Efesus 5:2

5:2 and live ¹  in love, just as Christ also loved us ²  and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering ³  to God.

Efesus 5:5

5:5 For you can be confident of this one thing: ⁴  that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Efesus 3:14

Prayer for Strengthened Love

3:14 For this reason ⁵  I kneel ⁶  before the Father, ⁷ 

Efesus 3:6

3:6 namely, that through the gospel ⁸  the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members ⁹  of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.

Efesus 2:11

New Life Corporately

2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh – who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body ¹⁰  by human hands –

Efesus 3:1

Paul's Relationship to the Divine Mystery

3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus ¹¹  for the sake of you Gentiles –

Efesus 3:8

3:8 To me – less than the least of all the saints ¹²  – this grace was given, ¹³  to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ

Efesus 4:17

Live in Holiness

4:17 So I say this, and insist ¹⁴  in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility ¹⁵  of their thinking. ¹⁶ 

Efesus 5:27

5:27 so that he ¹⁷  may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. ¹⁸ 

[5:2]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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.”

[5:5]  ⁴ tn Grk “be knowing this.” See also 2 Pet 1:20 for a similar phrase: τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες (touto prwton ginwskonte").

[3:14]  ⁵ sn For this reason resumes the point begun in v. 1, after a long parenthesis.

[3:14]  ⁶ tn Grk “I bend my knees.”

[3:14]  ⁷ 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.

[3:6]  ⁸ sn The phrase through the gospel is placed last in the sentence in Greek for emphasis. It has been moved forward for clarity.

[3:6]  ⁹ tn Grk “and fellow members.”

[2:11]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “in the flesh.”

[3:1]  ¹¹ tc Several early and important witnesses, chiefly of the Western text (א* D* F G [365]), lack ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) here, while most Alexandrian and Byzantine mss (Ì⁴⁶ א¹ A B [C] D¹ Ψ 33 1739 [1881] Ï lat sy bo) have the word. However, because of the Western text’s proclivities to add or delete to the text, seemingly at whim, serious doubts should be attached to the shorter reading. It is strengthened, however, by א’s support. Nevertheless, since both א and D were corrected with the addition of ᾿Ιησοῦ, their testimony might be questioned. Further, in uncial script the nomina sacra here could have led to missing a word by way of homoioteleuton (cMuiMu). At the same time, in light of the rarity of scribal omission of nomina sacra (see TCGNT 582, n. 1), a decision for inclusion of the word here must be tentative. NA²⁷ rightly places ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets.

[3:8]  ¹² sn In Pauline writings saints means any true believer. Thus for Paul to view himself as less than the least of all the saints is to view himself as the most unworthy object of Christ’s redemption.

[3:8]  ¹³ sn The parallel phrases to proclaim and to enlighten which follow indicate why God’s grace was manifested to Paul. Grace was not something just to be received, but to be shared with others (cf. Acts 13:47).

[4:17]  ¹⁴ tn On the translation of μαρτύρομαι (marturomai) as “insist” see BDAG 619 s.v. 2.

[4:17]  ¹⁵ tn On the translation of ματαιότης (mataioth") as “futility” see BDAG 621 s.v.

[4:17]  ¹⁶ tn Or “thoughts,” “mind.”

[5:27]  ¹⁷ tn The use of the pronoun αὐτός (autos) is intensive and focuses attention on Christ as the one who has made the church glorious.

[5:27]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “but in order that it may be holy and blameless.”