5:1 It is actually reported that sexual immorality exists among you, the kind of immorality that is not permitted even among the Gentiles, so that someone is cohabiting with 1 his father’s wife.
5:1 Therefore, be 12 imitators of God as dearly loved children
12:14 Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, 17 for without it no one will see the Lord.
1 tn Or “someone has married”; Grk “someone has,” but the verb ἔχω (ecw) is routinely used of marital relationships (cf. BDAG 420 s.v. 2.a), including sexual relationships. The exact nature of the relationship is uncertain in this case; it is not clear, for example, whether the man had actually married the woman or was merely cohabiting with her.
2 tn See the note on the word “flesh” in Gal 5:13.
3 tn Or “clear,” “evident.”
4 tn Or “witchcraft.”
5 tn Or “enmities,” “[acts of] hatred.”
6 tn Or “discord” (L&N 39.22).
7 tn Or “discord(s)” (L&N 39.13).
8 tn This term is plural in Greek (as is “murder” and “carousing”), but for clarity these abstract nouns have been translated as singular.
9 tc ‡ φόνοι (fonoi, “murders”) is absent in such important
10 tn Or “revelings,” “orgies” (L&N 88.287).
11 tn Grk “be knowing this.” See also 2 Pet 1:20 for a similar phrase: τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες (touto prwton ginwskonte").
12 tn Or “become.”
13 tn Or “He did this by revealing”; Grk “making known, revealing.” Verse 9 begins with a participle dependent on “lavished” in v. 8; the adverbial participle could be understood as temporal (“when he revealed”), which would be contemporaneous to the action of the finite verb “lavished,” or as means (“by revealing”). The participle has been translated here with the temporal nuance to allow for means to also be a possible interpretation. If the translation focused instead upon means, the temporal nuance would be lost as the time frame for the action of the participle would become indistinct.
14 tn Or “mystery.” In the NT μυστήριον (musthrion) refers to a divine secret previously undisclosed.
15 tn Or “purposed,” “publicly displayed.” Cf. Rom 3:25.
16 tn Grk “in him”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.
17 sn The references to peace and holiness show the close connection between this paragraph and the previous one. The pathway toward “holiness” and the need for it is cited in Heb 12:10 and 14. More importantly Prov 4:26-27 sets up the transition from one paragraph to the next: It urges people to stay on godly paths (Prov 4:26, quoted here in v. 13) and promises that God will lead them in peace if they do so (Prov 4:27 [LXX], quoted in v. 14).
18 tn Grk “that there not be any,” continuing from v. 15.
19 sn An allusion to Gen 27:34-41.
20 tn On the term φαρμακεία (farmakeia, “magic spells”) see L&N 53.100: “the use of magic, often involving drugs and the casting of spells upon people – ‘to practice magic, to cast spells upon, to engage in sorcery, magic, sorcery.’ φαρμακεία: ἐν τῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου ἐπλανήθησαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ‘with your magic spells you deceived all the peoples (of the world)’ Re 18:23.”
21 tn Grk “idolaters.”
22 tn Grk “their share.”
23 tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”
24 tn Grk “sulfur, which is.” The relative pronoun has been translated as “that” to indicate its connection to the previous clause. The nearest logical antecedent is “the lake [that burns with fire and sulfur],” although “lake” (λίμνη, limnh) is feminine gender, while the pronoun “which” (ὅ, Jo) is neuter gender. This means that (1) the proper antecedent could be “their place” (Grk “their share,”) agreeing with the relative pronoun in number and gender, or (2) the neuter pronoun still has as its antecedent the feminine noun “lake,” since agreement in gender between pronoun and antecedent was not always maintained, with an explanatory phrase occurring with a neuter pronoun regardless of the case of the antecedent. In favor of the latter explanation is Rev 20:14, where the phrase “the lake of fire” is in apposition to the phrase “the second death.”
25 tn On the term φάρμακοι (farmakoi) see L&N 53.101.
26 tn Or “lying,” “deceit.”