Efesus 4:29

4:29 You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, ¹  that it may give grace to those who hear.

Efesus 5:4

5:4 Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting – all of which are out of character – but rather thanksgiving.

Efesus 4:9

4:9 Now what is the meaning of “he ascended,” except that he also descended ²  to the lower regions, ³  namely, the earth? ⁴ 

Efesus 4:25

4:25 Therefore, having laid aside falsehood, each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, ⁵  for we are members of one another.

Efesus 6:19

6:19 Pray ⁶  for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak ⁷  – that I may confidently make known ⁸  the mystery of the gospel,

Efesus 5:6

Live in the Light

5:6 Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. ⁹ 

Efesus 6:20

6:20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak.

Efesus 5:32

5:32 This mystery is great – but I am actually ¹⁰  speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

Efesus 4:17

Live in Holiness

4:17 So I say this, and insist ¹¹  in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility ¹²  of their thinking. ¹³ 

Efesus 6:17

6:17 And take the helmet of salvation ¹⁴  and the sword ¹⁵  of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Efesus 5:19

5:19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music ¹⁶  in ¹⁷  your hearts to the Lord,

Efesus 5:12

5:12 For the things they do ¹⁸  in secret are shameful even to mention.

Efesus 1:13

1:13 And when ¹⁹  you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation) – when you believed in Christ ²⁰  – you were marked with the seal ²¹  of the promised Holy Spirit, ²² 

Efesus 4:8

4:8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he captured ²³  captives; he gave gifts to men.” ²⁴ 

Efesus 5:14

5:14 For everything made evident is light, and for this reason it says: ²⁵ 

“Awake, ²⁶  O sleeper! ²⁷ 

Rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you!” ²⁸ 

Efesus 2:11

New Life Corporately

2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh – who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body ²⁹  by human hands –

Efesus 6:10

Exhortations for Spiritual Warfare

6:10 Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power.

Efesus 3:3

3:3 that ³⁰  by revelation the divine secret ³¹  was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly. ³² 

Efesus 4:21

4:21 if indeed you heard about him and were taught in him, just as the truth is in Jesus.

Efesus 5:26

5:26 to sanctify her by cleansing her ³³  with the washing of the water by the word,

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 ³⁴  one flesh. ³⁵ 

Efesus 3:4

3:4 When reading this, ³⁶  you will be able to ³⁷  understand my insight into this secret ³⁸  of Christ.

Efesus 4:31

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

Efesus 5:33

5:33 Nevertheless, ³⁹  each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, ⁴⁰  and the wife must ⁴¹  respect ⁴²  her husband.

Efesus 4:15

4:15 But practicing the truth in love, ⁴³  we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.

Efesus 5:3

5:3 But ⁴⁴  among you there must not be either sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, ⁴⁵  or greed, as these are not fitting for the saints. ⁴⁶ 

Efesus 1:11

1:11 In Christ ⁴⁷  we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, ⁴⁸  since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will

Efesus 6:9

6:9 Masters, ⁴⁹  treat your slaves ⁵⁰  the same way, ⁵¹  giving up the use of threats, ⁵²  because you know that both you and they have the same master in heaven, ⁵³  and there is no favoritism with him.

[4:29]  ¹ tn Grk “but if something good for the building up of the need.” The final genitive τῆς χρείας (th" creia") may refer to “the need of the moment” or it may refer to the need of a particular person or group of people as the next phrase “give grace to those who hear” indicates.

[4:9]  ² tc The majority of mss (א² B C³ Ψ Ï) read πρῶτον (prwton, “first”) here in conjunction with this verb: “he first descended.” The shorter reading, which lacks πρῶτον, should be considered original on the basis of both external and internal evidence: It has strong external support from the Alexandrian and Western texttypes (Ì⁴⁶ א* A C* D F G I^vid 082 6 33 81 1739 1881 pc); internally, the inclusion of πρῶτον is most likely an addition to clarify the sense of the passage.

[4:9]  ³ tc The Western texttype (D* F G it) lacks the plural noun μέρη (merh, “regions”); the shorter reading cannot be dismissed out of hand since it is also supported by Ì⁴⁶ (which often has strong affinities, however, with the Western text). The inclusion of the word has strong external support from important, early mss as well as the majority of Byzantine cursives (א A B C D² I Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï). Certain scribes may have deleted the word, thinking it superfluous; in addition, if the shorter reading were original one would expect to see at least a little variation in clarifying additions to the text. For these reasons the inclusion of μέρη should be regarded as original.

