3:20 Now to him who by the power that is working within us 3 is able to do far beyond 4 all that we ask or think,
1 tn Grk “in whom,” as a continuation of the previous verse.
2 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.
3 sn On the power that is working within us see 1:19-20.
4 tn Or “infinitely beyond,” “far more abundantly than.”