Matthew 20:26-28

20:26 It must not be this way among you! Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, 20:27 and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave ¹  – 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom ²  for many.”

Mark 10:43-45

10:43 But it is not this way among you. Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, 10:44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave ³  of all. 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom ⁴  for many.”

Luke 22:26-27

22:26 Not so with you; ⁵  instead the one who is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader ⁶  like the one who serves. ⁷  22:27 For who is greater, the one who is seated at the table, ⁸  or the one who serves? Is it not ⁹  the one who is seated at the table? But I am among you as one ¹⁰  who serves.

Luke 22:2

22:2 The ¹¹  chief priests and the experts in the law ¹²  were trying to find some way ¹³  to execute ¹⁴  Jesus, ¹⁵  for they were afraid of the people. ¹⁶ 

Colossians 1:9

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ¹⁷  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ¹⁸  to fill ¹⁹  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

Philippians 2:5-8

2:5 You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, ²⁰ 

2:6 ²¹ who though he existed in the form of God ²² 

did not regard equality with God

as something to be grasped,

2:7 but emptied himself

by taking on the form of a slave, ²³ 

by looking like other men, ²⁴ 

and by sharing in human nature. ²⁵ 

2:8 He humbled himself,

by becoming obedient to the point of death

– even death on a cross!

Hebrews 5:8-9

5:8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered. ²⁶  5:9 And by being perfected in this way, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

Hebrews 12:2

12:2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. ²⁷ 

[20:27]  ¹ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.

[20:28]  ² sn The Greek word for ransom (λύτρον, lutron) is found here and in Mark 10:45 and refers to the payment of a price in order to purchase the freedom of a slave. The idea of Jesus as the “ransom” is that he paid the price with his own life by standing in our place as a substitute, enduring the judgment that we deserved for sin.

[10:44]  ³ tn Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v. 1). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[10:45]  ⁴ sn The Greek word for ransom (λύτρον, lutron) is found here and in Matt 20:28 and refers to the payment of a price in order to purchase the freedom of a slave. The idea of Jesus as the “ransom” is that he paid the price with his own life by standing in humanity’s place as a substitute, enduring the judgment that was deserved for sin.

[22:26]  ⁵ tn Grk “But you are not thus.”

[22:26]  ⁶ tn Or “the ruler.”

[22:26]  ⁷ sn And the leader like the one who serves. Leadership was not to be a matter of privilege and special status, but of service. All social status is leveled out by these remarks. Jesus himself is the prime example of the servant-leader.

[22:27]  ⁸ tn Grk “who reclines at table,” as 1st century middle eastern meals were not eaten while sitting at a table, but while reclining on one’s side on the floor with the head closest to the low table and the feet farthest away.

[22:27]  ⁹ tn The interrogative particle used here in the Greek text (οὐχί, ouci) expects a positive reply.

[22:27]  ¹⁰ sn Jesus’ example of humble service, as one who serves, shows that the standard for a disciple is different from that of the world. For an example see John 13:1-17.

[22:2]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[22:2]  ¹² tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

[22:2]  ¹³ tn Grk “were seeking how.”

[22:2]  ¹⁴ tn The Greek verb here means “to get rid of by execution” (BDAG 64 s.v. ἀναιρέω 2; cf. also L&N 20.71, which states, “to get rid of someone by execution, often with legal or quasi-legal procedures”).

[22:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:2]  ¹⁶ sn The suggestion here is that Jesus was too popular to openly arrest him. The verb were trying is imperfect. It suggests, in this context, that they were always considering the opportunities.

[1:9]  ¹⁷ tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ¹⁸ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ¹⁹ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.

[2:5]  ²⁰ tn Grk “Have this attitude in/among yourselves which also [was] in Christ Jesus,” or “Have this attitude in/among yourselves which [you] also [have] in Christ Jesus.”

[2:6]  ²¹ sn This passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

[2:6]  ²² sn The Greek term translated form indicates a correspondence with reality. Thus the meaning of this phrase is that Christ was truly God.

[2:7]  ²³ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 1:1.

[2:7]  ²⁴ tn Grk “by coming in the likeness of people.”

[2:7]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and by being found in form as a man.” The versification of vv. 7 and 8 (so also NRSV) is according to the versification in the NA²⁷ and UBS⁴ editions of the Greek text. Some translations, however, break the verses in front of this phrase (NKJV, NASB, NIV, NLT). The same material has been translated in each case; the only difference is the versification of that material.

[5:8]  ²⁶ sn There is a wordplay in the Greek text between the verbs “learned” (ἔμαθεν, emaqen) and “suffered” (ἔπαθεν, epaqen).

[12:2]  ²⁷ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1.