In Ephesians 5:2 and again in 5:25, Paul says that Jesus gave himself for us. It’s the same word he used in Galatians 2:20. The Greek word is paradidomi. It is a compound of the preposition “para,” which typically means beside (as in the word parallel), the word “didomi” (which means to give). I had never really taken a close look at the word before, but today it really spoke to me.
Para is use with other words to give nuance to the meaning. Para plus “klytos” (call) is one called alongside—a comforter or advocate. Para plus “akouo” (listen) is to listen alongside—disobedience as opposed to obedience which is to listen under (upo plus akouo). Paul could just as easily used the word “didomi” by itself to say He gave. By adding the prefix it could be literally translated “to give near,” or “to give beside.” The word is also translated to betray or to hand over or to deliver (into custody). In essence, Paul is saying Jesus betrayed Himself on our behalf! The word creates a beautiful picture of the work of Jesus on our behalf.
Christ gave Himself away for us. He gave Himself “beside.” Think about it. He, being holy gave Himself to something totally beside what you would expect of Holy God. He gave Himself to the redemption of unholy, sinful man, and to bringing man back into fellowship with Himself. To do that, He had to take what was unholy and make it holy and blameless, which He did (Ephesians 1:4 and 5:27). Heavenly, eternal, holy God gave Himself into a temporal body, lived an earthly life, suffered an excruciating earthly death and then defeated death in order to bring us into fellowship with Himself!
As an added note, the word as used in Ephesians is in the Greek aorist verb tense (paredokev). It is typically past tense, but more significantly it is “punctiliar.” In other words, it denotes a point in time—once for all time—action.
It is all summed up in the one word paradidomi—He gave Himself, the Holy sacrificed once and for all time for the unholy (you and me) to make us holy and blameless, worthy and qualified by His doing, not our own efforts, to abide in His presence!
