Ephesians 5

Translator Notes

1. The word mimētai ('imitators') gives us the English word 'mimic.' Children naturally imitate their parents — believers imitate their Father. The standard is breathtaking: imitate God. The phrase hōs tekna agapēta ('as beloved children') provides the relational basis: imitation flows from the security of being loved, not from the anxiety of earning approval.

Translator Notes

1. Christ's self-giving love defines the content of the 'walk in love' command. The verb paredōken heauton ('gave himself over') echoes Galatians 2:20. Christ is both priest and offering. The phrase prosphoran kai thysian ('offering and sacrifice') uses Old Testament sacrificial terminology. The phrase eis osmēn euōdias ('for a fragrant aroma') quotes the language of acceptable sacrifice from Leviticus 1:9, 13, 17 — Christ's self-offering is the sacrifice God receives with pleasure.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Draws on Leviticus 1:9. Consult the TCR rendering of that passage for the underlying Hebrew and the rationale for key translation choices.

Translator Notes

1. The triad porneia ('sexual immorality'), akatharsia ('impurity'), and pleonexia ('greed') groups sexual and economic sin together — both involve taking what belongs to another. The phrase mēde onomazesthō ('must not even be named') indicates these behaviors should be so absent from the community that they are not even a topic of conversation. The standard is kathōs prepei hagiois ('as is fitting for holy ones') — the believers' identity as 'saints' defines what is appropriate.

Translator Notes

1. Three speech vices: aischrotēs ('obscenity, shameful speech'), mōrologia ('foolish talk, silly speech'), and eutrapelia ('coarse wit, crude joking'). The last word (eutrapelia) was considered a virtue in Greek rhetoric — 'ready wit' — but Paul regards it as inappropriate when it crosses into sexual or degrading humor. The replacement is eucharistia ('thanksgiving') — speech directed upward rather than downward.

Translator Notes

1. The equation pleonektēs, ho estin eidōlolatrēs ('the greedy person, who is an idolater') identifies greed as a form of idolatry — the worship of material acquisition (cf. Colossians 3:5). The phrase tē basileia tou Christou kai theou ('the kingdom of Christ and of God') uses a single article governing both nouns, closely associating Christ and God as joint rulers of the kingdom. This is one of the strongest christological statements in Ephesians.

Translator Notes

1. The 'empty words' (kenois logois) may refer to those who argued that grace covers all behavior — a libertine distortion of Paul's own teaching. The phrase tous huious tēs apeitheias ('the children of disobedience') repeats from 2:2, forming an inclusion: the lifestyle described in 2:1-3 brings divine wrath, and believers must not return to it.

Translator Notes

1. The word symmetochoi ('co-partners, co-sharers') warns against participation in the behaviors of verse 3-5, not against all contact with unbelievers. The command is about shared practice, not social isolation.

Translator Notes

1. Paul does not say they were 'in darkness' but that they were darkness (ēte skotos) — darkness was their identity, not merely their environment. Similarly, they do not merely have light — they are light (phōs en kyriō). The transformation is ontological, not merely behavioral. The qualifier en kyriō ('in the Lord') prevents this from becoming self-congratulation: they are light only in connection with the Lord.

Translator Notes

1. The SBLGNT reads 'fruit of the light' (phōtos) rather than 'fruit of the Spirit' (pneumatos) found in some manuscripts. The triad agathōsynē ('goodness'), dikaiosynē ('righteousness'), and alētheia ('truth') describes the harvest produced by a life lived in the light.

Translator Notes

1. The verb dokimazontes ('testing, discerning, approving after testing') indicates active moral discernment — not following rules mechanically but testing what genuinely pleases the Lord in each situation. This is mature Christian ethics: not a codebook but a relationship with the Lord that develops discernment.

Translator Notes

1. The command has two parts: non-participation (mē synkoinōneite, 'do not co-participate') and active exposure (elenchete, 'reprove, expose, bring to light'). The adjective akarpois ('fruitless, unproductive') contrasts with the 'fruit of the light' in verse 9. Darkness produces nothing of lasting value. The verb elenchō means both verbal rebuke and the act of exposing something to the light.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase ta kryphe ginomena ('the things done in secret') suggests practices too degrading to describe publicly. Paul's reticence stands in contrast to the Greco-Roman cultural tolerance — or celebration — of such behavior. The verb legein ('to speak of') indicates that detailed description would itself be a form of participation.

