Ephesians 3:10

3:10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that ¹  through the church the multifaceted wisdom ²  of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 2:1

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ³  dead ⁴  in your transgressions and sins,

Ephesians 3:17

3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love,

Ephesians 3:13

3:13 For this reason I ask you ⁵  not to lose heart because of what I am suffering for you, ⁶  which ⁷  is your glory. ⁸ 

Ephesians 4:28

4:28 The one who steals must steal no longer; rather he must labor, doing good with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with the one who has need.

Ephesians 2:3

2:3 among whom ⁹  all of us ¹⁰  also ¹¹  formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath ¹²  even as the rest… ¹³ 

¹ tn Grk “that.” Verse 10 is a subordinate clause to the verb “enlighten” in v. 9.

² tn Or “manifold wisdom,” “wisdom in its rich variety.”

³ tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

⁴ 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.

⁵ tn Grk “I ask.” No direct object is given in Greek, leaving room for the possibility that either “God” (since the verb is often associated with prayer) or “you” is in view.

⁶ tn Grk “my trials on your behalf.”

⁷ sn Which. The antecedent (i.e., the word or concept to which this clause refers back) may be either “what I am suffering for you” or the larger concept of the recipients not losing heart over Paul’s suffering for them. The relative pronoun “which” is attracted to the predicate nominative “glory” in its gender and number (feminine singular), making the antecedent ambiguous. Paul’s suffering for them could be viewed as their glory (cf. Col 1:24 for a parallel) in that his suffering has brought about their salvation, but if so his suffering must be viewed as more than his present imprisonment in Rome; it would be a general description of his ministry overall (cf. 2 Cor 11:23-27). The other option is that the author is implicitly arguing that the believers have continued to have courage in the midst of his trials (as not to lose heart suggests) and that this is their glory. Philippians 1:27-28 offers an interesting parallel: The believers’ courage in the face of adversity is a sign of their salvation.

⁸ tn Or “Or who is your glory?” The relative pronoun ἥτις (Jhti"), if divided differently, would become ἤ τίς (h ti"). Since there were no word breaks in the original mss, either word division is possible. The force of the question would be that for the readers to become discouraged over Paul’s imprisonment would mean that they were no longer trusting in God’s sovereignty.

⁷ 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).

⁸ tn Grk “we all.”

⁹ tn Or “even.”

¹⁰ sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”

¹¹ 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.