Efesus 1:23

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

Efesus 4:4

4:4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling,

Efesus 4:12

4:12 to equip ³  the saints for the work of ministry, that is, ⁴  to build up the body of Christ,

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 5:30

5:30 for we are members of his body. ⁷ 

[1:23]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Or perhaps, “who is filled entirely.”

[1:23]  sn The idea of all in all is either related to the universe (hence, he fills the whole universe entirely) or the church universal (hence, Christ fills the church entirely with his presence and power).

[4:12]  ³ tn On the translation of πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων (pro" ton katartismon twn Jagiwn) as “to equip the saints” see BDAG 526 s.v. καταρτισμός. In this case the genitive is taken as objective and the direct object of the verbal idea implied in καταρτισμός (katartismo").

[4:12]  ⁴ tn The εἰς (eis) clause is taken as epexegetical to the previous εἰς clause, namely, εἰς ἔργον διακονίας (ei" ergon diakonia").

[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.”

[5:30]  ⁷ tc Most Western witnesses, as well as the majority of Byzantine mss and a few others (א² D F G Ψ 0278 0285^vid Ï lat), add the following words to the end of the verse: ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων αὐτοῦ (ek th" sarko" autou kai ek twn ostewn autou, “of his body and of his bones”). This is a (slightly modified) quotation from Gen 2:23a (LXX). The Alexandrian text is solidly behind the shorter reading (Ì⁴⁶ א* A B 048 33 81 1739* 1881 pc). Although it is possible that an early scribe’s eye skipped over the final αὐτοῦ, there is a much greater likelihood that a scribe added the Genesis quotation in order to fill out and make explicit the author’s incomplete reference to Gen 2:23. Further, on intrinsic grounds, it seems unlikely that the author would refer to the physical nature of creation when speaking of the “body of Christ” which is spiritual or mystical. Hence, as is often the case with OT quotations, the scribal clarification missed the point the author was making; the shorter reading stands as original.