The Epistle to the Ephesians — Interlinear: Themes, Outlines & Translation Notes

A consolidated companion to the Ephesians data set: every chapter of Ephesians (1–6) rendered as a six-tier Greek reverse-interlinear (Greek · gloss · parsing/case · syntax · semantic force · lexical note), with per-verse discourse analysis and a chapter argument-outline.

This document gathers, in one place, the theme, the argument outline (the outline movements authored into each data file), and the translation / textual / exegetical notes (the text_note of each file, reproduced verbatim) for all six chapters — followed by a cross-chapter summary of the major translation and interpretive cruxes that were deliberately annotated rather than silently resolved. It is the companion to the Romans volume in the same project.

Scope

Each annotated word carries Greek, a working gloss, color-coded grammatical case, parsing (Tense·Voice·Mood·Person·Number + lemma), a Wallace-style syntactic-function label, an aspectual semantic-force label (verbal forms), and a condensed lexical note. The Greek follows the standard critical text (uniform across NA28 / SBLGNT / THGNT in its main wording, and itself an ancient public-domain text); the copyrighted NA28 apparatus is not reproduced.

The argument of the book

The macro-structure of the whole book — its major movements — under which the chapter-by-chapter detail below unfolds. (Section divisions are interpretive; the more common analysis is generally followed.)

• I · 1:1–2 — Salutation. Sender, addressees, and the grace-and-peace greeting.
• II · 1:3–3:21 — The blessings of grace in Christ (doctrine). The berakah of election, redemption, and the sealing Spirit, with the prayer to know God's power (1); from death to life by grace, the two made one new humanity, God's temple (2); and the mystery of the Gentiles' inclusion, with the prayer for fullness and the doxology (3).
• III · 4:1–6:20 — The walk worthy of the calling (duty). The unity of the Spirit, Christ's gifts, and the old self put off for the new (4); walking in love and light, Spirit-filled, with the household code of wives, husbands, children, parents, slaves, masters (5:1–6:9); and standing in the full armor of God (6:10–20).
• IV · 6:21–24 — Conclusion. Tychicus the messenger, and the closing benediction of peace and grace.

Chapter-by-chapter

Ephesians 1 — ΠΡΟΣ ΕΦΕΣΙΟΥΣ Α′

Theme. The berakah of God's saving plan in Christ — election, redemption, and the sealing Spirit — climaxing in the prayer to know the power that raised and enthroned Christ as head over all things for the church.

Outline.

• A · 1:1–2 — Salutation. The epistolary opening: sender — Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will (1a); addressees — the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus (1b); the grace-and-peace greeting from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (2).
• B · 1:3–6 — Blessed be God: election in the Beloved. The berakah opens — God blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ (3) — and unfolds the Father's work: he chose us in Christ before creation to be holy (4), predestining us to adoption through Jesus Christ (5), to the praise of the glory of his grace freely given in the Beloved (6).
• C · 1:7–10 — Redemption in the Beloved and the summing-up of all things. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of trespasses, according to the riches of grace lavished on us (7–8), God having made known the mystery of his will (9): to sum up all things in Christ, things in heaven and on earth, in the fullness of the times (10).
• D · 1:11–14 — The inheritance and the sealing Spirit. In him we were also made an inheritance, predestined according to God's purpose (11), that we who first hoped in Christ should be to the praise of his glory (12); in him you too, having believed, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (13), who is the down payment of our inheritance, to the praise of his glory (14).
• E · 1:15–19 — Thanksgiving and the prayer for wisdom. Hearing of their faith and love (15), Paul gives unceasing thanks (16) and prays that the God of glory would grant them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowing him (17), the eyes of their heart enlightened to know the hope, the riches of the inheritance, and the surpassing greatness of his power toward believers (18–19).
• F · 1:20–23 — Christ exalted, head over all for the church. That power God exercised in raising Christ and seating him at his right hand in the heavenlies (20), far above every rule and authority and every name (21), subjecting all things under his feet and giving him as head over all things to the church (22), which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all in all (23).

Translation & textual notes. The Greek follows the standard critical text of Ephesians 1, uniform in its main wording across the modern editions (NA28, SBLGNT, THGNT) and itself an ancient, public-domain text; NA28's distinctively copyrighted critical apparatus is not reproduced. Verse punctuation is editorial and conventional. At v.1 the words 'in Ephesus' (ἐν Ἐφέσῳ) are absent from several early witnesses (P46, Sinaiticus, Vaticanus), prompting the view that the letter was an encyclical; the traditional reading is printed. Verses 3–14 form a single Greek sentence, as do 15–23; the paragraphing and clause-divisions here are editorial aids.

Ephesians 2 — ΠΡΟΣ ΕΦΕΣΙΟΥΣ Β′

Theme. From death to life by grace through faith, and the two — Jew and Gentile — reconciled in the cross into one new humanity, God's holy temple.

