LITV (All in one sentence)
- Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies with Christ,
- even as He elected us in Him before the foundation of the world,
- for us to be holy and without blemish before Him in love,
- predestinating us to adoption through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
- to the praise of the glory of His grace in which He favoured us in the One having been loved,
- in whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of deviations, according to the riches of His grace
- which He caused to abound toward us in all wisdom and understanding,
- making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
- for the administration of the fullness of the times to head up all things in Christ, both the things in the heavens, and the things on earth, in Him,
- in whom we also have been chosen to an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of the One working all things according to the counsel of His own will,
- for us to be to the praise of His glory, the ones who had previously trusted in Christ;
- in whom also you, hearing the Word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also believing you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
- who is an earnest of our inheritance, to the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
GW (divided into 17 sentences, yet preserving some of the glue)
- Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Through Christ, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that heaven has to offer.
- Before the creation of the world, he chose us through Christ to be holy and perfect in his presence.
- Because of his love he had already decided to adopt us through Jesus Christ.
- He freely chose to do this so that the kindness he had given us in his dear Son would be praised and given glory.
- Through the blood of his Son, we are set free from our sins.
- God forgives our failures because of his overflowing kindness.
- He poured out his kindness by giving us every kind of wisdom and insight when he revealed the mystery of his plan to us.
- He had decided to do this through Christ.
- He planned to bring all of history to its goal in Christ.
- Then Christ would be the head of everything in heaven and on earth.
- God also decided ahead of time to choose us through Christ according to his plan, which makes everything work the way he intends.
- He planned all of THIS so that we who had already focused our hope on Christ would praise him and give him glory.
- You heard and believed the message of truth, the Good News that he has saved you.
- In him you were sealed with the Holy Spirit whom he promised.
- This Holy Spirit is the guarantee that we will receive our inheritance.
- We have this guarantee until we are set free to belong to him.
- God receives praise and glory for this.
(Eph 1:3-14)
I have highlighted for you the little glue words available to you in E-Sword. It’s these prepositions and conjunctions which enable us to see how the pieces fit together. Let me make it clearer with a different layout.
The emboldened sections are the glue words which join each section to the following one. The unemboldened lines are the main text of each verse but in the Literal Version. The elements separated by the semi colons (;) are the various alternatives offered between the versions.
Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies with Christ,
even as (;) just as (;) even before
He elected us in Him before the foundation of the world, for us to be holy and without blemish before Him in love,
predestinating us (;) having foreordained us (;) as we were designed before (;) because of His love,
to adoption through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise . . . (;) so that His kindness would be praised (;) so we praise
(of) the glory of His grace in which He favoured us in the One having been loved,
In whom
We have redemption through His blood, the remission of deviations, according to the riches of His grace
by which (;) through (;) which,
He caused to abound toward us in all wisdom and understanding,
making known (;) having made known (;) having made clear (;) when he revealed . . .
to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
for the administration (;) unto the dispensation (;) the ordering of (;) the times when they are complete (;) and this is the plan . . .
of the fullness of the times to head up all things in Christ, both the things in the heavens, and the things on earth, [in Him,]
in whom (;) in Him (;) furthermore because . . .
we also have been chosen to an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of the One working all things according to the counsel of His own will,
for us to be (;) to the end that (;) so that (;) His purpose was that
to the praise of His glory, the ones who had previously trusted in Christ;
in whom (;) in Him
also you, hearing the Word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also believing you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
who is (;) which is (;) this (*) is
in earnest of our inheritance, to the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. (Eph 1:3-14)
Our task is to put the bits together. Essentially we have to work out how each unit of the sentence relates to the unit before it. In technical terms we need to find the referent or the antecedent. In practical terms what does “which” refer to? What does “in whom” refer to? etc. and how do they link to the following portion. How do these two portions hang together? If we can solve those questions we can understand what Paul is meaning.
Sound complicated? Well, it is. Paul’s thoughts here have spilled out rapidly and are all interconnected. We have to unravel it all if we are to understand it. We have to make sense of “in whom”, “so that” “in order that” etc.
Let’s face it most of us don’t read our Bibles thoroughly enough. A passage like this is likely to be skipped over and only understood at a rudimentary level. Then we leave it behind in order to press on with our Bible reading. Interesting isn’t, doesn’t reading include understanding? Or is it just sufficient to read? Mmm.
Do some thinking on this passage. Make the connections, Look for the links between segments.
Many of us die with the music still in us.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Men are always looking for better methods, while God is looking for better men (and women)!
Konghee