FOOTNOTES:

^a Or ‘dead’

^b There are three ‘path’ related metaphors here. ‘shortfalls’ which literally means a ‘fall to the side,’ ‘deviations’ which means to stray off course (miss the bullseye), and ‘walk’ which means how one lives symbolized by the direction they walk.

^c ‘Mapped out by’ is trying to make sense of the genitive case. Most literally this phrase is ‘the age of this world.’ The word ‘age’ means something like ‘era’ or ‘long period of time.’ The genitive seems to be an attributive genitive, meaning ‘world [system]’ is describing ‘age’ in some way. ‘Mapped out by’ is a way to show that it is characterizing what the ‘age’ is like.

^d Since it is clear it’s talking about the culture and way of being that is prevalent throughout the land and not about the planet or location, ‘world system’ seems to be the best way to translate this.

^e Literally, ‘air,’ specifically, low-lying air, as opposed to the air of the sky. Technically, ‘troposphere,’ where nearly all weather patterns take shape. I suspect this may be a veiled reference to Caesar, though that could be wrong, contrasting the authority of the highest heavens (God’s authority) with the authority of the ground-level air (Caesar). Whether it is Caesar or a demonic power or anything else, the significance that it directs people to live in ways in conflict with God’s values is clear and that the way of living in question is pervasive throughout the culture.

^f The word ‘and’ is not in the Greek. *Pneumatos* (spirit-breath) is a genitive, connecting it with something that came before. If it were appositional (repeating the same thing with a clarification) for ‘one who rules’ it would be more likely for it to be accusative rather than genitive. Being genitive, it could still serve that function; however, it seems more likely to me that is appositional with ‘authority of the lowest atmosphere.’ The NET seems to take that interpretation also, and it shows it by repeating the ‘ruler/one who rules’ a second time for clarity, despite it appearing only once in the Greek. I am showing it by adding the word ‘and’ for clarity.

^g Other places, ‘life-breath.’ The connection with the kind of energy that flows, that takes shape in how we live and exist should not be erased in however this word is translated. However, ‘life-breath’ seems less appropriate here since it is a flow and way of being that leads to death, not life. It is a breath contrasted with the breath of life—a counterfeit of the one given in Genesis 2 and carried within every person since then.

^h Literally, ‘be turned around’ or ‘be turned back’ or ‘be overturned’

ⁱ Literally, ‘aggressive/angry children in nature’

^j ‘Loving faithfulness’ here is translating *eleos*. Traditionally, it has been translated as ‘mercy.’ However, it is the word the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) uses to translate the Hebrew word *hesed*. *Hesed* has been translated several ways, including ‘lovingkindness,’ ‘loyal love,’ ‘kindness,’ ‘covenant faithfulness,’ and sometimes simply, ‘love.’ It’s a complex and crucial Hebrew word that does not have an easy English equivalent, but it is pervasive throughout the Hebrew Bible and is conveyed as one of the Hebrew words most critical to understand for understanding what God is like.

^k Participle, ‘since’ vs. ‘even though’

^l Traditionally, ‘in the heavenlies.’ Literally, ‘in the over-sky’ or that which is higher than the sky. This has nothing to do with a post-death residence. It represents the level of authority or power of those who are said to be in this place. It represents socio-economic or power/authority status.

^m Traditionally, ‘kindness.’ The more complete definition is something more like ‘active kindness,’ inherently including kind actions, not just pleasant or polite behavior. The word is much more active, doing things that directly benefit others. The closest English word might be ‘beneficence,’ but that word is too esoteric to be useful here.

ⁿ Or ‘from’ – ‘not caused by you’ and ‘not your faithfulness’ could both be valid translation options and both are good theology.

^o This word is also the origin of the English word ‘poem,’ and while it’s tempting to say ‘we are his poetry’ here, it would be too much of a leap to be faithful to the Greek.

^p Traditionally, ‘good,’ but the word specifically means ‘good to others,’ not to be confused with something like ‘obedient.’

^q Literally, ‘the ones who are bodily nations/Gentiles’ or ‘the ones who are nations/Gentiles in the flesh.’ It is referring to being other people groups biologically. Other ‘nationalities’ could work but it’s not just talking about family history as much as group allegiances, as the context that follows begins to clarify.

^r Very literally, this word means ‘tip of the penis.’ Traditionally, it has been translated as ‘uncircumcision’ because translators and readers are too squeamish to handle the actual translation.

^s Literally, ‘with flesh’

^t ‘Without a christ’ could also work here. It seems to refer to the time before Jesus, and ‘christ’ means ‘anointed’ as in the God-appointed king of Israel, of which David, Saul, Solomon, and others all would appropriately be called christs/messiahs/anointed ones.

