Ephesians 5:1–20

Footnotes

1. 1 Or “become.”
2. 2 Grk “walk.” The NT writers often used the verb “walk” (περιπατέω, peripateō) to refer to ethical conduct (cf. Rom 8:4; Gal 5:16; Col 4:5).
3. 3 A number of important witnesses have ὑμᾶς (humas, “you”; e.g., א* A B P 0159 81 1175 it co as well as several fathers). Other, equally important witnesses read ἡμᾶς (hēmas, “us”; 𝔓46 א2 D F G Ψ 0278 33 1739 1881 lat sy). It is possible that ἡμᾶς was accidentally introduced via homoioarcton with the previous word (ἠγάπησεν, ēgapēsen). On the other hand, ὑμᾶς may have been motivated by the preceding ὑμῖν (humin) 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.
4. 4 Grk “an offering and sacrifice to God as a smell of fragrance.” The first expression, προσφορὰν καὶ θυσίαν (prosphoran kai thusian), is probably a hendiadys and has been translated such that “sacrificial” modifies “offering.” The second expression, εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας (eis osmēn euōdias, “as a smell of fragrance”) has been translated as “a fragrant offering”; see ὀσμή 2. Putting these two together in a clear fashion in English yields the translation: “a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.”
5. 5 The term “But” translates the δέ (de) in a contrastive way in light of the perfect obedience of Jesus in vv. 1–2 and the vices mentioned in v. 3.
6. 6 Grk “all impurity.”
7. 7 Grk “just as is fitting for saints.” The καθώς (kathōs) was rendered with “as” and the sense is causal, i.e., “for” or “because.” The negative particle “not” (“for these are not proper for the saints”) in this clause was supplied in English so as to make the sense very clear, i.e., that these vices are not befitting of those who name the name of Christ.
8. 8 Grk “be knowing this.” See also 2 Pet 1:20 for a similar phrase: τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες (touto prōton ginōskontes).
9. 9 The expression sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” In this context it refers to “all those who are disobedient.” Cf. Eph 2:2–3.
10. 10 The genitive αὐτῶν (autōn) has been translated as a genitive of association because of its use with συμμέτοχοι (summetochoi)—a verb which implies association in the σύν- (sun-) prefix.
11. 11 The verb “you are” is implied in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to make it clear.
12. 12 Several (𝔓46 D2 Ψ 𝔐) have πνεύματος (pneumatos, “Spirit”) instead of φωτός (phōtos, “light”). Although most today regard φωτός as obviously original ( gives it an “A” rating), a case could be made that πνεύματος is what the author wrote. First, although this is largely a Byzantine reading (D2 often, if not normally, assimilates to the Byzantine text), 𝔓46 gives the reading much greater credibility. Internally, the φωτός at the end of v. could have lined up above the πνεύματος in v. 9 in a scribe’s exemplar, thus occasioning dittography. (It is interesting to note that in both 𝔓49 and א the two instances of φωτός line up.) However, written in a contracted form, as a nomen sacrum (Π Ν Σ)—a practice found even in the earliest —πνεύματος would not have been easily confused with ΦΩΤΟΣ (there being only the last letter to occasion homoioteleuton rather than the last three). Further, the external evidence for φωτός is quite compelling (𝔓49 א A B D* F G P 33 81 1739 1881 2464 latt co); it is rather doubtful that the early and widespread witnesses all mistook πνεύματος for φωτός. In addition, πνεύματος can be readily explained as harking back to Gal 5:22 (“the fruit of the Spirit”). Thus, on balance, φωτός appears to be original, giving rise to the reading πνεύματος.
13. 13 Grk “in.” The idea is that the fruit of the light is “expressed in” or “consists of.”
14. 14 δοκιμάζω 1 translates δοκιμάζοντες (dokimazontes) in Eph 5:10 as “try to learn.”
15. 15 The Greek conjunction καὶ (kai) seems to be functioning here ascensively, (i.e., “even”), but is difficult to render in this context using good English. It may read something like: “but rather even expose them!”
16. 16 Grk “rather even expose.”
17. 17 The participle τὰ … γινόμενα (ta … ginomena) usually refers to “things happening” or “things which are,” but with the following genitive phrase ὑπʼ αὐτῶν (hup’ autōn), which indicates agency, the idea seems to be “things being done.” This passive construction was translated as an active one to simplify the English style.
18. 18 The following passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [], ). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.
19. 19 Grk “Rise up.”
20. 20 The articular nominative participle ὁ καθεύδων (ho katheudōn) is probably functioning as a nominative for vocative. Thus, it has been translated as “O sleeper.”
21. 21 A composite quotation, possibly from Isa 26:19, 51:17, 52:1, and 60:1.
22. 22 “become wise by understanding”; Grk “understanding.” The imperative “be wise” is apparently implied by the construction of vv. 15–21. See the following text-critical note for discussion.
23. 23 The best witnesses read the imperative here (so 𝔓46 א A B P 0278 33 81 1739 ). The participle is found primarily in the Western and Byzantine texttypes (D2 Ψ 1881 𝔐 latt [D* F G are slightly different, but support the participial reading]). But the participle is superior on internal grounds: The structure of v. 17 almost requires an imperative after ἀλλά (alla), for this gives balance to the clause: “Do not become foolish, but understand …” If the participle is original, it may be imperatival (and thus should be translated just like an imperative), but such is quite rare in the NT. More likely, there is an implied imperative as follows: “Do not become foolish, but become wise, understanding what the will of the Lord is.” Either way, the participle is the harder reading and ought therefore to be considered original. It is significant that seeing an implied imperative in this verse affords a certain symmetry to the author’s thought in vv. 15–21: There are three main sections (vv. 15–16, v. 17, vv. 18–21), each of which provides a negative injunction, followed by a positive injunction, followed by a present adverbial participle. If συνίετε (suniete) is original, this symmetry is lost. Thus, even though the external evidence for συνιέντες (sunientes) is not nearly as weighty as for the imperative, both the transcriptional and intrinsic evidence support it.
24. 24 Grk “in which.”
25. 25 Or “dissipation.” See BDAG ἀσωτία.
26. 26 Many have taken ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati) as indicating content, i.e., one is to be filled with the Spirit. states, “There are no other examples in biblical Greek in which ἐν + the dative after πληρόω indicates content. Further, the parallel with οἴνῳ as well as the common grammatical category of means suggest that the idea intended is that believers are to be filled by means of the [Holy] Spirit. If so there seems to be an unnamed agent. The meaning of this text can only be fully appreciated in light of the πληρόω language in Ephesians. Always the term is used in connection with a member of the Trinity. Three considerations seem to be key: (1) In Eph 3:19 the ‘hinge’ prayer introducing the last half of the letter makes a request that the believers ‘be filled with all the fullness of God’ (πληρωθῆτε εἰς πᾶν πλήρωμα τοῦ θεοῦ). The explicit content of πληρόω is thus God’s fullness (probably a reference to his moral attributes). (2) In 4:10 Christ is said to be the agent of filling (with v. 11 adding the specifics of his giving spiritual gifts). (3) The author then brings his argument to a crescendo in 5:18: Believers are to be filled by Christ by means of the Spirit with the content of the fullness of God.”
27. 27 See ψάλλω.
28. 28 Or “with.”
29. 29 Grk “for all.” The form “all” can be either neuter or masculine.