13:1 Brotherly love must continue.
1 tn Grk “by the destroyer.” BDAG 703 s.v. ὀλοθρευτῆς mentions the corresponding OT references and notes, “the one meant is the destroying angel as the one who carries out the divine sentence of punishment, or perh. Satan.”
2 tn Grk “vainly says.”
3 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tc The Byzantine text and a few other
5 tn Interpreters debate the referent of the word “spirit” in this verse: (1) The translation takes “spirit” to be the lustful capacity within people that produces a divided mind (1:8, 14) and inward conflicts regarding God (4:1-4). God has allowed it to be in man since the fall, and he provides his grace (v. 6) and the new birth through the gospel message (1:18-25) to counteract its evil effects. (2) On the other hand the word “spirit” may be taken positively as the Holy Spirit and the sense would be, “God yearns jealously for the Spirit he caused to live within us.” But the word for “envious” or “jealous” is generally negative in biblical usage and the context before and after seems to favor the negative interpretation.
6 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
7 sn The term gates is used metaphorically here. The physical referent would be the entrances to the city, but the author uses the term to emphasize the imminence of the judge’s approach.