Ephesians 1:5

1:5 He did this by predestining ¹  us to adoption as his ²  sons ³  through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure ⁴  of his will –

Ephesians 1:20

1:20 This power ⁵  he exercised ⁶  in Christ when he raised him ⁷  from the dead and seated him ⁸  at his right hand in the heavenly realms ⁹ 

Ephesians 1:22

1:22 And God ¹⁰  put ¹¹  all things under Christ’s ¹²  feet, ¹³  and he gave him to the church as head over all things. ¹⁴ 

Ephesians 2:4-5

2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 2:5 even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! ¹⁵  –

Ephesians 2:8

2:8 For by grace you are saved ¹⁶  through faith, ¹⁷  and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Ephesians 2:19-20

2:19 So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 2:20 because you have been built ¹⁸  on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, ¹⁹  with Christ Jesus himself as ²⁰  the cornerstone. ²¹ 

Ephesians 4:1

Live in Unity

4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, ²²  urge you to live ²³  worthily of the calling with which you have been called, ²⁴ 

Ephesians 4:15

4:15 But practicing the truth in love, ²⁵  we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.

Ephesians 4:25

4:25 Therefore, having laid aside falsehood, each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, ²⁶  for we are members of one another.

Ephesians 5:19-20

5:19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music ²⁷  in ²⁸  your hearts to the Lord, 5:20 always giving thanks to God the Father for each other ²⁹  in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Ephesians 5:32

5:32 This mystery is great – but I am actually ³⁰  speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

Ephesians 6:2

6:2 “Honor your father and mother,” ³¹  which is the first commandment accompanied by a promise, namely,

Ephesians 6:4

6:4 Fathers, ³²  do not provoke your children to anger, ³³  but raise them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Ephesians 6:6

6:6 not like those who do their work only when someone is watching ³⁴  – as people-pleasers – but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. ³⁵ 

[1:5]  ¹ tn Grk “by predestining.” Verse 5 begins with an aorist participle dependent on the main verb in v. 4 (“chose”).

[1:5]  ² tn Grk “to himself” after “through Jesus Christ.”

[1:5]  ³ tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).” Although some modern translations remove the filial sense completely and render the term merely “adoption” (cf. NAB, ESV), the retention of this component of meaning was accomplished in the present translation by the phrase “as…sons.”

[1:5]  ⁴ tn Or “good pleasure.”

[1:20]  ⁵ tn Grk “which” (v. 20 is a subordinate clause to v. 19).

[1:20]  ⁶ tn The verb “exercised” (the aorist of ἐνεργέω, energew) has its nominal cognate in “exercise” in v. 19 (ἐνέργεια, energeia).

[1:20]  ⁷ tn Or “This power he exercised in Christ by raising him”; Grk “raising him.” The adverbial participle ἐγείρας (egeiras) could be understood as temporal (“when he raised [him]”), which would be contemporaneous to the action of the finite verb “he exercised” earlier in the verse, or as means (“by raising [him]”). The participle has been translated here with the temporal nuance to allow for means to also be a possible interpretation. If the translation focused instead upon means, the temporal nuance would be lost as the time frame for the action of the participle would become indistinct.

[1:20]  ⁸ tc The majority of mss, especially the Western and Byzantine mss (D F G Ψ Ï b r Ambst), have the indicative ἐκάθισεν (ekaqisen, “he seated”) for καθίσας (kaqisa", “when he seated, by seating”). The indicative is thus coordinate with ἐνήργησεν (enhrghsen, “he exercised”) and provides an additional statement to “he exercised his power.” The participle (found in Ì^92vid א A B 0278 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 2464 al), on the other hand, is coordinate with ἐγείρας (egeiras) and as such provides evidence of God’s power: He exercised his power by raising Christ from the dead and by seating him at his right hand. As intriguing as the indicative reading is, it is most likely an intentional alteration of the original wording, accomplished by an early “Western” scribe, which made its way in the Byzantine text.

[1:20]  ⁹ sn Eph 1:19-20. The point made in these verses is that the power required to live a life pleasing to God is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. For a similar thought, cf. John 15:1-11.

[1:22]  ⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:22]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “subjected.”

[1:22]  ¹¹ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:22]  ¹² sn An allusion to Ps 8:6.

[1:22]  ¹³ tn Grk “and he gave him as head over all things to the church.”

[2:5]  ¹³ tn Or “by grace you have been saved.” The perfect tense in Greek connotes both completed action (“you have been saved”) and continuing results (“you are saved”).

