From here through verse 18 the writer concentrates on what Christ has done in bringing about the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles and making them one new people, united in Christ.

Verse 14 begins a new sentence that goes without a stop to the end of verse 16; the following translation shows how the Greek text is constructed: see Handbook translation|fig:Table_EPH2-14.jpg.

For Christ himself has brought us peace: The Greek text starts with the emphatic third person pronoun; hence Good News Translation Christ himself. It continues “is our peace” (Revised Standard Version). Here peace is reconciliation, the abolition of the enmity between Jews and Gentiles, so us is inclusive.

In a number of languages it is impossible to speak of “bringing peace,” for a state of peace is not something which can be brought or carried. It may, however, be possible to say “for Christ himself has caused us to be at peace.” At times peace may be expressed more effectively by a negation, for example, “For Christ himself has caused us no longer to be enemies one of the other.”

By making Jews and Gentiles one people translates what is literally “the one who made both of them one.” It may be possible in some languages to translate this statement by “by causing Jews and Gentiles to act like one tribe” or “… to live as though they came from the same region” or “… to live as though they were all of the same clan.”

The wall that separated them; “the wall of separation”: it is probable that the writer had in mind the wall (or balustrade) in the Temple precincts which separated the outside court, the court of the Gentiles, from the inside ones. If any Gentile went beyond this wall, he would be put to death. The wall was about five feet high (1 meter 60 centimeters) and, according to Josephus, at regular intervals, on pillars, notices were posted in Greek and Latin warning Gentiles not to trespass. One such notice in Greek was discovered in 1871; for the text see Robinson, pages 60, 160. The mob scene described in Acts 21.27-29 was caused by the Jews’ mistaken assumption that Paul had taken a Gentile (Trophimus, of Ephesus) beyond the wall into the inner courts of the Temple. But some commentators reject the idea that this is what the wall refers to, since (as Furnish says) the readers would have no knowledge of these details in the Jerusalem Temple. Some commentators believe the allusion is to the Gnostic concept of salvation as the destruction of the wall that separated the heavenly and earthly worlds, which was accomplished by the Redeemer’s descent from heaven.

A strictly literal translation of With his own body he broke down the wall certainly leads to misunderstanding, for it would seem to mean that in some way or other Christ had thrown his body against the wall and in this way destroyed it. Since the reference to his own body is a reference to his death, it may be essential to make this specific, for example, “by his dying on the cross he broke down, as it were, the wall that separated them,” or “… he destroyed the enmity (or, hatred) which separated them like a wall.”

Kept them enemies: “the enmity” is in apposition to “the wall of separation” and serves to define it; of course it was the enmity between Jews and Gentiles that Christ actually destroyed (compare New English Bible “the enmity which stood like a dividing wall between them”).

“In his flesh” goes with “tore down”: in the context of this sentence these words (Good News Translation his own body) refer to the crucifixion of Christ and not just to the incarnation (see in Col 1.22 “his body of flesh”). Barclay, however, takes it to mean the incarnation: “By his incarnation he destroyed the old enmity.” But “in his flesh” can be taken with the following “abolishing” (in verse 13); so Revised Standard Version; New International Version has “by abolishing in his flesh the law,” and Jerusalem Bible has “actually destroying in his own person the hostility.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

This verse, which in Greek continues without a break from verse 11, expresses the purpose of Christ’s bestowing these gifts on the church; the initial preposition “for” in the Greek is directly related to the main verb “he gave” in verse 11.

To prepare translates a Greek noun found only here in the New Testament; it denotes the action described by the verb “prepare, make ready, equip” (see Mark 1.19 and Matt 4.21, with the object “nets”). All God’s people are to be equipped to do the work of Christian service. It is not likely (as Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible say in footnote) that “the saints” are here only the particular ministers listed in verse 11. Revised Standard Version (following King James Version and American Standard Version [American Standard Version]; also Abbott) takes the phrase “for the work of service” to be a separate phrase indicating an additional purpose: “for the equipment of the saints, for the work of ministry.”

It should be noticed that the Greek manuscripts do not have punctuation marks, and that the punctuation marks in printed editions of the Greek New Testament are the work of the editors of the text.

He did this to prepare all God’s people may be expressed as “he did this in order that all God’s people would be ready to…” or “… would be able to….”

Christian service translates a Greek noun meaning “service, work,” a general term for all that a Christian is called on to do; the related noun “servant” (3.7; 6.21) was applied to those who performed humble tasks, like waiting on tables.

The phrase for the work of Christian service may be rendered “for the work people who follow Christ must do” or “in order to do what they should as believers” or “in order to help others as believers should.”

