What Does Ephesians 1:20 Mean?
Which he worked in the Anointed One, when he raised him from the dead, and seated him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,THE KEY
God’s power is shown not as stored force but as action that carries Christ from death into a place of authority.
THE MEANING
The power God works in Christ is visible in a concrete sequence: Christ is raised from the dead and seated at God’s right hand in the heavenly places. His present place is authority beside God; death is not his final position.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The grave is an irreversible ending, with no life or authority beyond it.
THE ROOT
ἐνήργησεν
enērgēsen
GROWS FROM
ἐργ-
erg-
Work or deed; activity that produces an effect.
“worked” in this verse is enērgēsen. The Greek form comes from ἐνεργέω (energeō, to work effectively), built on ἔργον (ergon, work or deed). This family also appears as “working” in Ephesians 1:19, tying the power named there to its action here: raising Christ and seating him.
ALSO GROWS
ergon: Work, deed, or action.
ἔργον
It reveals that the power in this verse is expressed through something done, not merely held.
energeia: Working, activity, or effective operation.
ἐνέργεια
This is the related word translated “working” in Ephesians 1:19, connecting the power’s operation there to Christ’s raising and seating here.
ἐγείρας
egeiras
GROWS FROM
ἐγερ-
eger-
Wake, rouse, or raise.
The verb for raising carries the sense of rousing as well as lifting up. Its compounds show this raising can be shared and can move someone into a new standing, opening the connection between Christ’s raising and the raised life described elsewhere.
ALSO GROWS
synegeirō: Raise together.
συνεγείρω
This same root appears in Ephesians 2:6, where the raised-together pattern is joined to being seated together in the heavenly places.
exegeirō: Raise up.
ἐξεγείρω
The compound keeps the raising action visible across contexts, showing this root’s movement from low or fallen to raised.
THE PATTERN
God’s power raises the dead into life and carries raised life into a new place and condition.
A Psalm of David. The LORD says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I set your enemies as a footstool for your feet.For just as the Father raises the dead and makes them alive, so the Son makes alive whomever he wills.It is sown without weight; it is awakened in weight. It is sown in weakness; it is awakened in strength.THE THREAD
And he raised us up together and seated us together in the places of the heavens, in the Anointed One, Jesus.“Raised us up together” translates συνεγείρω (synegeirō, to raise together), built on the same ἐγερ- (eger-, raise or rouse) root as “raised” here. The verse repeats the seating in heavenly places and extends this raising-and-seating pattern to those who are in Christ.
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