Ephesians 3:2-7

3:2 if indeed ¹  you have heard of the stewardship ²  of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3:3 that ³  by revelation the divine secret ⁴  was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly. ⁵  3:4 When reading this, ⁶  you will be able to ⁷  understand my insight into this secret ⁸  of Christ. 3:5 Now this secret ⁹  was not disclosed to people ¹⁰  in former ¹¹  generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by ¹²  the Spirit, 3:6 namely, that through the gospel ¹³  the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members ¹⁴  of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. 3:7 I became a servant of this gospel ¹⁵  according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by ¹⁶  the exercise of his power. ¹⁷ 

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¹ sn If indeed. The author is not doubting whether his audience has heard, but is rather using provocative language (if indeed) to engage his audience in thinking about the magnificence of God’s grace. However, in English translation, the apodosis (“then”-clause) does not come until v. 13, leaving the protasis (“if”-clause) dangling. Eph 3:2-7 constitute one sentence in Greek.

² tn Or “administration,” “dispensation,” “commission.”

³ tn Or “namely, that is.”

⁴ tn Or “mystery.”

⁵ tn Or “as I wrote above briefly.”

sn As I wrote briefly may refer to the author’s brief discussion of the divine secret in 1:9.

⁶ tn Grk “which, when reading.”

⁷ tn Grk “you are able to.”

⁸ tn Or “mystery.”

⁹ tn Grk “which.” Verse 5 is technically a relative clause, subordinate to the thought of v. 4.

¹⁰ tn Grk “the sons of men” (a Semitic idiom referring to human beings, hence, “people”).

¹¹ tn Grk “other.”

¹² tn Or “in.”

¹³ sn The phrase through the gospel is placed last in the sentence in Greek for emphasis. It has been moved forward for clarity.

¹⁴ tn Grk “and fellow members.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “of which I was made a minister,” “of which I became a servant.”

¹⁶ tn Grk “according to.”

¹⁷ sn On the exercise of his power see 1:19-20.