Translator Notes

1. Light's function is revelation: elenchomena hypo tou phōtos phaneroutai ('things exposed by the light are made visible'). The light does not destroy but reveals — making the hidden visible. This is both a statement about moral truth (sin cannot hide from light) and about the community's prophetic function (believers' lives expose darkness).

Translator Notes

1. The quotation is not from any known Old Testament text. It may be: (1) a free adaptation of Isaiah 60:1 ('Arise, shine, for your light has come'), (2) an early Christian hymn, or (3) a baptismal formula sung when candidates emerged from the water. The imagery of waking from sleep and rising from the dead suggests baptism as a transition from death/darkness to life/light. The promise epiphausei soi ho Christos ('Christ will shine on you') makes Christ the source of the light.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Echoes Isaiah 60:1. See the TCR's OT rendering for the Hebrew behind this passage and the translation rationale.

Translator Notes

1. The adverb akribōs ('carefully, precisely, accurately') modifies either blepete ('look carefully') or peripatite ('walk carefully'). Either way, the point is deliberate attention to one's conduct. The wisdom/foolishness contrast echoes Old Testament wisdom literature (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes) and connects to the earlier warning about being 'tossed about' (4:14).

Translator Notes

1. The participle exagorazomenoi ('buying up, redeeming, making the most of') uses marketplace language: snapping up a bargain before it disappears. The word kairos ('opportunity, critical moment') denotes not clock-time (chronos) but moments of significance. The reason for urgency: hai hēmerai ponērai eisin ('the days are evil'). The present era is hostile territory; opportunities for good must be seized.

Translator Notes

1. The contrast between aphrones ('senseless, foolish') and syniete ('understand, put together') frames Christian living as an exercise in discernment. The goal is understanding to thelēma tou kyriou ('the will of the Lord') — not abstract theological knowledge but practical perception of what God wants in each situation.

Translator Notes

1. The contrast between wine-intoxication and Spirit-filling is not merely illustrative but substitutionary: where pagans sought ecstasy through wine (particularly in Dionysian worship), believers find genuine fullness through the Spirit. The word asōtia ('reckless living, dissipation, debauchery' — literally 'unsaved-ness') describes the waste that drunkenness produces. The imperative plērousthe ('be filled') is present tense (continuous: 'keep on being filled'), passive (the Spirit does the filling, not the believer), and plural (this is a community experience). The four participles that follow (vv. 19-21) describe how Spirit-filling manifests.

Translator Notes

1. The first expression of Spirit-filling is communal worship. The three categories — psalmois ('psalms' — possibly the Old Testament Psalter), hymnois ('hymns' — compositions praising God), and ōdais pneumatikais ('spiritual songs' — Spirit-inspired compositions) — may overlap. The phrase tē kardia hymōn ('with your heart') indicates that external singing must be accompanied by internal reality. Worship is directed tō kyriō ('to the Lord').

Translator Notes

1. The second expression: thanksgiving. The scope is pantote ('always') and hyper pantōn ('for everything'). The phrase en onomati ('in the name of') indicates that thanksgiving is offered through Christ's mediation and on his authority. Thanksgiving is directed tō theō kai patri ('to God the Father').

Translator Notes

1. The third expression of Spirit-filling: mutual submission. The participle hypotassomenoi ('submitting, placing yourselves under') is reciprocal — allēlois ('to one another'). This verse functions as both the conclusion of the Spirit-filling section and the heading for the household code that follows (5:22-6:9). The phrase en phobō Christou ('in the fear/reverence of Christ') provides the motive: submission to others flows from reverence for Christ, not from inferiority.

Translator Notes

1. The verb 'submit' does not appear in the Greek of this verse — it is carried over from the participle hypotassomenoi in verse 21. This grammatical link means the wife's submission to her husband is a specific instance of the mutual submission all believers owe one another. The phrase hōs tō kyriō ('as to the Lord') sets the analogy: the husband-wife relationship is patterned on the Christ-church relationship. The word idiois ('own') distinguishes this from a general submission of all women to all men.

Translator Notes

1. The word kephalē ('head') is debated: it can mean 'authority over' or 'source of.' In context, the Christ-church analogy emphasizes sacrificial care more than hierarchical authority (see vv. 25-27). The additional phrase autos sōtēr tou sōmatos ('he himself is Savior of the body') applies uniquely to Christ — the husband is not the wife's savior. The analogy has limits, and Paul here acknowledges one.

