Ephesians 4:13

4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God – a mature person, attaining to ¹  the measure of Christ’s full stature. ² 

Ephesians 1:5

1:5 He did this by predestining ³  us to adoption as his ⁴  sons ⁵  through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure ⁶  of his will –

Ephesians 3:5

3:5 Now this secret ⁷  was not disclosed to people ⁸  in former ⁹  generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by ¹⁰  the Spirit,

Ephesians 5:6

Live in the Light

5:6 Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. ¹¹ 

Ephesians 2:2

2:2 in which ¹²  you formerly lived ¹³  according to this world’s present path, ¹⁴  according to the ruler of the kingdom ¹⁵  of the air, the ruler of ¹⁶  the spirit ¹⁷  that is now energizing ¹⁸  the sons of disobedience, ¹⁹ 

Ephesians 1:6-7

1:6 to the praise of the glory of his grace ²⁰  that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. ²¹  1:7 In him ²²  we have redemption through his blood, ²³  the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace

[4:13]  ¹ tn The words “attaining to” were supplied in the translation to pick up the καταντήσωμεν (katanthswmen) mentioned earlier in the sentence and the εἰς (eis) which heads up this clause.

[4:13]  ² tn Grk “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” On this translation of ἡλικία (Jhlikia, “stature”) see BDAG 436 s.v. 3.

[1:5]  ³ tn Grk “by predestining.” Verse 5 begins with an aorist participle dependent on the main verb in v. 4 (“chose”).

[1:5]  ⁴ tn Grk “to himself” after “through Jesus Christ.”

[1:5]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Or “good pleasure.”

[3:5]  ⁵ tn Grk “which.” Verse 5 is technically a relative clause, subordinate to the thought of v. 4.

[3:5]  ⁶ tn Grk “the sons of men” (a Semitic idiom referring to human beings, hence, “people”).

[3:5]  ⁷ tn Grk “other.”

[3:5]  ⁸ tn Or “in.”

[5:6]  ⁷ sn The expression sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” In this context it refers to “all those who are disobedient.” Cf. Eph 2:2-3.

[2:2]  ⁹ sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “walked.”

[2:2]  ¹¹ tn Or possibly “Aeon.”

[2:2]  ¹² tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ¹³ tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ¹⁶ 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.

[1:6]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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.

[1:7]  ¹³ tn Grk “in whom” (the relative clause of v. 7 is subordinate to v. 6). The “him” refers to Christ.

[1:7]  ¹⁴ sn In this context his blood, the blood of Jesus Christ, refers to the price paid for believers’ redemption, which is the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross.