Leviticus 15:5

15:5 Anyone who touches his bed ¹  must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ² 

Ephesians 4:17-19

Live in Holiness

4:17 So I say this, and insist ³  in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility ⁴  of their thinking. ⁵  4:18 They are darkened in their understanding, ⁶  being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. 4:19 Because they are callous, they have given themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. ⁷ 

Ephesians 5:3-11

5:3 But ⁸  among you there must not be either sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, ⁹  or greed, as these are not fitting for the saints. ¹⁰  5:4 Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting – all of which are out of character – but rather thanksgiving. 5:5 For you can be confident of this one thing: ¹¹  that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Live in the Light

5:6 Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. ¹²  5:7 Therefore do not be partakers with them, ¹³  5:8 for you were at one time darkness, but now you are ¹⁴  light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light – 5:9 for the fruit of the light ¹⁵  consists in ¹⁶  all goodness, righteousness, and truth – 5:10 trying to learn ¹⁷  what is pleasing to the Lord. 5:11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather ¹⁸  expose them. ¹⁹ 

Ephesians 5:2

5:2 and live ²⁰  in love, just as Christ also loved us ²¹  and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering ²²  to God.

Ephesians 2:22

2:22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:1

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ²³  dead ²⁴  in your transgressions and sins,

Ephesians 2:11

New Life Corporately

2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh – who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body ²⁵  by human hands –

¹ tn Heb “And a man who touches in his bed”; NLT “touch the man’s bedding.”

² tn Heb “he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until the evening” (cf. also vv. 6-8, 10-11, etc.).

³ tn On the translation of μαρτύρομαι (marturomai) as “insist” see BDAG 619 s.v. 2.

⁴ tn On the translation of ματαιότης (mataioth") as “futility” see BDAG 621 s.v.

⁵ tn Or “thoughts,” “mind.”

⁶ tn In the Greek text this clause is actually subordinate to περιπατεῖ (peripatei) in v. 17. It was broken up in the English translation so as to avoid an unnecessarily long and cumbersome statement.

⁷ sn Greediness refers to an increasing desire for more and more. The point is that sinful passions and desires are never satisfied.

⁸ tn The term “But” translates the δέ (de) in a contrastive way in light of the perfect obedience of Jesus in vv. 1-2 and the vices mentioned in v. 3.

⁹ tn Grk “all impurity.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “just as is fitting for saints.” The καθώς (kaqws) was rendered with “as” and the sense is causal, i.e., “for” or “because.” The negative particle “not” (“for these are not proper for the saints”) in this clause was supplied in English so as to make the sense very clear, i.e., that these vices are not befitting of those who name the name of Christ.

¹¹ tn Grk “be knowing this.” See also 2 Pet 1:20 for a similar phrase: τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες (touto prwton ginwskonte").

¹² sn The expression sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” In this context it refers to “all those who are disobedient.” Cf. Eph 2:2-3.

¹³ tn The genitive αὐτῶν (autwn) has been translated as a genitive of association because of its use with συμμέτοχοι (summetocoi) – a verb which implies association in the σύν- (sun-) prefix.

¹⁴ tn The verb “you are” is implied in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to make it clear.

¹⁵ 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.

¹⁶ tn Grk “in.” The idea is that the fruit of the light is “expressed in” or “consists of.”

¹⁷ tn BDAG 255 s.v. δοκιμάζω 1 translates δοκιμάζοντες (dokimazonte") in Eph 5:10 as “try to learn.”

¹⁸ 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!”

¹⁹ tn Grk “rather even expose.”

²⁰ tn Grk “walk.” The NT writers often used the verb “walk” (περιπατέω, peripatew) to refer to ethical conduct (cf. Rom 8:4; Gal 5:16; Col 4:5).

²¹ tc A number of important witnesses have ὑμᾶς (Jumas, “you”; e.g., א* A B P 0159 81 1175 al it co as well as several fathers). Other, equally important witnesses read ἡμᾶς (Jhmas, “us”; Ì⁴⁶ א² D F G Ψ 0278 33 1739 1881 al lat sy). It is possible that ἡμᾶς was accidentally introduced via homoioarcton with the previous word (ἠγάπησεν, hgaphsen). On the other hand, ὑμᾶς may have been motivated by the preceding ὑμῖν (Jumin) in 4:32 and second person verbs in 5:1, 2. Further, the flow of argument seems to require the first person pronoun. A decision is difficult to make, but the first person pronoun has a slightly greater probability of being original.

²² tn Grk “an offering and sacrifice to God as a smell of fragrance.” The first expression, προσφορὰν καὶ θυσίαν (prosforan kai qusian), is probably a hendiadys and has been translated such that “sacrificial” modifies “offering.” The second expression, εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας (ei" osmhn euwdia", “as a smell of fragrance”) has been translated as “a fragrant offering”; see BDAG 728-29 s.v. ὀσμή 2. Putting these two together in a clear fashion in English yields the translation: “a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.”

²³ tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

²⁴ 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.

²⁵ tn Grk “in the flesh.”