1:24 Therefore God gave them over 11 in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor 12 their bodies among themselves. 13 1:25 They 14 exchanged the truth of God for a lie 15 and worshiped and served the creation 16 rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, 17 1:27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women 18 and were inflamed in their passions 19 for one another. Men 20 committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, 21 God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. 22 1:29 They are filled 23 with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with 24 envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 1:31 senseless, covenant-breakers, 25 heartless, ruthless. 1:32 Although they fully know 26 God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, 27 they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them. 28
4:17 So I say this, and insist 42 in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility 43 of their thinking. 44
4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, 45 urge you to live 46 worthily of the calling with which you have been called, 47
1 tn Or “do not be conformed to”; Grk “not being conformed to.”
2 tn Grk “the former lusts in your ignorance.”
3 tn Heb “you must not do thus to/for the
4 tn See note on this term at Deut 7:25.
5 tn Heb “every abomination of the
6 tn Grk “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Grk “heart.”
8 tn The participle φάσκοντες (faskonte") is used concessively here.
9 tn Grk “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God in likeness of an image of corruptible man.” Here there is a wordplay on the Greek terms ἄφθαρτος (afqarto", “immortal, imperishable, incorruptible”) and φθαρτός (fqarto", “mortal, corruptible, subject to decay”).
10 sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 106:19-20.
11 sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 81:12.
12 tn The genitive articular infinitive τοῦ ἀτιμάζεσθαι (tou atimazesqai, “to dishonor”) has been taken as (1) an infinitive of purpose; (2) an infinitive of result; or (3) an epexegetical (i.e., explanatory) infinitive, expanding the previous clause.
13 tn Grk “among them.”
14 tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
15 tn Grk “the lie.”
16 tn Or “creature, created things.”
17 tn Grk “for their females exchanged the natural function for that which is contrary to nature.” The term χρῆσις (crhsi") has the force of “sexual relations” here (L&N 23.65).
18 tn Grk “likewise so also the males abandoning the natural function of the female.”
19 tn Grk “burned with intense desire” (L&N 25.16).
20 tn Grk “another, men committing…and receiving,” continuing the description of their deeds. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
21 tn Grk “and just as they did not approve to have God in knowledge.”
22 tn Grk “the things that are improper.”
23 tn Grk “being filled” or “having been filled,” referring to those described in v. 28. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
24 tn Grk “malice, full of,” continuing the description. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
25 tn Or “promise-breakers.”
26 tn Grk “who, knowing…, not only do them but also approve…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
27 tn Grk “are worthy of death.”
28 sn “Vice lists” like vv. 28-32 can be found elsewhere in the NT in Matt 15:19; Gal 5:19-21; 1 Tim 1:9-10; and 1 Pet 4:3. An example from the intertestamental period can be found in Wis 14:25-26.
29 sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.
30 tn Grk “walked.”
31 tn Or possibly “Aeon.”
32 tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”
33 tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).
34 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).
35 tn Grk “working in.”
36 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.
37 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).
38 tn Grk “we all.”
39 tn Or “even.”
40 sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”
41 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.
42 tn On the translation of μαρτύρομαι (marturomai) as “insist” see BDAG 619 s.v. 2.
43 tn On the translation of ματαιότης (mataioth") as “futility” see BDAG 621 s.v.
44 tn Or “thoughts,” “mind.”
45 tn Grk “prisoner in the Lord.”
46 tn Grk “walk.” The verb “walk” in the NT letters refers to the conduct of one’s life, not to physical walking.
47 sn With which you have been called. The calling refers to the Holy Spirit’s prompting that caused them to believe. The author is thus urging his readers to live a life that conforms to their saved status before God.