Discovery BoxEphesians 2:12 
Context2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, 1 alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, 2 having no hope and without God in the world.
Ephesians 6:12
Context6:12 For our struggle 3 is not against flesh and blood, 4 but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, 5 against the spiritual forces 6 of evil in the heavens. 7
1 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.”
2 tn Or “covenants of the promise.”
3 tn BDAG 752 s.v. πάλη says, “struggle against…the opponent is introduced by πρός w. the acc.”
4 tn Grk “blood and flesh.”
5 tn BDAG 561 s.v. κοσμοκράτωρ suggests “the rulers of this sinful world” as a gloss.
sn The phrase world-rulers of this darkness does not refer to human rulers but the evil spirits that rule over the world. The phrase thus stands in apposition to what follows (the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens); see note on heavens at the end of this verse.
6 tn BDAG 837 s.v. πνευματικός 3 suggests “the spirit-forces of evil” in Ephesians 6:12.
7 sn The phrase spiritual forces of evil in the heavens serves to emphasize the nature of the forces which oppose believers as well as to indicate the locality from which they originate.
