Ephesians 4:19

4:19 Because they are callous, they have given themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. ¹ 

Ephesians 1:23

1:23 Now the church is ²  his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. ³ 

Ephesians 3:13

3:13 For this reason I ask you ⁴  not to lose heart because of what I am suffering for you, ⁵  which ⁶  is your glory. ⁷ 

Ephesians 6:2

6:2 “Honor your father and mother,” ⁸  which is the first commandment accompanied by a promise, namely,

[4:19]  ¹ sn Greediness refers to an increasing desire for more and more. The point is that sinful passions and desires are never satisfied.

[1:23]  ² tn Grk “which is.” The antecedent of “which” is easily lost in English, though in Greek it is quite clear. In the translation “church” is repeated to clarify the referent.

[1:23]  ³ tn Or perhaps, “who is filled entirely.”

[3:13]  ³ tn Grk “I ask.” No direct object is given in Greek, leaving room for the possibility that either “God” (since the verb is often associated with prayer) or “you” is in view.

[3:13]  ⁴ tn Grk “my trials on your behalf.”

[3:13]  ⁵ sn Which. The antecedent (i.e., the word or concept to which this clause refers back) may be either “what I am suffering for you” or the larger concept of the recipients not losing heart over Paul’s suffering for them. The relative pronoun “which” is attracted to the predicate nominative “glory” in its gender and number (feminine singular), making the antecedent ambiguous. Paul’s suffering for them could be viewed as their glory (cf. Col 1:24 for a parallel) in that his suffering has brought about their salvation, but if so his suffering must be viewed as more than his present imprisonment in Rome; it would be a general description of his ministry overall (cf. 2 Cor 11:23-27). The other option is that the author is implicitly arguing that the believers have continued to have courage in the midst of his trials (as not to lose heart suggests) and that this is their glory. Philippians 1:27-28 offers an interesting parallel: The believers’ courage in the face of adversity is a sign of their salvation.

[3:13]  ⁶ tn Or “Or who is your glory?” The relative pronoun ἥτις (Jhti"), if divided differently, would become ἤ τίς (h ti"). Since there were no word breaks in the original mss, either word division is possible. The force of the question would be that for the readers to become discouraged over Paul’s imprisonment would mean that they were no longer trusting in God’s sovereignty.

[6:2]  ⁴ sn A quotation from Exod 20:12 and Deut 5:16.