To build up translates the Greek noun for “building” (see 2.21; 4.16), and for the body of Christ see 1.23 (also 2.6; 4.4). This last clause is closely dependent on the previous one but is also, like the previous one, related to the main verb “he gave” in verse 11.

The clause in order to build up the body of Christ contains a type of mixed metaphor, since “building up” would refer primarily to construction, while the body of Christ is a group of people. The verbal phrase to build up can be translated in some languages by “caused to grow” or “caused to grow strong.” The whole purpose clause can be translated “in order to strengthen the body of Christ” or “in order to strengthen the believers as the body of Christ.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

In Greek this verse is a participial clause, related to what precedes; verses 19 and 20 both begin with participles also (verse 19 “speaking among yourselves”; verse 20 “giving thanks always”), and this participle “submitting (to one another),” like the other two, is syntactically dependent on the main verb in verse 18, “be filled with the Spirit.” All editions of the Greek New Testament join this verse to the preceding section (as do New American Bible, Translator’s New Testament, and others), but most modern translations (Moffatt, Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and others) join it to what follows. As Beare points out, the participle is often used in the New Testament in an imperatival sense, and here it points forward, not backward; the following verse does not have a verb, which must be supplied from verse 21. So Good News Translation joins verse 21 with what follows.

For the verb “to submit” (also 1.22; 5.24) see the discussion in the next verse. Each Christian is to make his or her interests subordinate to those of his or her fellow Christian. In a number of languages the closest equivalent of submit yourselves to one another is “be willing to obey one another.” One might also employ such expressions as “be willing to accept orders from one another” or “willingly accept what others say you should do.”

“In the fear of Christ” is how New English Bible translates the last phrase in the verse; Translator’s New Testament “out of reverence for Christ.” This is the basic attitude that makes obedience to this command possible (compare Mark 10.43-45). See similar exhortations in Romans 12.10; Philippians 2.3.

The phrase because of your reverence for Christ may be turned into a clause, for example, “because of the way in which you revere Christ.” Or else the translation may be “in order to honor Christ” or “as proof of your reverence for Christ.” But in many languages there may not be a fully satisfactory word for either reverence or “revere.” The closest equivalent may be “regard Christ as Lord” or “regard Christ as one who should be obeyed.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!: the opening words, “Blessed (be) the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” are exactly the same as in 2 Corinthians 1.3. The Greek passive adjective translated “blessed” is in the predicate position, and the meaning is either “God is blessed” or “God is to be blessed,” depending on whether the joining verb is thought to be the indicative or the imperative (or optative) of the verb “to be.” The Septuagint, a translation of the Old Testament into Greek, translates the Hebrew expression (for example, Psa 72.18) “God is to be praised, he is praiseworthy.” The “blessing” which people call upon God is in terms of praise and thanksgiving; the meaning, then, of the Greek “blessed be/is God” will be “Let us praise God” or “We praise God.”

In a number of languages the equivalent of “let us praise God” would be “we should praise God” or “it is only right that we praise God.” Since in some languages the equivalent of “praise” is really a form of direct address (praise always involves some type of communication of content), it may be necessary to translate “praise” as involving some appropriate content, for example, “let us say about God, He is wonderful.”

God is addressed as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; he is at the same time the Father of Jesus Christ (who is our Lord) and his God. The meaning is not the same as in Colossians 1.3, for example, which says “God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” in which the second element defines the first. In this passage there are two separate aspects, and this should be made clear in translation.

In some languages there is an acute problem involved in the coordinate phrase the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for this might be interpreted to refer to two different persons because of the conjunction “and.” Therefore it may be necessary to translate this expression as “to God, who is the God of our Lord Jesus and also his Father,” or “to God, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and also the one he worships.”

The name Jesus Christ should be treated simply as a proper name in this context, but the term Lord should be translated in such a way as to indicate not only his authority but also something of his greatness. In some languages the closest equivalent is “our Chief.” In other languages “our Leader.” And in certain cases the closest equivalent is “the one who commands us” or “the one whom we all obey.”

In our union with Christ: this much-used phrase in the Pauline letters (literally “in Christ”) is generally taken to indicate the believer’s union with Christ (see Eph. 1.1). Here it states the condition existing for the blessing which God gives to the believer. This may be stated in many languages as a causal clause, for example, “because we are related to Christ” or “because we have become one with Christ.” It may be necessary to restructure so as to show clearly that God is the one who blesses, for example, “For as we are united with Christ, God has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world.”

He has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing: the aorist participle of the Greek verb “to bless” is essentially timeless and need not be translated by the past tense of the verb; it can be taken to mean “who blesses” if it is understood that the present tense “blesses” is timeless and simply characterizes God as the one who blesses, without reference to any specific time.

