Efesus 3:13

3:13 For this reason I ask you ¹  not to lose heart because of what I am suffering for you, ²  which ³  is your glory. ⁴ 

Efesus 4:16

4:16 From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together ⁵  through every supporting ligament. ⁶  As each one does its part, the body grows in love.

Efesus 4:18

4:18 They are darkened in their understanding, ⁷  being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.

Efesus 6:4

6:4 Fathers, ⁸  do not provoke your children to anger, ⁹  but raise them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Efesus 6:6

6:6 not like those who do their work only when someone is watching ¹⁰  – as people-pleasers – but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. ¹¹ 

Efesus 6:20

6:20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak.

[3:13]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Grk “my trials on your behalf.”

[3:13]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.

[4:16]  ⁵ tn The Greek participle συμβιβαζόμενον (sumbibazomenon) translated “held together” also has in different contexts, the idea of teaching implied in it.

[4:16]  ⁶ tn Grk “joint of supply.”

[4:18]  ⁷ tn In the Greek text this clause is actually subordinate to περιπατεῖ (peripatei) in v. 17. It was broken up in the English translation so as to avoid an unnecessarily long and cumbersome statement.

[6:4]  ⁸ tn Or perhaps “Parents” (so TEV, CEV). The plural οἱ πατέρες (Joi patere", “fathers”) can be used to refer to both the male and female parent (BDAG 786 s.v. πατήρ 1.b).

[6:4]  ⁹ tn Or “do not make your children angry.” BDAG 780 s.v. παροργίζω states “make angry.” The Greek verb in Col 3:21 is a different one with a slightly different nuance.

[6:6]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “not according to eye-service.”

[6:6]  ¹¹ tn Grk “from the soul.”