Outline.

• A · 2:1–3 — The old life: dead in trespasses. The readers were dead in their trespasses and sins (1), once walking according to the age of this world and the ruler of the air, the spirit now at work in the disobedient (2) — among whom we all once lived in the desires of the flesh, by nature children of wrath like the rest (3). The clause hangs unfinished, awaiting its main verb in v.5.
• B · 2:4–7 — But God: made alive with Christ. But God, rich in mercy, because of his great love (4), made us alive together with Christ even while we were dead — by grace you have been saved (5) — and raised us up and seated us with him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus (6), so that in the coming ages he might display the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us (7).
• C · 2:8–10 — By grace through faith, for good works. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves — it is the gift of God (8), not from works, so that no one may boast (9). For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (10).
• D · 2:11–13 — Once far off, now brought near. Remember that you Gentiles in the flesh, called 'uncircumcision' (11), were at that time without Christ, alienated from Israel's commonwealth, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (12). But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (13).
• E · 2:14–18 — He is our peace: the two made one. For he himself is our peace, who made the two one and broke down the dividing wall of hostility (14), abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees, to create in himself one new man, making peace (15), and to reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, killing the hostility (16). He came and preached peace to far and near (17), for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father (18).
• F · 2:19–22 — Fellow citizens: God's holy temple. So then you are no longer strangers but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household (19), built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself the cornerstone (20), in whom the whole structure, joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord (21), in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (22).

Translation & textual notes. The Greek follows the standard critical text of Ephesians 2, uniform in its main wording across the modern editions (NA28, SBLGNT, THGNT) and itself an ancient, public-domain text; NA28's distinctively copyrighted critical apparatus is not reproduced. Verse punctuation, paragraphing, and capitalization are editorial and conventional. The long sentence of vv.1–7 (with its resumptive 'made alive together' in v.5) is editorially broken for readability. Where readings legitimately differ (e.g. the place of καί at v.5, or whether αὐτοῦ in v.10 is read), the more widely printed text is followed; the syntactic, semantic-force, and discourse tiers are interpretive.

Ephesians 3 — ΠΡΟΣ ΕΦΕΣΙΟΥΣ Γ′

Theme. The mystery now revealed — Gentiles fellow-heirs in Christ — Paul's stewardship of it before the watching powers, and the prayer to be filled with all the fullness of God, closing in doxology.

Outline.

• A · 3:1 — Paul, the prisoner for the Gentiles. Picking up from the temple-imagery of ch. 2, Paul begins to pray ('For this reason…') but breaks off at once, identifying himself as the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of the Gentile readers — the thread he will resume at v.14.
• B · 3:2–7 — The stewardship of the mystery given to Paul. The parenthesis opens: they have heard of the administration of grace given him (2), the mystery made known by revelation (3), which by reading they can grasp (4) — a mystery hidden from former generations but now revealed to the apostles and prophets by the Spirit (5): that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, fellow-members, and fellow-sharers of the promise in Christ through the gospel (6), of which Paul became servant by the gift of grace and the working of God's power (7).
• C · 3:8–13 — Grace to preach the mystery, that God's wisdom be made known. To Paul, least of the saints, grace was given to preach Christ's unsearchable riches to the Gentiles (8) and to bring to light the administration of the mystery hidden in God (9), so that now through the church the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the heavenly rulers (10), according to the eternal purpose accomplished in Christ (11), in whom we have bold access through faith (12) — therefore he asks them not to lose heart over his sufferings, which are their glory (13).
• D · 3:14–19 — The prayer to be filled with the fullness of God. Resuming v.1, Paul bows to the Father (14), from whom every family is named (15), praying that they be strengthened with power through the Spirit in the inner man (16), that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith (17), so that, rooted in love, they may comprehend with all the saints the dimensions of Christ's love (18) — to know the love that surpasses knowledge, that they be filled to all the fullness of God (19).
• E · 3:20–21 — Doxology. The prayer climaxes in praise: to him who is able to do far beyond all we ask or think, according to the power at work in us (20), be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever (21).

Translation & textual notes. The Greek follows the standard critical text of Ephesians 3, uniform in its main wording across the modern editions (NA28, SBLGNT, THGNT) and itself an ancient, public-domain text; NA28's distinctively copyrighted critical apparatus is not reproduced. Verse punctuation is editorial and conventional. The long sentence begun at v.1 ('For this reason I, Paul…') is broken by a parenthesis (vv.2–13) and resumed at v.14; the dashes and parentheses are editorial. At v.9 some witnesses read 'fellowship' (κοινωνία) for 'administration/plan' (οἰκονομία); the latter is followed. At v.14 the later expansion 'of our Lord Jesus Christ' after 'Father' is not part of the earliest text and is omitted. Orthographic and minor word-order variants are not noted.

