Efesus 1:6

1:6 to the praise of the glory of his grace ¹  that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. ² 

Efesus 1:8-10

1:8 that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight. 1:9 He did this when he revealed ³  to us the secret ⁴  of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth ⁵  in Christ, ⁶  1:10 toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up ⁷  all things in Christ – the things in heaven ⁸  and the things on earth. ⁹ 

Efesus 2:4

2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us,

Efesus 3:2-3

3:2 if indeed ¹⁰  you have heard of the stewardship ¹¹  of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3:3 that ¹²  by revelation the divine secret ¹³  was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly. ¹⁴ 

Efesus 3:7

3:7 I became a servant of this gospel ¹⁵  according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by ¹⁶  the exercise of his power. ¹⁷ 

Efesus 3:9

3:9 and to enlighten ¹⁸  everyone about God’s secret plan ¹⁹  – a secret that has been hidden for ages ²⁰  in God ²¹  who has created all things.

Efesus 3:11

3:11 This was according to ²²  the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Efesus 3:14

Prayer for Strengthened Love

3:14 For this reason ²³  I kneel ²⁴  before the Father, ²⁵ 

Efesus 3:21

3:21 to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

[1:6]  ¹ tn Or “to the praise of his glorious grace.” Many translations translate δόξης τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ (doxh" th" carito" autou, literally “of the glory of his grace”) with τῆς χάριτος as an attributed genitive (cf., e.g., NIV, NRSV, ESV). The translation above has retained a literal rendering in order to make clear the relationship of this phrase to the other two similar phrases in v. 12 and 14, which affect the way one divides the material in the passage.

[1:6]  ² tn Grk “the beloved.” The term ἠγαπημένῳ (hgaphmenw) means “beloved,” but often bears connotations of “only beloved” in an exclusive sense. “His dearly loved Son” picks up this connotation.

[1:6]  sn God’s grace can be poured out on believers only because of what Christ has done for them. Hence, he bestows his grace on us because we are in his dearly loved Son.

[1:9]  ³ tn Or “He did this by revealing”; Grk “making known, revealing.” Verse 9 begins with a participle dependent on “lavished” in v. 8; the adverbial participle could be understood as temporal (“when he revealed”), which would be contemporaneous to the action of the finite verb “lavished,” or as means (“by revealing”). The participle has been translated here with the temporal nuance to allow for means to also be a possible interpretation. If the translation focused instead upon means, the temporal nuance would be lost as the time frame for the action of the participle would become indistinct.

[1:9]  ⁴ tn Or “mystery.” In the NT μυστήριον (musthrion) refers to a divine secret previously undisclosed.

[1:9]  ⁵ tn Or “purposed,” “publicly displayed.” Cf. Rom 3:25.

[1:9]  ⁶ tn Grk “in him”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[1:9]  sn In Christ. KJV has “in himself” as though the antecedent were God the Father. Although possible, the notion of the verb set forth (Greek προτίθημι, protiqhmi) implies a plan that is carried out in history (cf. Rom 1:13; 3:25) and thus more likely refers to Christ.

[1:10]  ⁷ tn The precise meaning of the infinitive ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι (anakefalaiwsasqai) in v. 10 is difficult to determine since it was used relatively infrequently in Greek literature and only twice in the NT (here and Rom 13:9). While there have been several suggestions, three deserve mention: (1) “To sum up.” In Rom 13:9, using the same term, the author there says that the law may be “summarized in one command, to love your neighbor as yourself.” The idea then in Eph 1:10 would be that all things in heaven and on earth can be summed up and made sense out of in relation to Christ. (2) “To renew.” If this is the nuance of the verb then all things in heaven and earth, after their plunge into sin and ruin, are renewed by the coming of Christ and his redemption. (3) “To head up.” In this translation the idea is that Christ, in the fullness of the times, has been exalted so as to be appointed as the ruler (i.e., “head”) over all things in heaven and earth (including the church). That this is perhaps the best understanding of the verb is evidenced by the repeated theme of Christ’s exaltation and reign in Ephesians and by the connection to the κεφαλή- (kefalh-) language of 1:22 (cf. Schlier, TDNT 3:682; L&N 63.8; M. Barth, Ephesians [AB 34], 1:89-92; contra A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians [WBC], 32-33).

[1:10]  ⁸ tn Grk “the heavens.”

[1:10]  ⁹ sn And the things on earth. Verse 10 ends with “in him.” The redundancy keeps the focus on Christ at the expense of good Greek style. Verse 11 repeats the reference with a relative pronoun (“in whom”) – again, at the expense of good Greek style. Although the syntax is awkward, the theology is rich. This is not the first time that a NT writer was so overcome with awe for his Lord that he seems to have lost control of his pen. Indeed, it happened frequently enough that some have labeled their christologically motivated solecisms an “apostolic disease.”

[3:2]  ¹⁰ sn If indeed. The author is not doubting whether his audience has heard, but is rather using provocative language (if indeed) to engage his audience in thinking about the magnificence of God’s grace. However, in English translation, the apodosis (“then”-clause) does not come until v. 13, leaving the protasis (“if”-clause) dangling. Eph 3:2-7 constitute one sentence in Greek.

[3:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “administration,” “dispensation,” “commission.”

[3:3]  ¹² tn Or “namely, that is.”

[3:3]  ¹³ tn Or “mystery.”

[3:3]  ¹⁴ tn Or “as I wrote above briefly.”

[3:3]  sn As I wrote briefly may refer to the author’s brief discussion of the divine secret in 1:9.

[3:7]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “of which I was made a minister,” “of which I became a servant.”

[3:7]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “according to.”

[3:7]  ¹⁷ sn On the exercise of his power see 1:19-20.

[3:9]  ¹⁸ tn There is a possible causative nuance in the Greek verb, but this is difficult to convey in the translation.

[3:9]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “what is the plan of the divine secret.” Earlier the author had used οἰκονομία (oikonomia; here “plan”) to refer to his own “stewardship” (v. 2). But now he is speaking about the content of this secret, not his own activity in relation to it.

[3:9]  ²⁰ tn Or “for eternity,” or perhaps “from the Aeons.” Cf. 2:2, 7.

[3:9]  ²¹ tn Or “by God.” It is possible that ἐν (en) plus the dative here indicates agency, that is, that God has performed the action of hiding the secret. However, this usage of the preposition ἐν is quite rare in the NT, and even though here it does follow a perfect passive verb as in the Classical idiom, it is more likely that a different nuance is intended.

[3:11]  ²² tn Grk “according to.” The verse is a prepositional phrase subordinate to v. 10.

[3:14]  ²³ sn For this reason resumes the point begun in v. 1, after a long parenthesis.

[3:14]  ²⁴ tn Grk “I bend my knees.”

[3:14]  ²⁵ tc Most Western and Byzantine witnesses, along with a few others (א² D F G Ψ 0278 1881 Ï lat sy), have “of our Lord Jesus Christ” after “Father,” but such an edifying phrase cannot explain the rise of the reading that lacks it, especially when the shorter reading is attested by early and important witnesses such as Ì⁴⁶ א* A B C P 6 33 81 365 1175 1739 co Or Hier.