ⁶  but raise them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Efesus 6:14

6:14 Stand firm therefore, by fastening ⁷  the belt of truth around your waist, ⁸  by putting on the breastplate of righteousness,

[2:8]  ¹ tn See note on the same expression in v. 5.

[2:8]  ² 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.

[5:19]  ³ tn See BDAG 1096 s.v. ψάλλω.

[5:19]  ⁴ tn Or “with.”

[6:4]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps “Parents” (so TEV, CEV). The plural οἱ πατέρες (Joi patere", “fathers”) can be used to refer to both the male and female parent (BDAG 786 s.v. πατήρ 1.b).

[6:4]  ⁶ tn Or “do not make your children angry.” BDAG 780 s.v. παροργίζω states “make angry.” The Greek verb in Col 3:21 is a different one with a slightly different nuance.

[6:14]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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.