Ephesians 1:19-21

1:19 and what is the incomparable ¹  greatness of his power toward ²  us who believe, as displayed in ³  the exercise of his immense strength. ⁴  1:20 This power ⁵  he exercised ⁶  in Christ when he raised him ⁷  from the dead and seated him ⁸  at his right hand in the heavenly realms ⁹  1:21 far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

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¹ tn Or “immeasurable, surpassing”

² tn Or “for, to”

³ tn Grk “according to.”

⁴ tn Grk “according to the exercise of the might of his strength.”

sn What has been translated as exercise is a term used only of supernatural power in the NT, ἐνέργεια (energeia).

⁵ tn Grk “which” (v. 20 is a subordinate clause to v. 19).

⁶ tn The verb “exercised” (the aorist of ἐνεργέω, energew) has its nominal cognate in “exercise” in v. 19 (ἐνέργεια, energeia).

⁷ tn Or “This power he exercised in Christ by raising him”; Grk “raising him.” The adverbial participle ἐγείρας (egeiras) could be understood as temporal (“when he raised [him]”), which would be contemporaneous to the action of the finite verb “he exercised” earlier in the verse, or as means (“by raising [him]”). The participle has been translated here with the temporal nuance to allow for means to also be a possible interpretation. If the translation focused instead upon means, the temporal nuance would be lost as the time frame for the action of the participle would become indistinct.

⁸ tc The majority of mss, especially the Western and Byzantine mss (D F G Ψ Ï b r Ambst), have the indicative ἐκάθισεν (ekaqisen, “he seated”) for καθίσας (kaqisa", “when he seated, by seating”). The indicative is thus coordinate with ἐνήργησεν (enhrghsen, “he exercised”) and provides an additional statement to “he exercised his power.” The participle (found in Ì^92vid א A B 0278 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 2464 al), on the other hand, is coordinate with ἐγείρας (egeiras) and as such provides evidence of God’s power: He exercised his power by raising Christ from the dead and by seating him at his right hand. As intriguing as the indicative reading is, it is most likely an intentional alteration of the original wording, accomplished by an early “Western” scribe, which made its way in the Byzantine text.

⁹ sn Eph 1:19-20. The point made in these verses is that the power required to live a life pleasing to God is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. For a similar thought, cf. John 15:1-11.