Ephesians 4 — ΠΡΟΣ ΕΦΕΣΙΟΥΣ Δ′

Theme. The hinge from doctrine to duty: the worthy walk and the unity of the Spirit; the ascended Christ's gifts that build the body to maturity; off with the old self, on with the new.

Outline.

• A · 4:1–6 — The worthy walk and the sevenfold unity. The hinge from doctrine to duty: Paul, the prisoner, entreats a walk worthy of the calling (1), marked by humility, gentleness, patience, forbearing love (2), eager to guard the Spirit's unity in the bond of peace (3) — a unity grounded in a sevenfold 'one': one body, Spirit, hope (4), one Lord, faith, baptism (5), one God and Father over, through, and in all (6).
• B · 4:7–10 — Grace given, the ascended Christ. Yet within that unity, grace is apportioned to each by Christ's measure (7), as Scripture says: ascending on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men (8). The 'ascended' implies he first descended to the lower parts (9); the one who descended is the same who ascended above all heavens to fill all things (10).
• C · 4:11–16 — Gifted ministers building the body to maturity. Christ himself gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors-teachers (11), to equip the saints for ministry, to build up the body (12), until all attain unity of faith and knowledge, the mature man, the measure of Christ's fullness (13), no longer infants tossed by every wind of doctrine (14), but speaking truth in love, growing up into the Head, Christ (15), from whom the whole body, joined and held together, grows by each part's working in love (16).
• D · 4:17–24 — Off with the old self, on with the new. The solemn charge: no longer walk as the Gentiles in futile mind (17), darkened, alienated, ignorant, hardened (18), past feeling, given to licentiousness and greed (19). But you did not so learn Christ (20) — taught in him to put off the old self corrupted by deceitful desires (21–22), to be renewed in the spirit of your mind (23), and to put on the new self created after God in righteousness and holiness of truth (24).
• E · 4:25–32 — The new-self ethics. Concrete consequences of the renewed self: put off falsehood, speak truth, for we are members of one another (25); be angry without sinning, giving no foothold to the devil (26–27); let the thief steal no more but work and share (28); no rotten speech, only what builds up and gives grace (29); grieve not the Holy Spirit who sealed you (30); put away all bitterness and malice (31); be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving as God in Christ forgave you (32).

Translation & textual notes. The Greek follows the standard critical text of Ephesians 4, uniform in its main wording across the modern editions (NA28, SBLGNT, THGNT) and itself an ancient, public-domain text; NA28's distinctively copyrighted critical apparatus is not reproduced. Verse punctuation is editorial and conventional. At v.6 the words 'in us all' (ἐν πᾶσιν) are read without the later expansion 'in you all'; at v.9 the reading 'he also descended' (without 'first') is followed. Orthographic and minor word-order variants are not noted.

Ephesians 5 — ΠΡΟΣ ΕΦΕΣΙΟΥΣ Ε′

Theme. Walk in love and light and be filled with the Spirit; the household code of wives and husbands, grounded in the 'great mystery' of Christ and the church.

Outline.

• A · 5:1–2 — Imitate God; walk in love. The hinge from ch. 4: 'become imitators of God' (1) and 'walk in love' (2), the pattern set by Christ's self-giving offering — the controlling thesis for the section.
• B · 5:3–7 — No part in the deeds of immorality. The negative counterpart: sexual immorality, impurity, and greed have no place among saints (3–4); such persons have no inheritance in the kingdom (5), so do not be deceived or partner with them (6–7).
• C · 5:8–14 — Walk as children of light. Once darkness, now light (8) — bear light's fruit and discern God's will (9–10), expose the fruitless works of darkness rather than share them (11–13), summed in a baptismal-hymn summons: 'Rise, sleeper' (14).
• D · 5:15–21 — Walk wisely; be filled with the Spirit. Watch how you walk — wisely, redeeming the time (15–16) — understand the Lord's will (17), and be filled with the Spirit, expressed in addressing, singing, thanking, and mutual submission (18–21).
• E · 5:22–24 — Wives and the church. The household code begins: wives to their own husbands as to the Lord (22), for the husband is head as Christ is head of the church, its Savior (23); as the church submits to Christ, so wives (24).
• F · 5:25–33 — Husbands and the great mystery. Husbands love wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her (25–27); they love their wives as their own bodies (28–30); Gen 2:24 is read of Christ and the church — 'this mystery is great' (31–32) — and applied back to each (33).

Translation & textual notes. The Greek follows the standard critical text of Ephesians 5, uniform in its main wording across the modern editions (NA28, SBLGNT, THGNT) and itself an ancient, public-domain text; NA28's distinctively copyrighted critical apparatus is not reproduced. Verse punctuation is editorial and conventional. The OT citation at v.31 (Gen 2:24) is given in its Greek form. Minor orthographic and word-order variants are not noted.