[4:9]  ⁴ tn Grk “to the lower parts of the earth.” This phrase has been variously interpreted: (1) The traditional view understands it as a reference to the underworld (hell), where Jesus is thought to have descended in the three days between his death and resurrection. In this case, “of the earth” would be a partitive genitive. (2) A second option is to translate the phrase “of the earth” as a genitive of apposition: “to the lower parts, namely, the earth” (as in the present translation). Many recent scholars hold this view and argue that it is a reference to the incarnation. (3) A third option, which also sees the phrase “of the earth” as a genitive of apposition, is that the descent in the passage occurs after the ascent rather than before it, and refers to the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost (cf. Acts 4:11-16). Support for this latter view is found in the intertestamental and rabbinic use of Ps 68:18 (quoted in v. 8), which is consistently and solely interpreted as a reference to Moses’ ascent of Mt. Sinai to “capture” the words of the law. The probability, therefore, is that the comments here in v. 9 reflect a polemic against the interpretation of Ps 68:18 in certain circles as a reference to Moses. See W. H. Harris, The Descent of Christ (AGJU 32), 46-54; 171-204.

[4:25]  ⁵ sn A quotation from Zech 8:16.

[6:19]  ⁶ tn To avoid a lengthy, convoluted sentence in English, the Greek sentence was broken up at this point and the verb “pray” was inserted in the English translation to pick up the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseuxomenoi, “praying”) in v. 18.

[6:19]  ⁷ tn Grk “that a word may be given to me in the opening of my mouth.” Here “word” (λόγος, logo") is used in the sense of “message.”

[6:19]  ⁸ tn The infinitive γνωρίσαι (gnwrisai, “to make known”) is functioning epexegetically to further explain what the author means by the preceding phrase “that I may be given the message when I begin to speak.”

[5:6]  ⁹ sn The expression sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” In this context it refers to “all those who are disobedient.” Cf. Eph 2:2-3.

[5:32]  ¹⁰ tn The term “actually” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to bring out the heightened sense of the statement.

[4:17]  ¹¹ tn On the translation of μαρτύρομαι (marturomai) as “insist” see BDAG 619 s.v. 2.

[4:17]  ¹² tn On the translation of ματαιότης (mataioth") as “futility” see BDAG 621 s.v.

[4:17]  ¹³ tn Or “thoughts,” “mind.”

[6:17]  ¹⁴ sn An allusion to Isa 59:17.

[6:17]  ¹⁵ sn The Greek term translated sword (μάχαιρα, macaira) refers to the Roman gladius, a short sword about 2 ft (60 cm) long, used for close hand-to-hand combat. This is the only clearly offensive weapon in the list of armor mentioned by the author (he does not, for example, mention the lance [Latin pilum]).

[5:19]  ¹⁶ tn See BDAG 1096 s.v. ψάλλω.

[5:19]  ¹⁷ tn Or “with.”

[5:12]  ¹⁸ tn The participle τὰ…γινόμενα (ta…ginomena) usually refers to “things happening” or “things which are,” but with the following genitive phrase ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν (Jup’ autwn), which indicates agency, the idea seems to be “things being done.” This passive construction was translated as an active one to simplify the English style.

[1:13]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “in whom you also, when…” (continuing the sentence from v. 12).

[1:13]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Or “you were sealed.”

[1:13]  ²² tn Grk “the Holy Spirit of promise.” Here ἐπαγγελίας (epangelias, “of promise”) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[4:8]  ²³ tn Grk “he led captive captivity.”

[4:8]  ²⁴ sn A quotation which is perhaps ultimately derived from Ps 68:18. However, the wording here differs from that of Ps 68 in both the Hebrew text and the LXX in a few places, the most significant of which is reading “gave gifts to” in place of “received gifts from” as in HT and LXX. It has sometimes been suggested that the author of Ephesians modified the text he was citing in order to better support what he wanted to say here. Such modifications are sometimes found in rabbinic exegesis from this and later periods, but it is also possible that the author was simply citing a variant of Ps 68 known to him but which has not survived outside its quotation here (W. H. Harris, The Descent of Christ [AGJU 32], 104). Another possibility is that the words here, which strongly resemble Ps 68:19 HT and LXX (68:18 ET), are actually part of an early Christian hymn quoted by the author.