^u This could be best translated as ‘promised covenants’ or it could be something like ‘covenants that were signs of the promise’ or ‘covenants ensuring the promise.’

^v Since ‘world’ could be a location, ‘in’ could also be an appropriate translation. However, in context, ‘world system’ seems to be the best translation for *kosmos* since it’s about the cultural way of being not about location, treating *en* as a preposition of association or standard seems to make more sense, in which case ‘with’ or ‘according to the standard of’ make more sense. Both are awkward that way in English. I used ‘like’ as a similar meaning in the context that would work as an alternative to both ‘with’ and ‘according to the standard of.’

^w Perhaps ‘entity’ since its referring to the group, not an individual

^x Dative case, no preposition. To, toward, at, with, for, and others. Context about relationship between the groups, not between the humans and God.

^y Or ‘along with him’

^z The word *hoti* here can mean ‘because,’ ‘since,’ or ‘that.’ It seems clearly to mean ‘that’ here. It is often used to clarify that what follows is the content of the preceding verb, such as ‘we know that….’ or ‘I’m telling you that…” It is typically used differently than *hina* which means ‘so’ or ‘so that’ and is sometimes just translated as ‘that’ when discussing purpose, result, desire, intent, etc. This is not *hina*, though the NET seems to translate it as if it were, presumably because that fits with what people expect to see when they assume this passage is about reconciling sinful individuals with God; however, it is clear that the passage is about reconciling hostile groups with each other. In order to make it explicit that it is *hoti* and not *hina* (with the significance listed here about the differences), I added a clarifying ‘which is’ so that it says ‘which is that,’ indicating that the word ‘that’ is clarifying the contexts of the victorious message of peace.

^aa Literally ‘with.’ ‘We both with one life-breath’ seems unclear, especially in the larger context of the sentence. ‘Share’ is not literally in the Greek, but it seems to help capture the intended meaning.

^bb The shift from “them both” in verse 16 to “we both” in verse 18 feels significant.

^cc The word order is always flexible in Greek, and it’s sometimes harder than at others to decide the best order in English. This sentence is one of the less certain ones. The meaning does not change much with the variations, but it feels a bit different. Here are some possibilities: 1) “**through him**, we who share one life-breath both have access to the Father”; 2) “we who share one life-breath both have access **through him** to the Father”; 3) “we who **both** share one life-breath have access to the Father through him”; 4) “we **both** who share one life-breath have access to the Father through him.”

^dd This is not to denigrate immigrants but about their citizenship status. It’s a synonym of the previous word ‘foreigner.’ Maybe ‘resident foreigner’ would be most accurate. In the U.S., the equivalent is a ‘legal resident,’ someone who has their green card but is not a full citizen.

^ee The double entendre Paul likes to use is such good literature, and it makes it impossible to do justice in translation. ‘Members of God’s household’ makes the most sense and carries the message of belonging in God’s the family of God’s people. However, the next word at the beginning of verse 20 is a metaphor, ‘to build on,’ as if the people being addressed are ‘parts of God’s house.’ The Greek could be taken either way. In English, ‘member’ is technically a synonym for ‘part.’ It works, but English forces us to choose which idea we’re focusing on while the Greek allows both meanings to flow interchangeably. The house metaphors continue through chpt. 3.

^ff Traditionally, ‘apostles.’ However, ‘apostle’ isn’t a translation but taking the Greek word *apostoloi* and putting it in English letters, or at least, it’s a translation to a word that clung so tightly to the Greek etymology that it lost its meaning. The word means ‘one who is sent.’ While ‘emissary’ is not a common word in English, it at least forces readers to pause to think about the meaning.

^gg ‘Lord’ here seems to be more about Yahweh of the Hebrew Bible than about Jesus, though of course there are theological arguments about that distinction. While there is certainly existential overlap, linguistically they are referred to in different ways. Also, the preposition en here would normally not be translated as ‘for,’ but it seems to work much better than something like ‘in regard to’ in this sentence.

^hh This is a difficult one to know what to make of it. Literally, it is ‘into a home of God in spirit/life-breath.’ Again, unless we take ‘spirit/life-breath’ to be the location of God or the home, ‘in’ is not the appropriate translation. It seems to be a ‘preposition of reference’ so something like ‘with reference to’ or ‘regarding’ or ‘in connection with’ would all be more literally translations, but it is still difficult to know what that would mean.

ⁱⁱ This makes me wonder if this particular analogy is a nod to Jesus’ family trade of carpentry.