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Ephesians Chapter 2

Ephesians Chapter 2

(Underlining marks a quotation/allusion. [Brackets] mark a textual variant.fnWhen two (or more) different copies of an original manuscript disagree on any given word or phrase — addition, omission, word order, etc. — the disagreement is called a "textual variant". ~99% of existing textual variants are either minor (like spelling), obviously not original (often appearing only in a few late manuscripts), or don't affect meaning (like "Jesus Christ" vs. "Christ Jesus"). The ~1% that remain do not affect any central doctrine of Christianity. The BOS Bible only marks significant textual variants that affect the meaning; smaller variants that do not affect meaning won't be marked for readability.  "Love" with a caret ("^love") is agapé.fn"agapé" The Greek words ἀγάπη (agapé, noun), and ἀγαπάω (agapaó; verb) are typically translated "love".  However, unlike our English word "love" – which primarily speaks of affection and feelings — agapé centers on choice and behavior.  It’s the "love" based on will, choice, behavior, and action; not feelings.  (Feelings-based love is the Greek word φιλέω (phileó), which properly means "brotherly love/affection".)  Thus, you could hate someone passionately and still treat him with "agapé".  Agapé "love" is best understood as the pursuit of what is most beneficial to someone or something, regardless of the cost to yourself or the type of response received from the person or thing.  It can also indicate a preference for someone or something over other things. An asterisk (*) indicates a verb in the Greek perfect tense.fnThe Greek perfect tense signifies a completed action in the past with a result and/or an ongoing state that extends into the present. For example, Hebrews 12:2 says in part: "He *sat down at the right hand of the throne of God"; the verb for "sat" is in the perfect tense, indicating that He sat down once (completed action in the past), and also that He remains seated until the present moment (ongoing state).)

Glossary

Note: this glossary is currently a work in progress; entries that do not expand will be added as time permits

Ages/of ages
“ages” and “of ages” are the Greek words “αἰών” (aión, noun form) and “αἰώνιος” (aiónios, adjective form) respectively.  The adjective form is typically translated “eternal”, as in “eternal life”. The noun form refers to a whole time period, (Keizer, “Life Time Entirety”) such as a person’s lifetime (an older Greek sense), an age/epoch (e.g., 2 Cor 4:4), or even time in its entirety, making its meaning similar to “forever” (e.g., John 14:16). The adjective form is similarly context-dependent, and the New Testament context often dictates a meaning similar to “forever” (but not always: e.g. 2 Tim 1:9).  Alternately or additionally, it can indicate the quality of a time period — indicating greatness/severity — like the English idiom “of ages” (e.g. “battle of the ages”). Thus, “of ages” was chosen for the adjective form so that both the time and quality senses remain visible.

Clean/unclean

Covenant

Faith

Flesh

Forgive/forgiveness

Grace
The Greek word is “χάρις” (charis), most often translated “grace”, “gift”, or “thanks”. It was a technical term in the 1st century, referring to the Patronage system in place. The Patron (from “pater” = “father”) would give gifts or do favors (both called a charis). A charis was always given/done freely to anyone who would be grateful for it, and this person then became a “client” of the patron. The clients were expected to reciprocate by telling everyone what the patron had done, and offering their services to the patron whenever the patron needed them. This reciprocal act was also called “charis”, and the ones who reciprocated were “being faithful” by giving thanks in this way. Both were done out of gratitude, not legal obligation. A client who wasn’t faithful and grateful probably wouldn’t receive any more charis from his patron, or any other patrons. The patron was responsible for taking care of all his clients, and making sure their needs were met. New Testament usage typically casts God the Father as a Heavenly Patron, to whom Christians should be grateful and faithful because of the gifts He has given us. (e.g. salvation, provision, protection, etc.)

Holy

Justification

Law (Torah)

Make purification

Pure/Impure

Purification offering
In the Old Testament, this is typically the Hebrew “חַטָּ֖את” (khat-tat); in the New Testament, it’s typically “περὶ ἁμαρτίας” (peri hamartias), which is what the Septuagint (an ancient translation of the Old Testament into Greek) used to translate the Hebrew. It’s traditionally translated “sin offering”, but that translation has less support in high-level scholarship. The Hebrew word can mean “sin”, but it can also mean “purification” (e.g. Numbers 8:7). This offering was used to purify uncleanness, whether or not a sin was committed. Thus, it was required even when no sin was committed, such as after childbirth (Leviticus 12:1-8), for certain diseases (Leviticus 14), etc. High-level, peer-reviewed scholarship dedicated to the field (e.g. Milgrom, Levine, Gane, Sklar, Wright, Gorman, etc.) is largely united on the “purification offering” understanding. The BOS Bible has aligned itself with that high-level, peer-reviewed scholarship in its translation.

