Ephesians 4:24

4:24 and to put on the new man who has been created in God’s image ¹  – in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth. ² 

Ephesians 2:3

2:3 among whom ³  all of us ⁴  also ⁵  formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath ⁶  even as the rest… ⁷ 

Ephesians 4:20

4:20 But you did not learn about Christ like this,

Ephesians 4:14

4:14 So ⁸  we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. ⁹ 

Ephesians 5:1

Live in Love

5:1 Therefore, be ¹⁰  imitators of God as dearly loved children

Ephesians 6:6

6:6 not like those who do their work only when someone is watching ¹¹  – as people-pleasers – but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. ¹² 

Ephesians 1:19

1:19 and what is the incomparable ¹³  greatness of his power toward ¹⁴  us who believe, as displayed in ¹⁵  the exercise of his immense strength. ¹⁶ 

Ephesians 4:15

4:15 But practicing the truth in love, ¹⁷  we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.

Ephesians 5:2

5:2 and live ¹⁸  in love, just as Christ also loved us ¹⁹  and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering ²⁰  to God.

Ephesians 2:2

2:2 in which ²¹  you formerly lived ²²  according to this world’s present path, ²³  according to the ruler of the kingdom ²⁴  of the air, the ruler of ²⁵  the spirit ²⁶  that is now energizing ²⁷  the sons of disobedience, ²⁸ 

[4:24]  ¹ tn Or “in God’s likeness.” Grk “according to God.” The preposition κατά used here denotes a measure of similarity or equality (BDAG 513 s.v. B.5.b.α).

[4:24]  ² tn Or “in righteousness and holiness which is based on truth” or “originated from truth.”

[2:3]  ³ sn Among whom. The relative pronoun phrase that begins v. 3 is identical, except for gender, to the one that begins v. 2 (ἐν αἵς [en Jais], ἐν οἵς [en Jois]). By the structure, the author is building an argument for our hopeless condition: We lived in sin and we lived among sinful people. Our doom looked to be sealed as well in v. 2: Both the external environment (kingdom of the air) and our internal motivation and attitude (the spirit that is now energizing) were under the devil’s thumb (cf. 2 Cor 4:4).

[2:3]  ⁴ tn Grk “we all.”

[2:3]  ⁵ tn Or “even.”

[2:3]  ⁶ sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”

[2:3]  ⁷ sn Eph 2:1-3. The translation of vv. 1-3 is very literal, even to the point of retaining the awkward syntax of the original. See note on the word dead in 2:1.

[4:14]  ⁵ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:14]  ⁶ tn While the sense of the passage is clear enough, translation in English is somewhat difficult. The Greek says: “by the trickery of men, by craftiness with the scheme of deceit.” The point is that the author is concerned about Christians growing into maturity. He is fearful that certain kinds of very cunning people, who are skilled at deceitful scheming, should come in and teach false doctrines which would in turn stunt the growth of the believers.

[5:1]  ⁷ tn Or “become.”

[6:6]  ⁹ tn Grk “not according to eye-service.”

[6:6]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “from the soul.”

[1:19]  ¹¹ tn Or “immeasurable, surpassing”

[1:19]  ¹² tn Or “for, to”

[1:19]  ¹³ tn Grk “according to.”

[1:19]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “according to the exercise of the might of his strength.”

[4:15]  ¹³ 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.

[5:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “walk.” The NT writers often used the verb “walk” (περιπατέω, peripatew) to refer to ethical conduct (cf. Rom 8:4; Gal 5:16; Col 4:5).

[5:2]  ¹⁶ tc A number of important witnesses have ὑμᾶς (Jumas, “you”; e.g., א* A B P 0159 81 1175 al it co as well as several fathers). Other, equally important witnesses read ἡμᾶς (Jhmas, “us”; Ì⁴⁶ א² D F G Ψ 0278 33 1739 1881 al lat sy). It is possible that ἡμᾶς was accidentally introduced via homoioarcton with the previous word (ἠγάπησεν, hgaphsen). On the other hand, ὑμᾶς may have been motivated by the preceding ὑμῖν (Jumin) in 4:32 and second person verbs in 5:1, 2. Further, the flow of argument seems to require the first person pronoun. A decision is difficult to make, but the first person pronoun has a slightly greater probability of being original.

[5:2]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “an offering and sacrifice to God as a smell of fragrance.” The first expression, προσφορὰν καὶ θυσίαν (prosforan kai qusian), is probably a hendiadys and has been translated such that “sacrificial” modifies “offering.” The second expression, εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας (ei" osmhn euwdia", “as a smell of fragrance”) has been translated as “a fragrant offering”; see BDAG 728-29 s.v. ὀσμή 2. Putting these two together in a clear fashion in English yields the translation: “a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.”

[2:2]  ¹⁷ sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “walked.”

[2:2]  ¹⁹ tn Or possibly “Aeon.”

[2:2]  ²⁰ tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ²¹ tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ²⁴ 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.