Discovery BoxEphesians 1:11 
Context1:11 In Christ 1 we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, 2 since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will
Ephesians 1:13
Context1:13 And when 3 you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation) – when you believed in Christ 4 – you were marked with the seal 5 of the promised Holy Spirit, 6
Ephesians 2:3
Context2:3 among whom 7 all of us 8 also 9 formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath 10 even as the rest… 11
Ephesians 2:12
Context2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, 12 alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, 13 having no hope and without God in the world.
1 tn Grk “in whom,” as a continuation of the previous verse.
2 tn Grk “we were appointed by lot.” The notion of the verb κληρόω (klhrow) in the OT was to “appoint a portion by lot” (the more frequent cognate verb κληρονομέω [klhronomew] meant “obtain a portion by lot”). In the passive, as here, the idea is that “we were appointed [as a portion] by lot” (BDAG 548 s.v. κληρόω 1). The words “God’s own” have been supplied in the translation to clarify this sense of the verb. An alternative interpretation is that believers receive a portion as an inheritance: “In Christ we too have been appointed a portion of the inheritance.” See H. W. Hoehner, Ephesians, 226-27, for discussion on this interpretive issue.
sn God’s own possession. Although God is not mentioned explicitly in the Greek text, it is clear from the context that he has chosen believers for himself. Just as with the nation Israel, the church is God’s chosen portion or possession (cf. Deut 32:8-9).
3 tn Grk “in whom you also, when…” (continuing the sentence from v. 12).
4 tn Grk “in whom also having believed.” The relative pronoun “whom” has been replaced in the translation with its antecedent (“Christ”) to improve the clarity.
5 tn Or “you were sealed.”
6 tn Grk “the Holy Spirit of promise.” Here ἐπαγγελίας (epangelias, “of promise”) has been translated as an attributive genitive.
7 sn Among whom. The relative pronoun phrase that begins v. 3 is identical, except for gender, to the one that begins v. 2 (ἐν αἵς [en Jais], ἐν οἵς [en Jois]). By the structure, the author is building an argument for our hopeless condition: We lived in sin and we lived among sinful people. Our doom looked to be sealed as well in v. 2: Both the external environment (kingdom of the air) and our internal motivation and attitude (the spirit that is now energizing) were under the devil’s thumb (cf. 2 Cor 4:4).
8 tn Grk “we all.”
9 tn Or “even.”
10 sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”
11 sn Eph 2:1-3. The translation of vv. 1-3 is very literal, even to the point of retaining the awkward syntax of the original. See note on the word dead in 2:1.
12 tn Or “without Christ.” Both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.” Because the context refers to ancient Israel’s messianic expectation, “Messiah” was employed in the translation at this point rather than “Christ.”
13 tn Or “covenants of the promise.”