[5:14]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Grk “Rise up.”

[5:14]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ sn A composite quotation, possibly from Isa 26:19, 51:17, 52:1, and 60:1.

[2:11]  ²⁹ tn Grk “in the flesh.”

[3:3]  ³⁰ tn Or “namely, that is.”

[3:3]  ³¹ tn Or “mystery.”

[3:3]  ³² tn Or “as I wrote above briefly.”

[3:3]  sn As I wrote briefly may refer to the author’s brief discussion of the divine secret in 1:9.

[5:26]  ³³ tn The direct object “her” is implied, but not found in the Greek text. It has been supplied in the English translation to clarify the sense of the passage.

[5:31]  ³⁴ tn Grk “the two shall be as one flesh.”

[5:31]  ³⁵ sn A quotation from Gen 2:24.

[3:4]  ³⁶ tn Grk “which, when reading.”

[3:4]  ³⁷ tn Grk “you are able to.”

[3:4]  ³⁸ tn Or “mystery.”

[5:33]  ³⁹ 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]  ⁴⁰ 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]  ⁴¹ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause was taken as imperatival, i.e., “let the wife respect….”

[5:33]  ⁴² 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.

[4:15]  ⁴³ tn The meaning of the participle ἀληθεύοντες (alhqeuonte"; from the verb ἀληθεύω [alhqeuw]) is debated. In classical times the verb could mean “to speak the truth,” or “to be true, to prove true.” In the LXX it appears five times (Gen 20:16; 42:16; Prov 21:3; Isa 44:26; Sir 34:4) and translates four different Hebrew words; there it is an ethical term used of proving or being true, not with the idea of speaking the truth. In the NT the only other place the verb appears is in Gal 4:16 where it means “to speak the truth.” However, in Ephesians the concept of “being truthful” is the best sense of the word. In contrast to the preceding verse, where there are three prepositional phrases to denote falsehood and deceit, the present word speaks of being real or truthful in both conduct and speech. Their deceit was not only in their words but also in their conduct. In other words, the believers’ conduct should be transparent, revealing the real state of affairs, as opposed to hiding or suppressing the truth through cunning and deceit. See H. W. Hoehner, Ephesians, 564-65, and R. Bultmann, TDNT 1:251.

[5:3]  ⁴⁴ tn The term “But” translates the δέ (de) in a contrastive way in light of the perfect obedience of Jesus in vv. 1-2 and the vices mentioned in v. 3.

[5:3]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “all impurity.”

[5:3]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “just as is fitting for saints.” The καθώς (kaqws) was rendered with “as” and the sense is causal, i.e., “for” or “because.” The negative particle “not” (“for these are not proper for the saints”) in this clause was supplied in English so as to make the sense very clear, i.e., that these vices are not befitting of those who name the name of Christ.

[1:11]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “in whom,” as a continuation of the previous verse.

[1:11]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “we were appointed by lot.” The notion of the verb κληρόω (klhrow) in the OT was to “appoint a portion by lot” (the more frequent cognate verb κληρονομέω [klhronomew] meant “obtain a portion by lot”). In the passive, as here, the idea is that “we were appointed [as a portion] by lot” (BDAG 548 s.v. κληρόω 1). The words “God’s own” have been supplied in the translation to clarify this sense of the verb. An alternative interpretation is that believers receive a portion as an inheritance: “In Christ we too have been appointed a portion of the inheritance.” See H. W. Hoehner, Ephesians, 226-27, for discussion on this interpretive issue.

[1:11]  sn God’s own possession. Although God is not mentioned explicitly in the Greek text, it is clear from the context that he has chosen believers for himself. Just as with the nation Israel, the church is God’s chosen portion or possession (cf. Deut 32:8-9).

[6:9]  ⁴⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:9]  ⁵⁰ tn Though the Greek text only has αὐτούς (autous, “them”), the antecedent is the slaves of the masters. Therefore, it was translated this way to make it explicit in English.

[6:9]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “do the same things to them.”

[6:9]  ⁵² tn Grk “giving up the threat.”

[6:9]  ⁵³ tn Grk “because of both they and you, the Lord is, in heaven…”