Without a break the text continues: “for the praise of the glory of his (God’s) grace” (Hdb|fig:Table_EPH1-3.jpg). A variation of this is found also in verses 12a, 14c. This is the final result of God’s salvation through Christ: his people will praise him. The expression Let us praise is not a request for permission but a kind of exhortation and is equivalent in many languages to an expression of obligation, for example, “we should praise” or “we must praise.”

The word “glory” is used in the Bible to describe the manifestation of God’s presence with his people, his saving presence, his redemptive power. It is usually described in terms of a brilliant light (see Exo 16.10; 1 Kgs 8.10-11; Ezek 10.3-4; Col 1.11).

In the New Testament the word grace refers to God’s uncaused, unmerited, unconditioned love (see 1.2).

The phrase “the glory of his grace” can be taken to mean “the glorious manifestation/revelation of his unmerited love” (compare Twentieth Century New Testament “the glorious manifestation of his loving-kindness”). But it is possible also to take the phrase as meaning his glorious grace (Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and others).

In a number of languages grace must be expressed as an event and as such is normally a verb phrase such as “showed kindness” or “showed goodness to” or “was good to because of his love” or “loved and was good to”; but it may then be difficult to introduce the qualifying word glorious. This can sometimes be done by a phrase, for example, “the wonderful way in which he showed kindness to us.”

The free gift he gave us translates a verb which is used only here and in Luke 1.28 in the New Testament, and which means “to give generously.” Good News Translation has the free gift he gave us, since it seems more natural to speak of “a gift” as the object of the verb “to give” rather than “his grace.” Most translations, however, find nothing unnatural in this.

In order to express the concept of “generous giving” involved in the Greek verb, one can emphasize either (1) the attitude of the giver by such terms as “generous” or “free” or (2) the abundance of the gift as “so much.” Accordingly, “which he generously gave us” may be expressed as “which he gave us because of his good heart.” But if one wishes the emphasis to be upon the abundance of the gift, he may say “which he gave us so abundantly” or “… to such a great extent.”

In his dear Son: it was by means of Jesus Christ, God’s dear Son (see Mark 1.11, the heavenly voice at the baptism of Jesus), that God manifested his grace to mankind. The Greek uses the perfect passive participle of the verb “to love” (see Revised Standard Version “the Beloved”); here only is this participle used of Christ in the New Testament. The phrase “in the beloved” may be rendered as “by means of what was done by his Son whom he loves.” In some instances, means is expressed by a term or phrase which indicates the possibility of something happening or existing. Therefore, “in the beloved” may be rendered as “God’s dear Son made this possible.”

It would seem that the way in which Good News Translation has restructured the various items in verses 5-6 is fairly apparent and needs no further comment.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .