Ephesians 6:7

6:7 Obey ¹  with enthusiasm, as though serving the Lord ²  and not people,

Ephesians 4:8

4:8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he captured ³  captives; he gave gifts to men.” ⁴ 

Ephesians 4:22

4:22 You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside ⁵  the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires,

Ephesians 4:24

4:24 and to put on the new man who has been created in God’s image ⁶  – in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth. ⁷ 

Ephesians 3:5

3:5 Now this secret ⁸  was not disclosed to people ⁹  in former ¹⁰  generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by ¹¹  the Spirit,

Ephesians 3:16

3:16 I pray that ¹²  according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person,

Ephesians 4:14

4:14 So ¹³  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. ¹⁴ 

Ephesians 5:31

5:31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become ¹⁵  one flesh. ¹⁶ 

Ephesians 2:15

2:15 when he nullified ¹⁷  in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man ¹⁸  out of two, ¹⁹  thus making peace,

[6:7]  ¹ tn Though the verb does not appear again at this point in the passage, it is nonetheless implied and supplied in the English translation for the sake of clarity.

[6:7]  ² tn Grk “serving as to the Lord.”

[4:8]  ³ tn Grk “he led captive captivity.”

[4:8]  ⁴ sn A quotation which is perhaps ultimately derived from Ps 68:18. However, the wording here differs from that of Ps 68 in both the Hebrew text and the LXX in a few places, the most significant of which is reading “gave gifts to” in place of “received gifts from” as in HT and LXX. It has sometimes been suggested that the author of Ephesians modified the text he was citing in order to better support what he wanted to say here. Such modifications are sometimes found in rabbinic exegesis from this and later periods, but it is also possible that the author was simply citing a variant of Ps 68 known to him but which has not survived outside its quotation here (W. H. Harris, The Descent of Christ [AGJU 32], 104). Another possibility is that the words here, which strongly resemble Ps 68:19 HT and LXX (68:18 ET), are actually part of an early Christian hymn quoted by the author.

[4:22]  ⁵ tn An alternative rendering for the infinitives in vv. 22-24 (“to lay aside… to be renewed… to put on”) is “that you have laid aside… that you are being renewed… that you have put on.” The three infinitives of vv. 22 (ἀποθέσθαι, apoqesqai), 23 (ἀνανεοῦσθαι, ananeousqai), and 24 (ἐνδύσασθαι, endusasqai), form part of an indirect discourse clause; they constitute the teaching given to the believers addressed in the letter. The problem in translation is that one cannot be absolutely certain whether they go back to indicatives in the original statement (i.e., “you have put off”) or imperatives (i.e., “put off!”). Every other occurrence of an aorist infinitive in indirect discourse in the NT goes back to an imperative, but in all of these examples the indirect discourse is introduced by a verb that implies a command. The verb διδάσκω (didaskw) in the corpus Paulinum may be used to relate the indicatives of the faith as well as the imperatives. This translation implies that the infinitives go back to imperatives, though the alternate view that they refer back to indicatives is also a plausible interpretation. For further discussion, see ExSyn 605.

[4:24]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Or “in righteousness and holiness which is based on truth” or “originated from truth.”

[3:5]  ⁹ tn Grk “which.” Verse 5 is technically a relative clause, subordinate to the thought of v. 4.

[3:5]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the sons of men” (a Semitic idiom referring to human beings, hence, “people”).

[3:5]  ¹¹ tn Grk “other.”

[3:5]  ¹² tn Or “in.”

[3:16]  ¹¹ tn Grk “that.” In Greek v. 16 is a subordinate clause to vv. 14-15.

[4:14]  ¹³ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:14]  ¹⁴ 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.

[5:31]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “the two shall be as one flesh.”

[5:31]  ¹⁶ sn A quotation from Gen 2:24.

[2:15]  ¹⁷ tn Or “rendered inoperative.” This is a difficult text to translate because it is not easy to find an English term which communicates well the essence of the author’s meaning, especially since legal terminology is involved. Many other translations use the term “abolish” (so NRSV, NASB, NIV), but this term implies complete destruction which is not the author’s meaning here. The verb καταργέω (katargew) can readily have the meaning “to cause someth. to lose its power or effectiveness” (BDAG 525 s.v. 2, where this passage is listed), and this meaning fits quite naturally here within the author’s legal mindset. A proper English term which communicates this well is “nullify” since this word carries the denotation of “making something legally null and void.” This is not, however, a common English word. An alternate term like “rendered inoperative [or ineffective]” is also accurate but fairly inelegant. For this reason, the translation retains the term “nullify”; it is the best choice of the available options, despite its problems.

[2:15]  ¹⁸ tn In this context the author is not referring to a new individual, but instead to a new corporate entity united in Christ (cf. BDAG 497 s.v. καινός 3.b: “All the Christians together appear as κ. ἄνθρωπος Eph 2:15”). This is clear from the comparison made between the Gentiles and Israel in the immediately preceding verses and the assertion in v. 14 that Christ “made both groups into one.” This is a different metaphor than the “new man” of Eph 4:24; in that passage the “new man” refers to the new life a believer has through a relationship to Christ.

[2:15]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “in order to create the two into one new man.” Eph 2:14-16 is one sentence in Greek. A new sentence was started here in the translation for clarity since contemporary English is less tolerant of extended sentences.