1:14a
And the grace of our Lord: This means that the grace came from the Lord. The Lord acted graciously or showed his grace.
grace: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as grace refers to kindness or generosity shown to someone who does not deserve it.
our: This again refers to Paul, Timothy, and the Ephesian believers.
Lord: Scholars have interpreted this in two ways:
(1) It refers to the Lord Jesus (Contemporary English Version)
(2) It refers to God the Father (probably the New Living Translation (2004 Revision))
In 1:12a Paul referred to Christ as “our Lord.” So it is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) that Lord here refers to Christ.
overflowed to me: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as overflowed literally means “was more abundant.” Here the verb is used figuratively. The sense is that the Lord was extremely kind. Other possible ways to say this are:
The Lord generously poured out his grace upon me.
-or-
The Lord was wonderfully kind to me.
1:14b
along with: Along with grace, Christ gave Paul “faith” and “love.”
faith: This refers to Paul’s faith in Christ.
love: In this context Paul probably meant that he was able both to love God and other people. To love God primarily means to obey him (1 John 5:3). To love other people primarily means to serve and help them (1 Corinthians 13:4–7; 1 John 3:16–18).
1:14c
that are in Christ Jesus: Scholars disagree about what the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as that are refers to. There are two ways to interpret this:
(1) Paul meant that both faith and love are in Christ Jesus. For example, the Good News Translation says:
the faith and love which are ours in union with Christ Jesus
(Berean Standard Bible, Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, New International Version (2011 Revision), New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version)
(2) Paul meant that love is in Christ Jesus For example, the New Jerusalem Bible says:
with faith and with the love that is in Christ Jesus
(New Jerusalem Bible, King James Version, God’s Word, New Living Translation (2004 Revision))
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).
in Christ Jesus: Paul said here that the faith and love that he received were in Christ Jesus. By this, he meant that he was able to trust and to love because he was now united with Christ Jesus.
© 2003 by SIL International®
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.
