John 14:17-23

14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, ¹  because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides ²  with you and will be ³  in you.

14:18 “I will not abandon ⁴  you as orphans, ⁵  I will come to you. ⁶  14:19 In a little while ⁷  the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too. 14:20 You will know at that time ⁸  that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. 14:21 The person who has my commandments and obeys ⁹  them is the one who loves me. ¹⁰  The one ¹¹  who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal ¹²  myself to him.”

14:22 “Lord,” Judas (not Judas Iscariot) ¹³  said, ¹⁴  “what has happened that you are going to reveal ¹⁵  yourself to us and not to the world?” 14:23 Jesus replied, ¹⁶  “If anyone loves me, he will obey ¹⁷  my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. ¹⁸ 

John 17:21-23

17:21 that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray ¹⁹  that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. 17:22 The glory ²⁰  you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one – 17:23 I in them and you in me – that they may be completely one, ²¹  so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.

Romans 8:9-11

8:9 You, however, are not in ²²  the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him. 8:10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but ²³  the Spirit is your life ²⁴  because of righteousness. 8:11 Moreover if the Spirit of the one ²⁵  who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ ²⁶  from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you. ²⁷ 

Romans 8:1

The Believer’s Relationship to the Holy Spirit

8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ²⁸ 

Colossians 3:16

3:16 Let the word of Christ ²⁹  dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace ³⁰  in your hearts to God.

Colossians 1:19

1:19 For God ³¹  was pleased to have all his ³²  fullness dwell ³³  in the Son ³⁴ 

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ³⁵  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 2:4-5

2:4 I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments ³⁶  that sound reasonable. ³⁷  2:5 For though ³⁸  I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, rejoicing to see ³⁹  your morale ⁴⁰  and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

Colossians 2:1

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, ⁴¹  and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. ⁴² 

Colossians 3:24

3:24 because you know that you will receive your ⁴³  inheritance ⁴⁴  from the Lord as the reward. Serve ⁴⁵  the Lord Christ.

Colossians 4:13

4:13 For I can testify that he has worked hard ⁴⁶  for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

Colossians 4:16

4:16 And after ⁴⁷  you have read this letter, have it read ⁴⁸  to the church of Laodicea. In turn, read the letter from Laodicea ⁴⁹  as well.

[14:17]  ¹ tn Or “cannot receive.”

[14:17]  ² tn Or “he remains.”

[14:17]  ³ tc Some early and important witnesses (Ì^66* B D* W 1 565 it) have ἐστιν (estin, “he is”) instead of ἔσται (estai, “he will be”) here, while other weighty witnesses ({Ì^66c,75vid א A D¹ L Θ Ψ Ë¹³ 33^vid Ï as well as several versions and fathers}), read the future tense. When one considers transcriptional evidence, ἐστιν is the more difficult reading and better explains the rise of the future tense reading, but it must be noted that both Ì⁶⁶ and D were corrected from the present tense to the future. If ἐστιν were the original reading, one would expect a few manuscripts to be corrected to read the present when they originally read the future, but that is not the case. When one considers what the author would have written, the future is on much stronger ground. The immediate context (both in 14:16 and in the chapter as a whole) points to the future, and the theology of the book regards the advent of the Spirit as a decidedly future event (see, e.g., 7:39 and 16:7). The present tense could have arisen from an error of sight on the part of some scribes or more likely from an error of thought as scribes reflected upon the present role of the Spirit. Although a decision is difficult, the future tense is most likely authentic. For further discussion on this textual problem, see James M. Hamilton, Jr., “He Is with You and He Will Be in You” (Ph.D. diss., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003), 213-20.

[14:18]  ⁴ tn Or “leave.”

[14:18]  ⁵ tn The entire phrase “abandon you as orphans” could be understood as an idiom meaning, “leave you helpless.”

[14:18]  ⁶ sn I will come to you. Jesus had spoken in 14:3 of going away and coming again to his disciples. There the reference was both to the parousia (the second coming of Christ) and to the postresurrection appearances of Jesus to the disciples. Here the postresurrection appearances are primarily in view, since Jesus speaks of the disciples “seeing” him after the world can “see” him no longer in the following verse. But many commentators have taken v. 18 as a reference to the coming of the Spirit, since this has been the topic of the preceding verses. Still, vv. 19-20 appear to contain references to Jesus’ appearances to the disciples after his resurrection. It may well be that another Johannine double meaning is found here, so that Jesus ‘returns’ to his disciples in one sense in his appearances to them after his resurrection, but in another sense he ‘returns’ in the person of the Holy Spirit to indwell them.

