Ephesians 6:18

6:18 With every prayer and petition, pray ¹  at all times in the Spirit, and to this end ²  be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints.

Ephesians 2:12

2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, ³  alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, ⁴  having no hope and without God in the world.

¹ tn Both “pray” and “be alert” are participles in the Greek text (“praying…being alert”). Both are probably instrumental, loosely connected with all of the preceding instructions. As such, they are not additional commands to do but instead are the means through which the prior instructions are accomplished.

² tn Grk “and toward it.”

³ tn Or “without Christ.” Both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.” Because the context refers to ancient Israel’s messianic expectation, “Messiah” was employed in the translation at this point rather than “Christ.”

⁴ tn Or “covenants of the promise.”