Ephesians 2

Translator Notes

1. The sentence that begins here does not reach its main verb until verse 5 ('made us alive'). The accusative hymas ('you') is the object held in suspension — 'you who were dead.' The word nekrous ('dead') is not metaphorical softening but a real theological claim: apart from God's intervention, the human condition is spiritual death. The plural paraptōmasin ('trespasses, false steps') and hamartiais ('sins, failures to hit the mark') describe two aspects of the same reality.

Translator Notes

1. Three powers controlled the pre-Christian life: (1) ton aiōna tou kosmou toutou ('the age/course of this world') — the present evil age's value system; (2) ton archonta tēs exousias tou aeros ('the ruler of the power of the air') — a personal spiritual adversary; (3) the spirit (pneuma) at work in 'the children of disobedience' (tois huiois tēs apeitheias — a Hebraism meaning 'those characterized by disobedience'). The 'air' (aeros) was believed in ancient cosmology to be the domain of spiritual beings between earth and heaven.

Translator Notes

1. The shift from 'you' (Gentiles, vv. 1-2) to 'we all' (hēmeis pantes, including Jewish believers) universalizes the indictment — everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, was in the same condition. The phrase tekna physei orgēs ('children by nature of wrath') means that this condition was not incidental but inherent — humanity's default state. The word orgēs ('wrath') refers to God's settled opposition to sin, not emotional anger. The universality ('just like the rest') prevents any Jewish claim to exemption.

Translator Notes

1. The two-word pivot ho de theos ('but God') is among the most dramatic transitions in Scripture. After the comprehensive indictment of verses 1-3, the subject changes from human failure to divine initiative. God's mercy is not scarce but plousios ('rich, abundant, overflowing'). The motive is agapē — not human merit or potential but God's own love. The verb ēgapēsen ('he loved') is aorist, pointing to the definitive act of love in Christ.

Translator Notes

1. The main verb finally arrives: synezōopoiēsen ('made alive together with'). The syn- prefix ('together with') is the first of three 'co-' verbs (made alive with, raised with, seated with) that define the believer's participation in Christ's experience. The parenthetical chariti este sesōsmenoi ('by grace you have been saved') is a compressed version of verses 8-9, inserted as if Paul cannot wait to state the principle. The perfect participle sesōsmenoi ('having been saved and remaining saved') indicates a completed action with permanent results.

Translator Notes

1. The second and third 'co-' verbs: synēgeiren ('raised together with') and synekathisen ('seated together with'). What happened to Christ (1:20) has happened to believers 'in Christ.' The present tense of the believer's existence is described in past tenses — they have already been raised and seated. This is 'realized eschatology': the believer's spiritual position is already in the heavenly places, even while they live on earth. The en Christō Iēsou ('in Christ Jesus') is the key — apart from Christ, none of this is real.

Translator Notes

1. The purpose of salvation extends into eternity: God saved us to put his grace on permanent display. The phrase en tois aiōsin tois eperchomenois ('in the ages that are coming upon us') indicates endless future ages — an infinite gallery in which redeemed humanity is the exhibit of divine grace. The verb endeixētai ('might display, might demonstrate, might prove') was used for putting evidence on display in a courtroom. The saved are God's evidence of grace.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. This verse is the compressed theological center of Ephesians and one of the most important soteriological statements in the New Testament. The dative tē chariti ('by grace') indicates the ground or basis. The prepositional phrase dia pisteōs ('through faith') indicates the means or channel. The phrase kai touto ouk ex hymōn ('and this not from yourselves') has been debated: what does 'this' (touto, neuter) refer to? Since both charis and pistis are feminine, touto likely refers to the entire salvific event — the grace-faith-salvation complex — rather than to faith alone. Theou to dōron ('God's gift') is emphatic by position: the gift belongs to God, not to human effort.

Translator Notes

1. The negative ouk ex ergōn ('not from works') excludes human effort as the basis for salvation. The purpose clause hina mē tis kauchēsetai ('so that no one might boast') reveals the reason for the exclusion: salvation by works would create grounds for human pride. Grace eliminates boasting by making salvation entirely God's initiative. This echoes Romans 3:27 ('Where then is boasting? It is excluded.').

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The word poiēma ('workmanship, thing made, masterpiece') is from poieō ('to make') — we get 'poem' from this word. Believers are God's crafted work, his artistic creation. The verb ktisthentes ('having been created') is creation language — salvation is new creation, not self-improvement. Good works are the purpose (epi ergois agathois, 'for good works') but not the cause of salvation. The verb proētoimasen ('prepared beforehand, pre-arranged') indicates that even the good works were divinely planned — believers walk a path God laid out before they existed.

Translator Notes

1. The section shifts from the individual experience of salvation (vv. 1-10) to its corporate, ethnic dimension: Jew-Gentile reconciliation. The verb mnēmoneuete ('remember') is an imperative — they must not forget where they came from. The labels 'uncircumcision' and 'circumcision' are introduced with double irony: both are 'called' (legomenoi) these names — they are conventional labels. The modifier cheiropoiētou ('made by hands') subtly relativizes physical circumcision — it is a human-made distinction (cf. 'not made by hands' in Colossians 2:11).

Translator Notes

1. Five deprivations are listed: (1) chōris Christou ('without Christ, separated from the Messiah'); (2) apēllotriōmenoi tēs politeias tou Israēl ('alienated from Israel's citizenship' — excluded from the covenant community); (3) xenoi tōn diathēkōn tēs epangelias ('strangers to the covenants of promise' — the plural 'covenants' likely includes the Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic); (4) elpida mē echontes ('having no hope'); (5) atheoi en tō kosmō ('without God in the world' — atheoi means 'godless,' the only use of this word in the New Testament). The catalog moves from the theological (no Messiah) to the existential (no hope, no God).