[14:19]  ⁷ tn Grk “Yet a little while, and.”

[14:20]  ⁸ tn Grk “will know in that day.”

[14:21]  ⁹ tn Or “keeps.”

[14:21]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “obeys them, that one is the one who loves me.”

[14:21]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And the one.” Here the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated to improve the English style.

[14:21]  ¹² tn Or “will disclose.”

[14:22]  ¹³ tn Grk “(not Iscariot).” The proper noun (Judas) has been repeated for clarity and smoothness in English style.

[14:22]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “said to him.”

[14:22]  ¹⁵ tn Or “disclose.”

[14:23]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[14:23]  ¹⁷ tn Or “will keep.”

[14:23]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “we will come to him and will make our dwelling place with him.” The context here is individual rather than corporate indwelling, so the masculine singular pronoun has been retained throughout v. 23. It is important to note, however, that the pronoun is used generically here and refers equally to men, women, and children.

[17:21]  ¹⁹ tn The words “I pray” are repeated from the first part of v. 20 for clarity.

[17:22]  ²⁰ tn Grk And the glory.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[17:23]  ²¹ tn Or “completely unified.”

[8:9]  ²² tn Or “are not controlled by the flesh but by the Spirit.”

[8:10]  ²³ tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.

[8:10]  ²⁴ tn Or “life-giving.” Grk “the Spirit is life.”

[8:11]  ²⁵ sn The one who raised Jesus from the dead refers to God (also in the following clause).

[8:11]  ²⁶ tc Several mss read ᾿Ιησοῦν (Ihsoun, “Jesus”) after Χριστόν (Criston, “Christ”; א* A D* 630 1506 1739 1881 pc bo); C 81 104 lat have ᾿Ιησοῦν Χριστόν. The shorter reading is more likely to be original, though, both because of external evidence (א² B D² F G Ψ 33 Ï sa) and internal evidence (scribes were much more likely to add the name “Jesus” if it were lacking than to remove it if it were already present in the text, especially to harmonize with the earlier mention of Jesus in the verse).

[8:11]  ²⁷ tc Most mss (B D F G Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï lat) have διά (dia) followed by the accusative: “because of his Spirit who lives in you.” The genitive “through his Spirit” is supported by א A C⁽*⁾ 81 104 1505 1506 al, and is slightly preferred.

[8:1]  ²⁸ tc The earliest and best witnesses of the Alexandrian and Western texts, as well as a few others (א* B D* F G 6 1506 1739 1881 pc co), have no additional words for v. 1. Later scribes (A D¹ Ψ 81 365 629 pc vg) added the words μὴ κατὰ σάρκα περιπατοῦσιν (mh kata sarka peripatousin, “who do not walk according to the flesh”), while even later ones (א² D² 33^vid Ï) added ἀλλὰ κατὰ πνεῦμα (alla kata pneuma, “but [who do walk] according to the Spirit”). Both the external evidence and the internal evidence are compelling for the shortest reading. The scribes were evidently motivated to add such qualifications (interpolated from v. 4) to insulate Paul’s gospel from charges that it was characterized too much by grace. The KJV follows the longest reading found in Ï.

[3:16]  ²⁹ tc Since “the word of Christ” occurs nowhere else in the NT, two predictable variants arose: “word of God” and “word of the Lord.” Even though some of the witnesses for these variants are impressive (κυρίου [kuriou, “of the Lord”] in א* I 1175 pc bo; θεοῦ [qeou, “of God”] in A C* 33 104 323 945 al), the reading Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “of Christ”) is read by an excellent cross-section of witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א² B C² D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï lat sa). On both internal and external grounds, Χριστοῦ is strongly preferred.

[3:16]  ³⁰ tn Grk “with grace”; “all” is supplied as it is implicitly related to all the previous instructions in the verse.

[1:19]  ³¹ tn The noun “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but since God is the one who reconciles the world to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:19), he is clearly the subject of εὐδόκησεν (eudokhsen).