God’s blessings are defined as “spiritual”; there may be an indirect reference here to the Holy Spirit, but most likely the adjective is used here to contrast with what would be called material or worldly benefits. Instead of every spiritual blessing the text can be taken to mean “every kind of spiritual blessing.” For discussion of spiritual blessing see the treatment of the section heading “Spiritual Blessings in Christ” (preceding verse 3).

In the heavenly world: the Greek phrase is found in Ephesians five times (1.3, 20; 2.6; 3.10; 6.12) and nowhere else in the New Testament. The adjective means “heavenly”; it can be used as a substantive, as in Philippians 2.10, “the heavenly beings,” and Hebrews 9.23, “the heavenly things.” In all occurrences of the word outside Ephesians (John 3.12; 1 Cor 15.40, 48-49; Phil 2.10; 2 Tim 4.18; Heb 3.1; 6.4; 8.5; 9.23; 11.17; 12.22) the meaning is clear, the reference being to heaven as God’s abode, as distinct from earth; but the matter is not so simple in Ephesians. In this letter the word “heaven” (literally “the heavens”) occurs four times: 1.10; 3.15 (in both passages it is contrasted with earth); 6.9 (“your Lord and theirs is in heaven”); and 4.10, where the phrase “above all the heavens” defines the phrase “in the height” in the quotation in 4.8 (see below). But the Greek phrase “in the heavenlies” cannot simply be equated with “heaven” as a place distinct from earth. It does have this meaning in 1.20 (where God and Christ dwell in power); in 2.6 the writer says that we have already been raised together with Christ and made to sit with him “in the heavenlies”; in 6.12 the “(evil) rulers and authorities” against which we now fight are “in the heavenlies” (as they are in 3.10). Briefly, the term is not an exact synonym for “heaven,” thought of as the place removed from the world, where God lives; it has a broader reference. It is the spiritual world, the timeless, supra-material realm where those spiritual events referred to take place. Westcott’s definition is: “the supra-mundane, supra-sensual, eternal order.” Barth speaks of it as “not defined by geographical limits but determined by the exertion of power … [which is] not limited to an intangible and invisible sphere but … exerts its influence upon life, history, and conduct on earth.” Good News Translation has the heavenly world; Moffatt “the heavenly sphere”; Goodspeed “the heavenly realm”; Translator’s New Testament “the supernatural world.” It seems advisable to use some word or phrase different from “heaven” or “the heavens.”

In some languages it may be possible to speak of “in the heavenlies” as being “in all that pertains to what is like heaven” or “to all which is like heaven here on earth” or “in everything which relates to heaven” or even “in everything which relates to God in heaven.”

There seems to be no difficulty in seeing how Good News Translation has rearranged the material in verse 3; Revised Standard Version seems equally clear except for its literal rendition “in Christ,” which can be taken in an instrumental sense, Christ being the means by which God has blessed us; this sense is possible (so German common language translation [Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch], Phillips), but it seems better to take it as Good News Translation has done (also Bible en français courant, Brazilian common language translation [Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje], Barclay).

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

The first part of this verse seems to be a quotation from Septuagint Psalm 4.4. The New Testament text is exactly like that of the Septuagint, “be angry and do not sin,” but the first verb in the Hebrew text of Psalm 4.4 seems to indicate fear, and in the context the notion of anger seems out of place. So Good News Translation “Tremble with fear and stop sinning.” But Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, Zürcher all translate the first verb by “Be angry.” In a formal sense it is a command, “Be angry” (so Revised Standard Version), but this imperative functions as a concession, that is, “Be angry, if you must” or “You are bound to get angry, but….” The main point the writer makes is that anger should not be nourished: “do not let the sun go down on your anger” (Revised Standard Version). Sunset marked the end of one day and the beginning of another day; a Christian should not continue to be angry with his fellow believer from one day to the next but should seek reconciliation at once. The Greek noun for “anger” occurs only here in the New Testament. Accordingly, some (Westcott, Murray) want to understand the noun here to mean “provocation”; if this is taken in the passive sense, it denotes the result of being provoked and so means “irritation, anger” (so Robinson); but if it is taken in the active sense, then it means a cause of irritation to others.

In some languages it is necessary to indicate the reasons for being angry, and therefore the conditional clause If you become angry must sometimes be expanded as “If you become angry with someone” or “It may happen that you get angry, but….” The second part of this condition, namely, do not let your anger lead you into sin, may be translated as a causative, for example, “do not let that cause you to sin” or “do not permit how you feel to cause you to do wrong.”

Rather than the statement do not stay angry all day, it may be important to indicate the need for ceasing to be angry, for example, “be sure to cease being angry by evening” or “… before the sun has gone down” or “before the end of the day.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .