Ephesians 1:6

1:6 to the praise of the glory of his grace ¹  that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. ² 

Ephesians 1:12

1:12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope ³  on Christ, ⁴  would be to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:15-16

Prayer for Wisdom and Revelation

1:15 For this reason, ⁵  because I ⁶  have heard ⁷  of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love ⁸  for all the saints, 1:16 I do not cease to give thanks for you when I remember you ⁹  in my prayers.

Ephesians 2:6

2:6 and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Ephesians 2:13

2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁰ 

Ephesians 2:21

2:21 In him ¹¹  the whole building, ¹²  being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,

Ephesians 3:3

3:3 that ¹³  by revelation the divine secret ¹⁴  was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly. ¹⁵ 

Ephesians 3:18

3:18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁶ 

Ephesians 4:4

4:4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling,

Ephesians 4:7

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

Ephesians 5:3

5:3 But ¹⁷  among you there must not be either sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, ¹⁸  or greed, as these are not fitting for the saints. ¹⁹ 

Ephesians 6:14

6:14 Stand firm therefore, by fastening ²⁰  the belt of truth around your waist, ²¹  by putting on the breastplate of righteousness,

Ephesians 6:24

6:24 Grace be ²²  with all of those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. ²³ 

[1:6]  ¹ tn Or “to the praise of his glorious grace.” Many translations translate δόξης τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ (doxh" th" carito" autou, literally “of the glory of his grace”) with τῆς χάριτος as an attributed genitive (cf., e.g., NIV, NRSV, ESV). The translation above has retained a literal rendering in order to make clear the relationship of this phrase to the other two similar phrases in v. 12 and 14, which affect the way one divides the material in the passage.

[1:6]  ² tn Grk “the beloved.” The term ἠγαπημένῳ (hgaphmenw) means “beloved,” but often bears connotations of “only beloved” in an exclusive sense. “His dearly loved Son” picks up this connotation.

[1:12]  ³ tn Or “who had already hoped.”

[1:12]  ⁴ tn Or “the Messiah.”

[1:15]  ⁵ sn The conjunctive phrase For this reason points back to the preceding section, vv. 3-14, which is also summed up in this verse in the expression because I have heard of your faith. In other words, the author’s prayer can be made for his audience because he knows that they are true believers.

[1:15]  ⁶ tn Grk “even I.”

[1:15]  ⁷ tn Grk “having also heard.”

[1:15]  ⁸ tc Ì⁴⁶ א* A B P 33 1739 1881 2464 Hier lack “your love” (τὴν ἀγάπην, thn agaphn), while various other groups of mss have different arrangements of the phrase “your love toward all the saints” (τὴν ἀγάπην τὴν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους, thn agaphn thn ei" panta" tou" Jagiou"). Most witnesses, especially the later ones (א² D¹ Ψ Ï latt sa), read τὴν ἀγάπην τὴν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους. Externally, the shorter reading is superior. Internally, the omission of τὴν ἀγάπην is a significantly harder reading, for the saints become an object of faith on par with the Lord Jesus. If this reading is authentic, however, the force of πίστις (pisti") is probably closer to “faithfulness,” a meaning that could perhaps be suitable toward both the Lord and the saints. Nevertheless, if the shorter reading is authentic, later scribes would no doubt have been tempted to alter it. With the parallel in Col 1:4 at hand, τὴν ἀγάπην would have been the most obvious phrase to add. (TCGNT 533 suggests that ἣν ἔχετε would have been added instead of the second τήν if the shorter reading were original, in conformity with Col 1:4, but this is not necessarily so: Scribes often altered the text as minimally as possible, and since the second τήν was already present, replacing it with ἣν ἔχετε, when the meaning was not significantly different from the second τήν, seems unlikely.) Further, ἀγάπην comes after “saints” (thus, τὴν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους ἀγάπην) in some witnesses (81 104 326 365 1175), and the second τήν is lacking (thus, τὴν ἀγάπην εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους) in others (D* F G). Such a floating text normally indicates inauthenticity. On the other hand, τὴν ἀγάπην could easily have dropped out of the text by way of haplography, the Alexandrian scribes’ eyes skipping from τήν to τήν. The weak first declension feminine article-noun-article construction is common enough in the NT, occurring over 40 times, yet in four of these texts there is some ms evidence for an omission similar to Eph 1:15 (Rom 11:17; 2 Tim 3:10; Rev 11:2; 21:9). But in none of these places is the Alexandrian testimony united in the omission as it is here. Further, a wholesale Alexandrian omission of τὴν ἀγάπην presupposes a much stronger genealogical relation among the Alexandrian mss than many scholars would embrace. What seems to tip the scales in favor of the longer reading, however, is the intrinsic evidence: The question of whether πίστις could be used to mean faithfulness in the general sense toward both the Lord and the saints is quite problematic. All in all, a decision is difficult, but the longer reading is, with hesitation, preferred.

[1:16]  ⁷ tn Grk “making mention [of you].”

[2:13]  ⁹ tn Or “have come near in the blood of Christ.”

[2:21]  ¹¹ tn Grk “in whom” (v. 21 is a relative clause, subordinate to v. 20).

[2:21]  ¹² tc Although several important witnesses (א¹ A C P 6 81 326 1739^c 1881) have πᾶσα ἡ οἰκοδομή (pasa Jh oikodomh), instead of πᾶσα οἰκοδομή (the reading of א* B D F G Ψ 33 1739* Ï), the article is almost surely a scribal addition intended to clarify the meaning of the text, for with the article the meaning is unambiguously “the whole building.”

[3:3]  ¹³ tn Or “namely, that is.”

[3:3]  ¹⁴ tn Or “mystery.”

[3:3]  ¹⁵ tn Or “as I wrote above briefly.”

[3:18]  ¹⁵ 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.

[5:3]  ¹⁷ 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.

[5:3]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “all impurity.”

[5:3]  ¹⁹ 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.

[6:14]  ¹⁹ sn The four participles fastening… putting on…fitting…taking up… indicate the means by which believers can take their stand against the devil and his schemes. The imperative take in v. 17 communicates another means by which to accomplish the standing, i.e., by the word of God.

[6:14]  ²⁰ tn Grk “girding your waist with truth.” In this entire section the author is painting a metaphor for his readers based on the attire of a Roman soldier prepared for battle and its similarity to the Christian prepared to do battle against spiritually evil forces. Behind the expression “with truth” is probably the genitive idea “belt of truth.” Since this is an appositional genitive (i.e., belt which is truth), the author simply left unsaid the idea of the belt and mentioned only his real focus, namely, the truth. (The analogy would have been completely understandable to his 1st century readers.) The idea of the belt is supplied in the translation to clarify the sense in English.

[6:24]  ²¹ tn Or “is.”

[6:24]  ²² tc Most witnesses (א² D Ψ Ï it sy) have ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”) at the end of the letter. Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. The earliest and best witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א* A B F G 0278 6 33 81 1175 1241 1739* 1881 sa) lack the particle, giving firm evidence that Ephesians did not originally conclude with ἀμήν.