Ephesians 1:17

1:17 I pray that ¹  the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, ²  may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation ³  in your growing knowledge of him, ⁴ 

Ephesians 2:7

2:7 to demonstrate in the coming ages ⁵  the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward ⁶  us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:10

2:10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. ⁷ 

Ephesians 3:10

3:10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that ⁸  through the church the multifaceted wisdom ⁹  of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 3:16

3:16 I pray that ¹⁰  according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person,

Ephesians 3:18-19

3:18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹¹  3:19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to ¹²  all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 4:14

4:14 So ¹³  we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. ¹⁴ 

Ephesians 4:28-29

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. 4:29 You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, ¹⁵  that it may give grace to those who hear.

Ephesians 5:33

5:33 Nevertheless, ¹⁶  each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, ¹⁷  and the wife must ¹⁸  respect ¹⁹  her husband.

Ephesians 6:13

6:13 For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground ²⁰  on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand.

Ephesians 6:19

6:19 Pray ²¹  for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak ²²  – that I may confidently make known ²³  the mystery of the gospel,

Ephesians 6:21-22

Farewell Comments

6:21 Tychicus, my ²⁴  dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make everything known to you, so that you too may know about my circumstances, ²⁵  how I am doing. 6:22 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know our circumstances ²⁶  and that he may encourage your hearts.

[1:17]  ¹ tn The words “I pray” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied to clarify the meaning; v. 17 is a subordinate clause to v. 16 (“I pray” in v. 17 is implied from v. 16). Eph 1:15-23 constitutes one sentence in Greek, but a new sentence was started here in the translation in light of contemporary English usage.

[1:17]  ² tn Or “glorious Father.” The genitive phrase “of glory” is most likely an attributive genitive. The literal translation “Father of glory” has been retained because of the parallelism with the first line of the verse: “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory.”

[1:17]  ³ tn Or “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation,” or “a spirit of wisdom and revelation.” Verse 17 involves a complex exegetical problem revolving around the Greek term πνεῦμα (pneuma). Some take it to mean “the Spirit,” others “a spirit,” and still others “spiritual.” (1) If “the Spirit” is meant, the idea must be a metonymy of cause for effect, because the author had just indicated in vv. 13-14 that the Spirit was already given (hence, there is no need for him to pray that he be given again). But the effect of the Spirit is wisdom and revelation. (2) If “a spirit” is meant, the idea may be that the readers will have the ability to gain wisdom and insight as they read Paul’s letters, but the exact meaning of “a spirit” remains ambiguous. (3) To take the genitives following πνεῦμα as attributed genitives (see ExSyn 89-91), in which the head noun (“S/spirit”) functions semantically like an adjective (“spiritual”) is both grammatically probable and exegetically consistent.

[1:17]  ⁴ tn Grk “in the knowledge of him.”

[2:7]  ⁵ tn Or possibly “to the Aeons who are about to come.”

[2:7]  ⁶ tn Or “upon.”

[2:10]  ⁹ tn Grk “so that we might walk in them” (or “by them”).

[3:10]  ¹³ tn Grk “that.” Verse 10 is a subordinate clause to the verb “enlighten” in v. 9.

[3:10]  ¹⁴ tn Or “manifold wisdom,” “wisdom in its rich variety.”

[3:16]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “that.” In Greek v. 16 is a subordinate clause to vv. 14-15.

[3:18]  ²¹ sn The object of these dimensions is not stated in the text. Interpreters have suggested a variety of referents for this unstated object, including the cross of Christ, the heavenly Jerusalem (which is then sometimes linked to the Church), God’s power, the fullness of salvation given in Christ, the Wisdom of God, and the love of Christ. Of these interpretations, the last two are the most plausible. Associations from Wisdom literature favor the Wisdom of God, but the immediate context favors the love of Christ. For detailed discussion of these interpretive options, see A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians (WBC), 207-13, who ultimately favors the love of Christ.

[3:19]  ²⁵ tn Or “with.”

[4:14]  ²⁹ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:14]  ³⁰ tn While the sense of the passage is clear enough, translation in English is somewhat difficult. The Greek says: “by the trickery of men, by craftiness with the scheme of deceit.” The point is that the author is concerned about Christians growing into maturity. He is fearful that certain kinds of very cunning people, who are skilled at deceitful scheming, should come in and teach false doctrines which would in turn stunt the growth of the believers.

[4:29]  ³³ tn Grk “but if something good for the building up of the need.” The final genitive τῆς χρείας (th" creia") may refer to “the need of the moment” or it may refer to the need of a particular person or group of people as the next phrase “give grace to those who hear” indicates.

[5:33]  ³⁷ tn The translation of πλήν (plhn) is somewhat difficult in this context, though the overall thrust of the argument is clear. It could be an adversative idea such as “but,” “nevertheless,” or “however” (see NIV, NASB, NRSV), or it could simply be intended to round out and bring to conclusion the author’s discussion. In this latter case it could be translated with the use of “now” (so A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians [WBC], 384).

[5:33]  ³⁸ tn Grk “Nevertheless, you also, one by one, each his own wife so let him love as himself.” This statement is cumbersome and was cleaned up to reflect better English style.

[5:33]  ³⁹ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause was taken as imperatival, i.e., “let the wife respect….”

[5:33]  ⁴⁰ tn The Greek verb φοβέομαι (fobeomai) here has been translated “respect” and the noun form of the word, i.e., φόβος (fobos), has been translated as “reverence” in 5:21.

[6:13]  ⁴¹ tn The term ἀνθίστημι (anqisthmi) carries the idea of resisting or opposing something or someone (BDAG 80 s.v.). In Eph 6:13, when used in combination with στῆναι (sthnai; cf. also στῆτε [sthte] in v. 14) and in a context of battle imagery, it seems to have the idea of resisting, standing firm, and being able to stand your ground.

[6:19]  ⁴⁵ tn To avoid a lengthy, convoluted sentence in English, the Greek sentence was broken up at this point and the verb “pray” was inserted in the English translation to pick up the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseuxomenoi, “praying”) in v. 18.

[6:19]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “that a word may be given to me in the opening of my mouth.” Here “word” (λόγος, logo") is used in the sense of “message.”

[6:19]  ⁴⁷ tn The infinitive γνωρίσαι (gnwrisai, “to make known”) is functioning epexegetically to further explain what the author means by the preceding phrase “that I may be given the message when I begin to speak.”

[6:21]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “the.” The Greek article ὁ (Jo) was translated with the possessive pronoun, “my.” See ExSyn 215.

[6:21]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “the things according to me.”

[6:22]  ⁵³ tn Grk “the things concerning us.”