3:18 Guard against self-deception, each of you. 1 If someone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become foolish so that he can become wise.
1:2 My brothers and sisters, 4 consider it nothing but joy 5 when you fall into all sorts of trials,
1 tn Grk “let no one deceive himself.”
2 tn Grk “having become”; the participle γενόμενος (genomenos) has been taken instrumentally.
3 sn A quotation from Deut 21:23. By figurative extension the Greek word translated tree (ζύλον, zulon) can also be used to refer to a cross (L&N 6.28), the Roman instrument of execution.
4 tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). Where the plural term is used in direct address, as here, “brothers and sisters” is used; where the term is singular and not direct address (as in v. 9), “believer” is preferred.
5 tn Grk “all joy,” “full joy,” or “greatest joy.”
6 tn Grk “boasts against, exults over,” in victory.