[1:19]  ³² tn The Greek article τό (to), insofar as it relates to God, may be translated as a possessive pronoun, i.e., “his.” BDAG 404 s.v. εὐδοκέω 1 translates the phrase as “all the fullness willed to dwell in him” thus leaving the referent as impersonal. Insofar as Paul is alluding to the so-called emanations from God this is acceptable. But the fact that “the fullness” dwells in a person (i.e., “in him”) seems to argue for the translation “his fullness” where “his” refers to God.

[1:19]  ³³ tn The aorist verb κατοικῆσαι (katoikhsai) could be taken as an ingressive, in which case it refers to the incarnation and may be translated as “begin to dwell, to take up residence.” It is perhaps better, though, to take it as a constative aorist and simply a reference to the fact that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. This is a permanent dwelling, though, not a temporary one, as the present tense in 2:9 makes clear.

[1:19]  ³⁴ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the Son; see v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:1]  ³⁵ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[2:4]  ³⁶ tn BDAG 812 s.v. πιθανολογία states, “persuasive speech, art of persuasion (so Pla., Theaet. 162e) in an unfavorable sense in its only occurrence in our lit. ἐν πιθανολογίᾳ by specious arguments Col 2:4 (cp. PLips 40 III, 7 διὰ πιθανολογίας).”

[2:4]  ³⁷ sn Paul’s point is that even though the arguments seem to make sense (sound reasonable), they are in the end false. Paul is not here arguing against the study of philosophy or serious thinking per se, but is arguing against the uncritical adoption of a philosophy that is at odds with a proper view of Christ and the ethics of the Christian life.

[2:5]  ³⁸ tn The conditional particle εἰ (ei) together with καί (kai) here indicates a first class condition in Greek and carries a concessive force, especially when seen in contrast to the following phrase which begins with ἀλλά (alla).

[2:5]  ³⁹ tn Grk “rejoicing and seeing.”

[2:5]  ⁴⁰ tn The Greek word τάξις can mean “order,” “discipline,” or even “unbroken ranks” (REB).

[2:1]  ⁴¹ tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”

[2:1]  ⁴² tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”

[3:24]  ⁴³ tn The article τῆς (ths) has been translated as a possessive pronoun, “your” (ExSyn 215). It may also be functioning to indicate a well-known concept (inheritance as eternal life). See BDAG 548 s.v. κληρονομία 3: “common in Christian usage (corresp. to the LXX) (the possession of) transcendent salvation (as the inheritance of God’s children).”

[3:24]  ⁴⁴ tn The genitive τῆς κληρονομίας (th" klhronomia") is a genitive of apposition: The reward consists of the inheritance.

[3:24]  ⁴⁵ tn The form of the term δουλεύετε (douleuete) is ambiguous; it can be read as either indicative or imperative. In favor of the indicative: (1) it seems to explain better the first part of v. 24, esp. “from the Lord” which would then read as: “because you know that you will receive your inheritance from the Lord as a reward for it is the Lord you are serving.” The “for” is supplied to make the relation explicit (it is actually added in many mss – D¹ Ψ 075 Ï – but the best ms evidence is against its inclusion). (2) With the imperative, one might expect ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ (Jw" tw kuriw), as for example in Eph 6:7. In favor of the imperative: (1) an imperative resumes the ἐργάζεσθε (ergazesqe) in v. 23a and forms a chiasm with it; (2) an imperative makes more sense of the γάρ (gar) in v. 25a; (3) an imperative relates equally well to the preceding statement; (4) a parallel can be found in Rom 12:11 which uses an imperatival participle δουλεύοντες (douleuonte") with the dative τῷ κυρίῳ. For an elaboration of these points see M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 185-86.

[4:13]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “pain.” This word appears only three times in the NT outside of this verse (Rev 16:10, 11; 21:4) where the translation “pain” makes sense. For the present verse it has been translated “worked hard.” See BDAG 852 s.v. πόνος 1.

[4:16]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “when.”

[4:16]  ⁴⁸ tn The construction beginning with the imperative ποιήσατε ἵνα…ἀναγνωσθῇ (poihsate Jina…anagnwsqh) should be translated as “have it read” where the conjunction ἵνα functions to mark off its clause as the direct object of the imperative ποιήσατε. The content of the clause (“reading the letter”) is what Paul commands with the imperative ποιήσατε. Thus the translation “have it read” has been used here.

[4:16]  ⁴⁹ sn This letter is otherwise unknown, but some have suggested that it is the letter known today as Ephesians.