What Does Ephesians 2:7 Mean?
So that in the oncoming ages he might show the overflowing riches of his favor, in kindness toward us, in the Anointed One, Jesus.
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
That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.THE KEY
The coming ages are the horizon on which the vastness of God’s favor toward you keeps becoming visible through kindness.
THE MEANING
God’s kindness toward you makes his favor visible through Jesus. Its abundance is not exhausted by what you see now; the coming ages keep opening out its reach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that divine kindness is only a brief reprieve: here, it reveals favor whose riches unfold through the ages.
THE ROOT
χάρις
charis
GROWS FROM
χαρ-
char-
Favor, gracious goodwill expressed in giving.
The Greek word translated “grace” belongs to a word family for favor given and received. Its riches become visible in kindness: favor is not merely a status but something that reaches you.
ALSO GROWS
charizomai: Grant freely; release or forgive.
χαρίζομαι
This branch shows favor as an act of giving and release, not only a favorable attitude.
charisma: A gift freely given.
χάρισμα
The gift-word from this family helps make the “riches” of favor concrete: they are shared, not kept at a distance.
χρηστότης
chrēstotēs
GROWS FROM
χρηστ-
chrēst-
Goodness that is useful or beneficial; kindness.
This kindness carries the sense of goodness that does good. It is how the immeasurable favor of the verse becomes tangible toward you.
ALSO GROWS
chrēstos: Good, kind, beneficial.
χρηστός
The adjective gives the quality beneath the kindness: goodness that can be experienced as beneficial.
chrēsteuomai: Act kindly.
χρηστεύομαι
This related verb presents kindness as goodness in action, matching the verse’s picture of favor made visible.
αἰών
aiōn
GROWS FROM
αἰων-
aiōn-
An age or span of time.
The plural “ages” gives this display an unfolding horizon. The verse presents God’s kindness toward you as a revelation whose abundance continues to open out.
ALSO GROWS
aiōnios: Belonging to an age; age-lasting.
αἰώνιος
This related word carries the age-span into descriptions of what belongs to or lasts through an age.
aiōnes: Ages; spans of time.
αἰῶνες
The plural makes the verse’s horizon explicit: favor is shown across coming ages, not confined to one moment.
THE PATTERN
God’s abundance becomes visible as goodness directed toward people.
Or do you look down upon the fullness of his kindness, and the holding back, and the slowness to heat, not perceiving that the kindness of God leads you to turning?But when the kindness and the love for humankind of God our Deliverer shone.The LORD is good to all, and his compassions are over all his works.THE THREAD
But when the kindness and the love for humankind of God our Deliverer shone.Titus uses the same Greek word for “kindness,” χρηστότης (chrēstotēs), as Ephesians 2:7. Titus says this kindness appears; Ephesians opens up what it reveals, the vastness of God’s favor toward you.
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