Ephesians 6 — ΠΡΟΣ ΕΦΕΣΙΟΥΣ Ϛ′

Theme. The household code completed (children, parents, slaves, masters); the call to stand in God's full armor against the spiritual powers; prayer in the Spirit, and the letter's close.

Outline.

• A · 6:1–4 — Children and parents. The household code continues from 5:21. Children are to obey their parents in the Lord, for this is right (1); the command is grounded in the Decalogue — honor father and mother, the first commandment carrying a promise of well-being and long life (2–3). Fathers, in turn, are not to provoke their children but to rear them in the Lord's discipline and instruction (4).
• B · 6:5–9 — Slaves and masters. Slaves are to obey their earthly masters with sincere reverence, as serving Christ — doing God's will from the soul, not as eye-service to please men, knowing each will be repaid by the Lord for good done (5–8). Masters reciprocally are to treat slaves the same way, dropping threats, since both share one impartial Master in heaven (9).
• C · 6:10–13 — Be strong; take up the armor. The summons that gathers the whole letter: be empowered in the Lord and in his might (10); put on the full armor of God so as to stand against the devil's schemes (11), for the struggle is not against flesh and blood but against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, and spiritual forces of evil (12). Therefore take up the full armor, to withstand in the evil day and, having done all, to stand (13).
• D · 6:14–17 — The pieces of the armor. The armor itemized in a chain of participles and an imperative: stand, having girded the waist with truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness (14); feet shod with readiness from the gospel of peace (15); taking up the shield of faith to quench the flaming darts (16); and receiving the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (17).
• E · 6:18–20 — Prayer in the Spirit. The armor is worn in dependence: praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer, watchful in perseverance and supplication for all the saints (18), and for Paul — that utterance be given him to make known the mystery of the gospel boldly (19), for which he is an ambassador in chains, that he may speak it as he ought (20).
• F · 6:21–24 — Tychicus, peace, and grace. The letter closes: Tychicus, the beloved and faithful minister, will make Paul's situation known and is sent to encourage their hearts (21–22). A final benediction of peace, love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (23), and grace upon all who love the Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love (24).

Translation & textual notes. The Greek follows the standard critical text of Ephesians 6, uniform in its main wording across the modern editions (NA28, SBLGNT, THGNT) and itself an ancient, public-domain text; NA28's distinctively copyrighted critical apparatus is not reproduced. Verse punctuation and paragraphing are editorial and conventional. At v.1 the phrase 'in the Lord' (ἐν κυρίῳ) is read with the major witnesses though absent from a few. At v.12 the reading 'against the world-rulers of this darkness' is followed (some witnesses add 'of this age'). At v.19 'the mystery of the gospel' is read; some witnesses omit 'of the gospel.' The discourse, syntactic, and semantic-force tiers are interpretive; where readings legitimately differ, the more common analysis is given and notable alternatives are flagged.

Major translation & exegetical cruxes

Throughout the project, points where the Greek legitimately admits more than one rendering or reading were flagged in the lexical notes and chapter text_notes rather than decided silently. Where a choice had to be made for the running translation, the more common analysis was generally taken and the alternative noted. The principal cruxes in Ephesians:

Other recurring translation choices noted in the lexical tier include the piled-up 'in the heavenlies' (ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις, 1:3, 20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12), the σύν- ('with') compounds of union with Christ (συνεζωοποίησεν, συνήγειρεν, συνεκάθισεν, 2:5–6), the chain of 'fellow-' compounds for the Gentiles' inclusion (συγκληρονόμα, σύσσωμα, συμμέτοχα, 3:6), and the building-up (οἰκοδομή) and 'walk' (περιπατέω) motifs that thread the paraenesis (2:10; 4:1, 17; 5:2, 8, 15).

How the data set is organized

• romans-interlinear/data/ephesians{1..6}.json — the durable scholarly content: one JSON object per chapter (reference, titles, text-note, outline, and verses with per-word annotation and per-verse discourse notes). The data set shares the romans-interlinear toolkit and schema with the Romans volume.
• romans-interlinear/ — a chapter-agnostic renderer (stdlib-only HTML; headless-Chromium PDF) that turns any conforming data file into a six-tier interlinear document. Adding a chapter (or a book) requires no code changes.
• Rendered artifacts — Ephesians{1..6}.html and Ephesians{1..6}.pdf under staticsite/Ephesians/, linked from staticsite/Ephesians/index.html.

The interpretive tiers (syntactic function, semantic force, discourse structure, and the proposed argument outlines) are interpretive by nature; where readings legitimately differ, the more common analysis was generally chosen, and the lexical notes are condensed orientation rather than a substitute for a lexicon (e.g. BDAG) or a full commentary.