Ephesians 3:2-5

3:2 if indeed ¹  you have heard of the stewardship ²  of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3:3 that ³  by revelation the divine secret ⁴  was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly. ⁵  3:4 When reading this, ⁶  you will be able to ⁷  understand my insight into this secret ⁸  of Christ. 3:5 Now this secret ⁹  was not disclosed to people ¹⁰  in former ¹¹  generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by ¹²  the Spirit,

Ephesians 3:14

Prayer for Strengthened Love

3:14 For this reason ¹³  I kneel ¹⁴  before the Father, ¹⁵ 

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,

¹ sn If indeed. The author is not doubting whether his audience has heard, but is rather using provocative language (if indeed) to engage his audience in thinking about the magnificence of God’s grace. However, in English translation, the apodosis (“then”-clause) does not come until v. 13, leaving the protasis (“if”-clause) dangling. Eph 3:2-7 constitute one sentence in Greek.

² tn Or “administration,” “dispensation,” “commission.”

³ tn Or “namely, that is.”

⁴ tn Or “mystery.”

⁵ tn Or “as I wrote above briefly.”

⁵ tn Grk “which, when reading.”

⁶ tn Grk “you are able to.”

⁷ tn Or “mystery.”

⁷ tn Grk “which.” Verse 5 is technically a relative clause, subordinate to the thought of v. 4.

⁸ tn Grk “the sons of men” (a Semitic idiom referring to human beings, hence, “people”).

⁹ tn Grk “other.”

¹⁰ tn Or “in.”

⁹ sn For this reason resumes the point begun in v. 1, after a long parenthesis.

¹⁰ tn Grk “I bend my knees.”

¹¹ tc Most Western and Byzantine witnesses, along with a few others (א² D F G Ψ 0278 1881 Ï lat sy), have “of our Lord Jesus Christ” after “Father,” but such an edifying phrase cannot explain the rise of the reading that lacks it, especially when the shorter reading is attested by early and important witnesses such as Ì⁴⁶ א* A B C P 6 33 81 365 1175 1739 co Or Hier.