Translator Notes

1. The comparison is drawn: the church's submission to Christ provides the pattern for the wife's submission to her husband. The phrase en panti ('in everything') is comprehensive but must be read in light of the analogy's controlling context — submission to Christ is never dehumanizing, and submission 'as to the Lord' (v. 22) sets Christ, not the husband's will, as the ultimate authority.

Translator Notes

1. The husband's obligation is staggering: agapate tas gynaikas ('love your wives') with the standard kathōs kai ho Christos ēgapēsen tēn ekklēsian ('just as Christ loved the church'). Christ's love for the church was expressed in total self-sacrifice (heauton paredōken hyper autēs, 'he gave himself up for her'). The husband is called not to command but to die — to sacrifice his own interests for his wife's well-being. In the patriarchal context, this demand was revolutionary.

Translator Notes

1. The purpose of Christ's self-giving: hagiasē ('to make holy, to sanctify'). The means: tō loutrō tou hydatos ('by the washing of water') — almost certainly a reference to baptism — en rhēmati ('with the word, in connection with the word'). The word (rhēma) may refer to a spoken baptismal confession, to the gospel proclaimed, or to Christ's authoritative word. Christ's sanctifying work combines water (the physical act) and word (the verbal/spiritual reality).

Translator Notes

1. The image shifts to a bridal presentation: Christ prepares the church like a bride being prepared for her wedding day. The verb parastēsē ('present, place alongside') was used for presenting a bride to the groom. The adjectives describe bridal perfection: endoxon ('glorious, splendid'), without spilon ('spot, stain'), rhytida ('wrinkle'), or any blemish. The goal is hagia kai amōmos ('holy and blameless') — the same words used of believers in 1:4. Christ's sanctifying work completes what election purposed.

Translator Notes

1. Paul shifts from the Christ-church analogy to a body-analogy: since husband and wife are 'one flesh' (v. 31), loving one's wife is loving oneself. The verb opheilousin ('ought, owe, are obligated') frames love not as optional generosity but as marital duty. The logic is profoundly practical: self-interest and spousal love converge in the one-flesh union.

Translator Notes

1. The verbs ektrephei ('nourishes, feeds, raises to maturity') and thalpei ('cherishes, warms, tenderly cares for') describe intimate, nurturing care. The argument from nature: since everyone naturally cares for their own body, and since husband and wife share one body, spousal care is an extension of self-care. The Christ-church analogy returns: Christ nourishes and cherishes the church as his own body.

Translator Notes

1. The simple statement melē esmen tou sōmatos autou ('we are members of his body') grounds the entire discussion: believers' union with Christ is bodily, intimate, and real. Some manuscripts add 'of his flesh and of his bones' — echoing Genesis 2:23 (Eve from Adam's body) and strengthening the marriage typology. The SBLGNT does not include this addition.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] This verse quotes Genesis 2:23 — see the TCR rendering of that passage for the Hebrew source text and translation decisions.

Translator Notes

1. Paul quotes Genesis 2:24 (LXX). The verb proskollēthēsetai ('will be joined, will be glued, will cleave') indicates permanent, inseparable attachment. The phrase eis sarka mian ('into one flesh') describes a new unity that transcends the original family bond. Paul quotes this not primarily to teach about marriage (though it does) but to reveal the deeper reality to which marriage points — as he explains in verse 32.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Quotes Genesis 2:24. The TCR rendering of that OT passage preserves the Hebrew source text and documents the translation decisions behind it.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The word mystērion ('mystery') here does not mean 'puzzling' but 'a hidden reality now revealed.' The Genesis text about husband and wife becoming one flesh contains a deeper meaning (a 'mystery'): it prophetically describes the union of Christ and the church. Marriage is a living parable of the gospel. The Vulgate translated mystērion as sacramentum, which led to marriage being classified as a sacrament in Western Christianity. Paul's point is christological: marriage's deepest meaning is found in Christ's union with his people.

Translator Notes

1. Paul returns from the cosmic typology to practical application. The verb agapatō ('let him love') reiterates the husband's primary obligation. The word phobētai ('respect, revere') for the wife is debated — phobos can mean 'fear' or 'deep respect.' In context (where the controlling image is reverence for Christ, v. 21), 'respect' captures the sense. The summary is asymmetric: husbands are told to love; wives to respect. This may reflect different temptations in first-century marriage, not a permanent hierarchy of duties.