Ephesians 2:1-2

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ¹  dead ²  in your transgressions and sins, 2:2 in which ³  you formerly lived ⁴  according to this world’s present path, ⁵  according to the ruler of the kingdom ⁶  of the air, the ruler of ⁷  the spirit ⁸  that is now energizing ⁹  the sons of disobedience, ¹⁰ 

Ephesians 2:12-13

2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, ¹¹  alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, ¹²  having no hope and without God in the world. 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹³ 

Ephesians 2:19-21

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 ¹⁴  on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, ¹⁵  with Christ Jesus himself as ¹⁶  the cornerstone. ¹⁷  2:21 In him ¹⁸  the whole building, ¹⁹  being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,

[2:1]  ¹ tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

[2:1]  ² 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.

[2:2]  ³ sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ⁴ tn Grk “walked.”

[2:2]  ⁵ tn Or possibly “Aeon.”

[2:2]  ⁶ tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ⁷ tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ⁸ sn The ruler of the kingdom of the air is also the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. Although several translations regard the ruler to be the same as the spirit, this is unlikely since the cases in Greek are different (ruler is accusative and spirit is genitive). To get around this, some have suggested that the genitive for spirit is a genitive of apposition. However, the semantics of the genitive of apposition are against such an interpretation (cf. ExSyn 100).

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ¹⁰ sn Sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” However, it also contains a subtle allusion to vv. 4-10: Some of those sons of disobedience have become sons of God.

[2:12]  ¹¹ tn Or “without Christ.” Both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.” Because the context refers to ancient Israel’s messianic expectation, “Messiah” was employed in the translation at this point rather than “Christ.”

[2:12]  ¹² tn Or “covenants of the promise.”

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

[2:20]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “having been built.”

[2:20]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “while Christ Jesus himself is” or “Christ Jesus himself being.”

[2:20]  ¹⁷ 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.

[2:21]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “in whom” (v. 21 is a relative clause, subordinate to v. 20).

[2:21]  ¹⁹ 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.”