Ransom

Redemption

Repent/repentance

Righteous/righteousness

Salvation/save

Soul
“soul” is the Greek word “ψυχή/psuché” and Hebrew word “נֶפֶשׁ/nephesh”. The BOS Bible translates these words as “soul” for consistency, and so the full meaning of “soul” isn’t obscured by different translations in different places. They closely overlap in meaning and are typically translated “soul” or “life”. They refer to the animating force of a living thing, and thus can also refer to its life, or to the whole of any person or creature, including animals (e.g. fish in Revelation 8:9 and Genesis 1). They are frequently used as an emphatic reference to a person’s whole self, including longings, deep emotions, and inner life. (e.g. Ps 42:11) Note: while “soul” has significant overlap in meaning with “spirit”, the words have distinct meanings and usages throughout scripture. For example, lions tear apart a soul in Psalm 7:2, and a “dead soul” is mentioned in Leviticus 21:11; “spirit” has no analogous usages, and it returns to God at death (Ecc 12:7; Acts 7:59). The adjective forms of soul and spirit are contrasted in 1 Corinthians 2:14-15; see also: Hebrews 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Sin

Click to Collapse the Glossary
Dead in Sins, Alive in the Anointed
  1. And you, being dead in your misstepsfn“missteps”. The Greek word used here doesn’t quite mean “sin”. It’s the word “παράπτωμα” (paraptóma) and carries the connotation of a “slip-up” or a “false step” with the implication – but not certainty – that it was unintentional. and sins
  2. in which you once walked, in accordance with the present age of this world, in accordance with the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the sons of disobedience,
  3. among whom we all also once lived in the cravings of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and its thoughts.  And we were children of wrath by nature,fn“nature” Thayer’s lexicon specifies that here, this Greek word means: “a mode of feeling and acting which by long habit has become nature“.  However, other lexicons indicate that it means a man’s natural condition. just like the rest.
  4. But God, being rich in mercy because of His great ^love with which He ^loved us,
  5. and with us being dead in our missteps, He made us alive together with the Anointed (you are *saved by grace)fn“Grace” The Greek word here is “χάρις” (charis), most often translated “grace” or “gift”.  It was a technical term in the 1st century, referring to the Patronage system in place.  The Patron (from “pater” = “father”) would give gifts or do favors (both called a charis) for someone.  A charis was always given/done freely to anyone who would be grateful for it, and this person then became a “client” of the patron.  The clients were expected to reciprocate by telling everyone what the patron had done, and offering their services to the patron whenever the patron needed them. This reciprocal act was also called “charis”, and the ones who reciprocated were “being faithful”.  Both were done out of gratitude, not legal obligation.  A client who wasn’t faithful and grateful probably wouldn’t receive any more charis from his patron, or any other patrons.  The patron was responsible for taking care of all his clients, and making sure their needs were met.  Christian Grace and Faith is well pictured by this system.  The Heavenly Patron (God the Father) freely gave a gift (Jesus’ blood), and the clients who accept it (Christians) are expected to “be faithful” out of gratitude.
  6. And He raised us up together with Him, and seated us together with Him in the heavens in Jesus the Anointed,
  7. so in the coming ages He might demonstrate the surpassing richness of His grace in His benevolence toward us in Jesus the Anointed.
  8. For you are *saved by grace through faith; and this isn’t from you, it’s the gift of God,
  9. not from works so no one may boast.
  10. For we are His workmanship,fnquotation/allusion to Isaiah 29:23, Isaiah 43:6-7, and possibly Genesis 1:26-27 created in Jesus the Anointed for good works which God prepared beforehand so we might walk in them.
  11. Therefore, remember that you were formerly gentiles in the flesh (the men called “uncircumcised” by the ones called “circumcised”, which is done in the flesh with human hands)
  12. because at that time, you were separate from the Anointed, having been alienated from citizenship in Israel and aliens to the covenants of promise, not having hope and godless in the world.
  13. But now in Jesus the Anointed, you men who were once far away became near by the blood of the Anointed.
  14. For He Himself is our peace, the One who made both into one and destroyed the barrier of the dividing wall of hostilityfnThe second temple that was standing in Jesus’s day had a wall that dividedthe area that the gentiles were allowed into from the deeper parts of the temple where only Jews were allowed.  This is likely a reference to that symbolic separation between Jew and gentile.
  15. by having annulled in His flesh the law of commandments contained in decrees, so that in Himself, He might form the two into one new man, making peace.
  16. And so He might fully reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, having killed the hostility through it.
  17. And having come, He proclaimed the gospel: peace to you, the men far away, and peace to the men near,fnquotation/allusion to Isaiah 57:19
  18. because through Him, we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
  19. So therefore, you’re no longer aliens and foreigners, but are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God,
  20. having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus the Anointed Himself being the cornerstone.fnquotation/allusion to Psalm 118:22
  21. In whom all construction is being fitted together and is growing into a templefnquotation/allusion to the construction of the tabernacle and temple, such as Exodus chapters 35-40, 1 Kings chapters 6–8 that’s holy to the Lord,
  22. in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

 

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