1:18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
8:52 Then 6 the Judeans 7 responded, 8 “Now we know you’re possessed by a demon! 9 Both Abraham and the prophets died, and yet 10 you say, ‘If anyone obeys 11 my teaching, 12 he will never experience 13 death.’ 14
17:32 Now when they heard about 23 the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff, 24 but others said, “We will hear you again about this.”
26:24 As Paul 32 was saying these things in his defense, Festus 33 exclaimed loudly, “You have lost your mind, 34 Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane!” 26:25 But Paul replied, 35 “I have not lost my mind, most excellent Festus, 36 but am speaking 37 true and rational 38 words.
1 tn Or “Messiah”; Grk “preach Christ [Messiah] crucified,” giving the content of the message.
2 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
3 tn Grk “If anyone keeps.”
4 tn Grk “my word.”
5 tn Grk “he will never see death forever.” The Greek negative here is emphatic.
6 tc ‡ Important and early witnesses (Ì66 א B C W Θ 579 it) lack the conjunction here, while other witnesses read οὖν (oun, “therefore”; Ì75 D L Ψ 070 Ë1,13 33 Ï lat). This conjunction occurs in John some 200 times, far more than in any other NT book. Even though the most important Johannine papyrus (Ì75) has the conjunction, the combination of Ì66 א B for the omission is even stronger. Further, the reading seems to be a predictable scribal emendation. In particular, οὖν is frequently used with the plural of εἶπον (eipon, “they said”) in John (in this chapter alone, note vv. 13, 39, 48, 57, and possibly 41). On balance, it is probably best to consider the shorter reading as authentic, even though “Then” is virtually required in translation for English stylistic reasons. NA27 has the conjunction in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.
7 tn Grk “the Jews.” See the note on this term in v. 31. Here, as in vv. 31 and 48, the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem (“Judeans”; cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e) who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple courts (8:20) and had initially believed his claim to be the Messiah (cf. 8:31).
8 tn Grk “said to him.”
9 tn Grk “you have a demon.”
10 tn “Yet” has been supplied to show the contrastive element present in the context.
11 tn Grk “If anyone keeps.”
12 tn Grk “my word.”
13 tn Grk “will never taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).
14 tn Grk “he will never taste of death forever.” The Greek negative here is emphatic.
15 tn Or “is insane.” To translate simply “he is mad” (so KJV, ASV, RSV; “raving mad” NIV) could give the impression that Jesus was angry, while the actual charge was madness or insanity.
16 sn An Epicurean was a follower of the philosophy of Epicurus, who founded a school in Athens about 300
17 sn A Stoic was a follower of the philosophy founded by Zeno (342-270
18 tn BDAG 956 s.v. συμβάλλω 1 has “converse, confer” here.
19 tn Grk “saying.”
20 tn Or “ignorant show-off.” The traditional English translation of σπερμολόγος (spermologo") is given in L&N 33.381 as “foolish babbler.” However, an alternate view is presented in L&N 27.19, “(a figurative extension of meaning of a term based on the practice of birds in picking up seeds) one who acquires bits and pieces of relatively extraneous information and proceeds to pass them off with pretense and show – ‘ignorant show-off, charlatan.’” A similar view is given in BDAG 937 s.v. σπερμολόγος: “in pejorative imagery of persons whose communication lacks sophistication and seems to pick up scraps of information here and there scrapmonger, scavenger…Engl. synonyms include ‘gossip’, ‘babbler’, chatterer’; but these terms miss the imagery of unsystematic gathering.”
21 tn The meaning of this phrase is not clear. Literally it reads “strange deities” (see BDAG 210 s.v. δαιμόνιον 1). The note of not being customary is important. In the ancient world what was new was suspicious. The plural δαιμονίων (daimoniwn, “deities”) shows the audience grappling with Paul’s teaching that God was working through Jesus.
22 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
23 tn The participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") has been taken temporally.
24 tn L&N 33.408 has “some scoffed (at him) Ac 17:32” for ἐχλεύαζον (ecleuazon) here; the imperfect verb has been translated as an ingressive imperfect (“began to scoff”).
25 tn Or “dispute.”
26 tn Grk “see to it” (an idiom).
27 tn Or “I am not willing to be.” Gallio would not adjudicate their religious dispute.
28 tn Grk “several controversial issues.” BDAG 428 s.v. ζήτημα states, “in our lit. only in Ac, w. the mng. it still has in Mod. Gk. (controversial) question, issue, argument…Ac 15:2; 26:3. ζ. περί τινος questions about someth.…18:15; 25:19.”
29 tn On this term see BDAG 216 s.v. δεισιδαιμονία 2. It is a broad term for religion.
30 tn Grk “a certain Jesus.”
31 tn Or “asserted.”
32 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
33 sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.
34 tn On the term translated “lost your mind” see BDAG 610 s.v. μαίνομαι, which has “you’re out of your mind, you’re raving, said to one whose enthusiasm seems to have outrun better judgment 26:24.”
35 tn Grk “said.”
36 sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.
37 tn Or “declaring.” BDAG 125 s.v. ἀποφθέγγομαι states, “speak out, declare boldly or loudly…τὶ: σωφροσύνης ῥήματα Ac 26:25.”
38 tn BDAG 987 s.v. σωφροσύνη 1 has “gener. soundness of mind, reasonableness, rationality…ἀληθείας καὶ σωφροσύνης ῥήματα true and rational words (opp. μαίνομαι) Ac 26:25.”