[2:8]  ¹⁷ tn See note on the same expression in v. 5.

[2:8]  ¹⁸ tc The feminine article is found before πίστεως (pistews, “faith”) in the Byzantine text as well as in A Ψ 1881 pc. Perhaps for some scribes the article was intended to imply creedal fidelity as a necessary condition of salvation (“you are saved through the faith”), although elsewhere in the corpus Paulinum the phrase διὰ τῆς πίστεως (dia th" pistew") is used for the act of believing rather than the content of faith (cf. Rom 3:30, 31; Gal 3:14; Eph 3:17; Col 2:12). On the other side, strong representatives of the Alexandrian and Western texts (א B D* F G P 0278 6 33 1739 al bo) lack the article. Hence, both text-critically and exegetically, the meaning of the text here is most likely “saved through faith” as opposed to “saved through the faith.” Regarding the textual problem, the lack of the article is the preferred reading.

[2:20]  ²¹ tn Grk “having been built.”

[2:20]  ²² sn Apostles and prophets. Because the prophets appear after the mention of the apostles and because they are linked together in 3:5 as recipients of revelation about the church, they are to be regarded not as Old Testament prophets, but as New Testament prophets.

[2:20]  ²³ tn Grk “while Christ Jesus himself is” or “Christ Jesus himself being.”

[2:20]  ²⁴ tn Or perhaps “capstone” (NAB). The meaning of ἀκρογωνιαῖος (akrogwniaio") is greatly debated. The meaning “capstone” is proposed by J. Jeremias (TDNT 1:792), but the most important text for this meaning (T. Sol. 22:7-23:4) is late and possibly not even an appropriate parallel. The only place ἀκρογωνιαῖος is used in the LXX is Isa 28:16, and there it clearly refers to a cornerstone that is part of a foundation. Furthermore, the imagery in this context has the building growing off the cornerstone upward, whereas if Christ were the capstone, he would not assume his position until the building was finished, which vv. 21-22 argue against.

[4:1]  ²⁵ tn Grk “prisoner in the Lord.”

[4:1]  ²⁶ tn Grk “walk.” The verb “walk” in the NT letters refers to the conduct of one’s life, not to physical walking.

[4:1]  ²⁷ sn With which you have been called. The calling refers to the Holy Spirit’s prompting that caused them to believe. The author is thus urging his readers to live a life that conforms to their saved status before God.

[4:15]  ²⁹ tn The meaning of the participle ἀληθεύοντες (alhqeuonte"; from the verb ἀληθεύω [alhqeuw]) is debated. In classical times the verb could mean “to speak the truth,” or “to be true, to prove true.” In the LXX it appears five times (Gen 20:16; 42:16; Prov 21:3; Isa 44:26; Sir 34:4) and translates four different Hebrew words; there it is an ethical term used of proving or being true, not with the idea of speaking the truth. In the NT the only other place the verb appears is in Gal 4:16 where it means “to speak the truth.” However, in Ephesians the concept of “being truthful” is the best sense of the word. In contrast to the preceding verse, where there are three prepositional phrases to denote falsehood and deceit, the present word speaks of being real or truthful in both conduct and speech. Their deceit was not only in their words but also in their conduct. In other words, the believers’ conduct should be transparent, revealing the real state of affairs, as opposed to hiding or suppressing the truth through cunning and deceit. See H. W. Hoehner, Ephesians, 564-65, and R. Bultmann, TDNT 1:251.

[4:25]  ³³ sn A quotation from Zech 8:16.

[5:19]  ³⁷ tn See BDAG 1096 s.v. ψάλλω.

[5:19]  ³⁸ tn Or “with.”

[5:20]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “for all.” The form “all” can be either neuter or masculine.

[5:32]  ⁴⁵ tn The term “actually” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to bring out the heightened sense of the statement.

[6:2]  ⁴⁹ sn A quotation from Exod 20:12 and Deut 5:16.

[6:4]  ⁵³ tn Or perhaps “Parents” (so TEV, CEV). The plural οἱ πατέρες (Joi patere", “fathers”) can be used to refer to both the male and female parent (BDAG 786 s.v. πατήρ 1.b).

[6:4]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “do not make your children angry.” BDAG 780 s.v. παροργίζω states “make angry.” The Greek verb in Col 3:21 is a different one with a slightly different nuance.

[6:6]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “not according to eye-service.”

[6:6]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “from the soul.”