1 Corinthians 1:13-16

1:13 Is Christ divided? Paul wasn’t crucified for you, was he? ¹  Or were you in fact baptized in the name of Paul? ²  1:14 I thank God ³  that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 1:15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name! 1:16 (I also baptized the household of Stephanus. Otherwise, I do not remember whether I baptized anyone else.)

Exodus 14:31

14:31 When Israel saw ⁴  the great power ⁵  that the Lord had exercised ⁶  over the Egyptians, they ⁷  feared the Lord, and they believed in ⁸  the Lord and in his servant Moses. ⁹ 

John 9:28-29

9:28 They ¹⁰  heaped insults ¹¹  on him, saying, ¹²  “You are his disciple! ¹³  We are disciples of Moses! 9:29 We know that God has spoken to Moses! We do not know where this man ¹⁴  comes from!”

Hebrews 3:2-3

3:2 who is faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses was also in God’s ¹⁵  house. ¹⁶  3:3 For he has come to deserve greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house deserves greater honor than the house itself!

¹ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “was he?”).

² tn This third question marks a peak in which Paul’s incredulity at the Corinthians’ attitude is in focus. The words “in fact” have been supplied in the translation to make this rhetorical juncture clear.

³ tc The oldest and most important witnesses to this text, as well as a few others (א* B 6 1739 sa^ms bo^pt), lack the words τῷ θεῷ (tw qew, “God”), while the rest have them. An accidental omission could well account for the shorter reading, especially since θεῷ would have been written as a nomen sacrum (eucaristwtwqMw). However, one might expect to see, in some mss at least, a dropping of the article but not the divine name. Internally, the Pauline introductory thanksgivings elsewhere always include τῷ θεῷ after εὐχαριστῶ (eucaristw, “I thank”; cf. Rom 1:8; 1 Cor 1:4; Phil 1:3; Phlm 4; in the plural, note Col 1:3; 1 Thess 1:2). However, both the fact that this is already used in 1 Cor 1:4 (thus perhaps motivating scribes to add it ten verses later), and that in later portions of his letters Paul does not consistently use the collocation of εὐχαριστῶ with τῷ θεῷ (Rom 16:4; 1 Cor 10:30), might give one pause. Still, nowhere else in the corpus Paulinum do we see a sentence begin with εὐχαριστῶ without an accompanying τῷ θεῷ. A decision is difficult, but on balance it is probably best to retain the words.

⁴ tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive introduces a clause that is subordinate to the main points that the verse is making.

⁵ tn Heb “the great hand,” with “hand” being a metonymy for work or power. The word play using “hand” contrasts the Lord’s hand/power at work on behalf of the Israelites with the hand/power of Egypt that would have killed them.

⁶ tn Heb “did, made.”

⁷ tn Heb “and the people feared.”

⁸ tn The verb is the Hiphil preterite of אָמַן (’aman).

⁹ sn Here the title of “servant” is given to Moses. This is the highest title a mortal can have in the OT – the “servant of Yahweh.” It signifies more than a believer; it describes the individual as acting on behalf of God. For example, when Moses stretched out his hand, God used it as his own (Isa 63:12). Moses was God’s personal representative. The chapter records both a message of salvation and of judgment. Like the earlier account of deliverance at the Passover, this chapter can be a lesson on deliverance from present troubles – if God could do this for Israel, there is no trouble too great for him to overcome. The passage can also be understood as a picture (at least) of the deliverance at the final judgment on the world. But the Israelites used this account for a paradigm of the power of God: namely, God is able to deliver his people from danger because he is the sovereign Lord of creation. His people must learn to trust him, even in desperate situations; they must fear him and not the situation. God can bring any threat to an end by bringing his power to bear in judgment on the wicked.

¹⁰ tn Grk “And they.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

¹¹ tn The Greek word means “to insult strongly” or “slander.”

¹² tn Grk “and said.”

¹³ tn Grk “You are that one’s disciple.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “where this one.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.

¹⁶ tc ‡ The reading adopted by the translation follows a few early mss and some versions (Ì^13,46vid B vg^ms co Ambr). The majority of mss (א A C D Ψ 0243 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy) insert “all” (“in all his house”), apparently in anticipation of Heb 3:5 which quotes directly from Num 12:7. On balance, the omission better explains the rise of ὅλῳ ({olw, “all”) than vice versa. NA²⁷ puts ὅλῳ in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.