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 1:9

1:9 He did this when he revealed ⁵  to us the secret ⁶  of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth ⁷  in Christ, ⁸ 

Ephesians 1:14

1:14 who is the down payment ⁹  of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, ¹⁰  to the praise of his glory.

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! ¹¹  –

Ephesians 2:18

2:18 so that ¹²  through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Ephesians 3:2

3:2 if indeed ¹³  you have heard of the stewardship ¹⁴  of God’s grace that was given to me for you,

Ephesians 3:4

3:4 When reading this, ¹⁵  you will be able to ¹⁶  understand my insight into this secret ¹⁷  of Christ.

Ephesians 4:7

4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Ephesians 4:15

4:15 But practicing the truth in love, ¹⁸  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, ¹⁹  for we are members of one another.

Ephesians 5:20

5:20 always giving thanks to God the Father for each other ²⁰  in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

[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.”

[1:9]  ⁵ tn Or “He did this by revealing”; Grk “making known, revealing.” Verse 9 begins with a participle dependent on “lavished” in v. 8; the adverbial participle could be understood as temporal (“when he revealed”), which would be contemporaneous to the action of the finite verb “lavished,” or as means (“by revealing”). 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.

[1:9]  ⁶ tn Or “mystery.” In the NT μυστήριον (musthrion) refers to a divine secret previously undisclosed.

[1:9]  ⁷ tn Or “purposed,” “publicly displayed.” Cf. Rom 3:25.

[1:9]  ⁸ tn Grk “in him”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[1:14]  ⁹ tn Or “first installment,” “pledge,” “deposit.”

[1:14]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the possession.”

[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”).

[2:18]  ¹⁷ tn Or “for.” BDAG gives the consecutive ὅτι (Joti) as a possible category of NT usage (BDAG 732 s.v. 5.c).

[3:2]  ²¹ 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.

[3:2]  ²² tn Or “administration,” “dispensation,” “commission.”

[3:4]  ²⁵ tn Grk “which, when reading.”

[3:4]  ²⁶ tn Grk “you are able to.”

[3:4]  ²⁷ tn Or “mystery.”

[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.

[5:20]  ³⁷ tn Grk “for all.” The form “all” can be either neuter or masculine.