Translator Notes

1. The pivot nyni de ('but now') parallels the 'but God' of verse 4. The far/near language (makran/engys) echoes Isaiah 57:19 ('Peace, peace, to the far and to the near'). In Jewish usage, 'those who are far' referred to Gentiles, 'those who are near' to Israel. The instrument of this approach is en tō haimati tou Christou ('by the blood of Christ') — Christ's sacrificial death removes the barrier. The verb egenēthēte ('you were made, you became') indicates a definitive change of status.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] References Isaiah 57:19 — the TCR OT rendering of that text provides the Hebrew source and explains the translation decisions involved.

Translator Notes

1. Christ is not merely the peacemaker but is himself hē eirēnē hēmōn ('our peace'). The phrase ta amphotera hen ('the two things one') refers to Jew and Gentile made into a single entity. The mesotoichon tou phragmou ('the middle wall of the partition/fence') likely alludes to the physical barrier in the Jerusalem temple — the soreg, a stone wall with inscriptions in Greek and Latin warning Gentiles that crossing it meant death. Archaeologists have recovered two of these inscriptions. Christ's body (en tē sarki autou) is the instrument of demolition. The word echthran ('hostility, enmity') is in apposition to 'the wall' — the wall is the hostility.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase ton nomon tōn entolōn en dogmasin ('the law of the commandments in/consisting of ordinances') specifies what was abolished: the law in its function as a barrier between Jew and Gentile — the specific regulations (dogmasin, 'decrees, ordinances') that separated the two communities. The verb katargēsas ('having rendered inoperative, having abolished') is strong. The purpose is creation: ktisē ('might create') — the same verb used for divine creation. The 'one new humanity' (hena kainon anthrōpon) is not Jews becoming Gentiles or Gentiles becoming Jews, but a new category entirely. The word kainos ('new in kind') indicates something unprecedented.

Translator Notes

1. The verb apokatallaxē ('might fully reconcile') has the double prefix apo-kata- intensifying the reconciliation — thorough, complete restoration. The reconciliation is double: horizontal (Jew with Gentile, 'both') and vertical (both groups with God, tō theō). The instrument is the cross (dia tou staurou). The phrase apokteiras tēn echthran en autō ('having killed the enmity in/by it') is brilliantly paradoxical: on the cross, Christ was killed, but the enmity was the real casualty. The hostility died with Christ.

Translator Notes

1. Paul echoes Isaiah 57:19 ('Peace, peace, to the far and to the near'). The repetition of eirēnēn ('peace') — once for each group — emphasizes that the same peace is offered to both. Christ's 'coming' (elthōn) may refer to his earthly ministry, his post-resurrection appearances, or his coming through the apostolic proclamation. The far/near categories of verse 13 return: Gentiles (far) and Jews (near) both receive the same gospel of peace.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Draws on Isaiah 57:19. Consult the TCR rendering of that passage for the underlying Hebrew and the rationale for key translation choices.

Translator Notes

1. The verse is implicitly Trinitarian: through Christ (di' autou), in the Spirit (en heni pneumati), to the Father (pros ton patera). The word prosagōgē ('access, introduction, approach') was used for being formally introduced into the presence of a king. Both Jew and Gentile now have royal audience with the Father — through the same Christ, by the same Spirit. The word amphoteroi ('both') is emphatic: neither group has privileged access.

Translator Notes

1. The status change reverses verse 12: xenoi ('strangers') becomes sympolītai ('fellow citizens'); paroikoi ('resident aliens, sojourners without full rights') becomes oikeioi tou theou ('members of God's household, family members'). The movement is from outsider to insider, from excluded to integrated. The two images — citizenship and household — combine political and familial belonging.

Translator Notes

1. The building metaphor begins. The themelion ('foundation') is 'of the apostles and prophets' — likely meaning the foundation that the apostles and prophets laid (their teaching), though some read it as the foundation consisting of the apostles and prophets themselves. The akrogōniaios ('cornerstone' or 'capstone') is the stone that determines the alignment of the entire structure. Whether this is a foundation cornerstone (setting the building's angle) or a capstone (crowning the arch) is debated; either way, Christ is the structurally decisive element.

Translator Notes

1. The verb synarmologoumenē ('being fitted together, being joined together') is an architectural term for precisely joining stones without mortar — each piece is cut to fit. The present tense indicates ongoing construction. The verb auxei ('grows') is striking — buildings do not normally grow. The mixture of architectural and organic metaphors (fitted structure that grows) suggests a living building. The goal is naon hagion ('a holy temple') — the church replaces the Jerusalem temple as God's dwelling place. The word naos (inner sanctuary) rather than hieron (whole temple complex) specifies the most sacred space.

Translator Notes

1. The verb synoikodomeisthe ('you are being built together') has the syn- prefix again — Gentile believers are co-built with Jewish believers into a single structure. The word katoikētērion ('dwelling place, permanent residence') is stronger than paroikia ('temporary lodging'). God does not visit this temple — he lives there. The phrase en pneumati ('by/in the Spirit') identifies the Spirit as the agent or atmosphere of this construction. The chapter ends where it began — with God's initiative — but the focus has shifted from individual salvation (vv. 1-10) to corporate, cosmic reconciliation (vv. 11-22).