Ephesians 1:5

1:5 He did this by predestining ¹  us to adoption as his ²  sons ³  through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure ⁴  of his will –

Ephesians 1:11-14

1:11 In Christ ⁵  we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, ⁶  since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will 1:12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope ⁷  on Christ, ⁸  would be to the praise of his glory. 1:13 And when ⁹  you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation) – when you believed in Christ ¹⁰  – you were marked with the seal ¹¹  of the promised Holy Spirit, ¹²  1:14 who is the down payment ¹³  of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, ¹⁴  to the praise of his glory.

¹ tn Grk “by predestining.” Verse 5 begins with an aorist participle dependent on the main verb in v. 4 (“chose”).

² tn Grk “to himself” after “through Jesus Christ.”

³ tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).” Although some modern translations remove the filial sense completely and render the term merely “adoption” (cf. NAB, ESV), the retention of this component of meaning was accomplished in the present translation by the phrase “as…sons.”

⁴ tn Or “good pleasure.”

⁵ tn Grk “in whom,” as a continuation of the previous verse.

⁶ 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.

⁷ tn Or “who had already hoped.”

⁸ tn Or “the Messiah.”

⁹ tn Grk “in whom you also, when…” (continuing the sentence from v. 12).

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ tn Or “you were sealed.”

¹² tn Grk “the Holy Spirit of promise.” Here ἐπαγγελίας (epangelias, “of promise”) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

¹³ tn Or “first installment,” “pledge,” “deposit.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “the possession.”