Ephesians 1:2

1:2 Grace and peace to you ¹  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Ephesians 2:1

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ²  dead ³  in your transgressions and sins,

Ephesians 2:6

2:6 and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Ephesians 2:17

2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near,

Ephesians 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.

Ephesians 5:9

5:9 for the fruit of the light ⁴  consists in ⁵  all goodness, righteousness, and truth –

Ephesians 5:11

5:11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather ⁶  expose them. ⁷ 

Ephesians 6:23

6:23 Peace to the brothers and sisters, ⁸  and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

¹ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

² tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

³ sn Chapter 2 starts off with a participle, although you were dead, that is left dangling. The syntax in Greek for vv. 1-3 constitutes one incomplete sentence, though it seems to have been done intentionally. The dangling participle leaves the readers in suspense while they wait for the solution (in v. 4) to their spiritual dilemma.

³ tc Several mss (Ì⁴⁶ D² Ψ Ï) have πνεύματος (pneumatos, “Spirit”) instead of φωτός (fwtos, “light”). Although most today regard φωτός as obviously original (UBS⁴ gives it an “A” rating), a case could be made that πνεύματος is what the author wrote. First, although this is largely a Byzantine reading (D² often, if not normally, assimilates to the Byzantine text), Ì⁴⁶ gives the reading much greater credibility. Internally, the φωτός at the end of v. 8 could have lined up above the πνεύματος in v. 9 in a scribe’s exemplar, thus occasioning dittography. (It is interesting to note that in both Ì⁴⁹ and א the two instances of φωτός line up.) However, written in a contracted form, as a nomen sacrum (pMnMs) – a practice found even in the earliest mss – πνεύματος would not have been easily confused with fwtos (there being only the last letter to occasion homoioteleuton rather than the last three). Further, the external evidence for φωτός is quite compelling (Ì⁴⁹ א A B D* F G P 33 81 1739 1881 2464 pc latt co); it is rather doubtful that the early and widespread witnesses all mistook πνεύματος for φωτός. In addition, πνεύματος can be readily explained as harking back to Gal 5:22 (“the fruit of the Spirit”). Thus, on balance, φωτός appears to be original, giving rise to the reading πνεύματος.

⁴ tn Grk “in.” The idea is that the fruit of the light is “expressed in” or “consists of.”

⁴ tn The Greek conjunction καὶ (kai) seems to be functioning here ascensively, (i.e., “even”), but is difficult to render in this context using good English. It may read something like: “but rather even expose them!”

⁵ tn Grk “rather even expose.”

⁵ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).