8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 20
5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit 35 is love, 36 joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 37 5:23 gentleness, and 38 self-control. Against such things there is no law. 5:24 Now those who belong to Christ 39 have crucified the flesh 40 with its passions 41 and desires. 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with 42 the Spirit.
1 tn Grk “you, and when.” A new sentence was started here in the translation.
2 tn If the participle ἐλθόντες (elqonte") is taken as temporal rather than adjectival, the translation would be, “for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, fully supplied my needs” (similar to NASB).
3 tn Grk “needs, and I kept.” A new sentence was started here in the translation.
4 tn That is, that Paul offers the gospel free of charge to the Corinthians (see 2 Cor 11:7).
5 tn Or “silenced.”
6 tn Grk “God knows!” The words “I do” are supplied for clarity. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
7 tn Grk “an opportunity, so that they may be found just like us.”
8 tn Or “dishonest.”
9 tn Or “workers, masquerading.”
10 tn Grk “For in what respect.”
11 tn Grk “children ought not,” but this might give the impression that children are not supposed to support sick or aging parents in need of help. That is not what Paul is saying. His point is that children should not have to pay their parent’s way.
12 tn Grk “souls.”
13 tn The Greek construction anticipates a negative answer, indicated by the ‘tag’ question “have I?” at the end of the clause. The question is rhetorical.
14 tn The words “to visit you” are not in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, and must be supplied for the modern reader.
15 tn Grk “the.”
16 tn The Greek construction anticipates a negative answer, indicated by the ‘tag’ question “did he?” at the end of the clause.
17 tn Grk “[Did we not walk] in the same tracks?” This is an idiom that means to imitate someone else or to behave as they do. Paul’s point is that he and Titus have conducted themselves in the same way toward the Corinthians. If Titus did not take advantage of the Corinthians, then neither did Paul.
18 tc The reading “all this time” (πάλαι, palai) is found in several early and important Alexandrian and Western witnesses including א* A B F G 0243 6 33 81 365 1175 1739 1881 lat; the reading πάλιν (palin, “again”) is read by א2 D Ψ 0278 Ï sy bo; the reading οὐ πάλαι (ou palai) is read by Ì46, making the question even more emphatic. The reading of Ì46 could only have arisen from πάλαι. The reading πάλιν is significantly easier (“are you once again thinking that we are defending ourselves?”), for it softens Paul’s tone considerably. It thus seems to be a motivated reading and cannot easily explain the rise of πάλαι. Further, πάλαι has considerable support in the Alexandrian and Western witnesses, rendering it virtually certain as the original wording here.
19 tn Or “for your strengthening”; Grk “for your edification.”
20 tc The earliest and best witnesses of the Alexandrian and Western texts, as well as a few others (א* B D* F G 6 1506 1739 1881 pc co), have no additional words for v. 1. Later scribes (A D1 Ψ 81 365 629 pc vg) added the words μὴ κατὰ σάρκα περιπατοῦσιν (mh kata sarka peripatousin, “who do not walk according to the flesh”), while even later ones (א2 D2 33vid Ï) added ἀλλὰ κατὰ πνεῦμα (alla kata pneuma, “but [who do walk] according to the Spirit”). Both the external evidence and the internal evidence are compelling for the shortest reading. The scribes were evidently motivated to add such qualifications (interpolated from v. 4) to insulate Paul’s gospel from charges that it was characterized too much by grace. The KJV follows the longest reading found in Ï.
21 tn Grk “think on” or “are intent on” (twice in this verse). What is in view here is not primarily preoccupation, however, but worldview. Translations like “set their mind on” could be misunderstood by the typical English reader to refer exclusively to preoccupation.
22 tn Grk “walk” (a common NT idiom for how one conducts one’s life or how one behaves).
23 tn On the term “flesh” (once in this verse and twice in v. 17) see the note on the same word in Gal 5:13.
24 tn The words “has desires” do not occur in the Greek text a second time, but are repeated in the translation for clarity.
25 tn Or “are hostile toward” (L&N 39.1).
26 tn See the note on the word “flesh” in Gal 5:13.
27 tn Or “clear,” “evident.”
28 tn Or “witchcraft.”
29 tn Or “enmities,” “[acts of] hatred.”
30 tn Or “discord” (L&N 39.22).
31 tn Or “discord(s)” (L&N 39.13).
32 tn This term is plural in Greek (as is “murder” and “carousing”), but for clarity these abstract nouns have been translated as singular.
33 tc ‡ φόνοι (fonoi, “murders”) is absent in such important
34 tn Or “revelings,” “orgies” (L&N 88.287).
35 tn That is, the fruit the Spirit produces.
36 sn Another way to punctuate this is “love” followed by a colon (love: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). It is thus possible to read the eight characteristics following “love” as defining love.
37 tn Or “reliability”; see BDAG 818 s.v. πίστις 1.a.
38 tn “And” is supplied here as a matter of English style, which normally inserts “and” between the last two elements of a list or series.
39 tc ‡ Some
40 tn See the note on the word “flesh” in Gal 5:13.
41 tn The Greek term παθήμασιν (paqhmasin, translated “passions”) refers to strong physical desires, especially of a sexual nature (L&N 25.30).
42 tn Or “let us also follow,” “let us also walk by.”
43 sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.
44 tn Grk “walked.”
45 tn Or possibly “Aeon.”
46 tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”
47 tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).
48 sn The ruler of the kingdom of the air is also the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. Although several translations regard the ruler to be the same as the spirit, this is unlikely since the cases in Greek are different (ruler is accusative and spirit is genitive). To get around this, some have suggested that the genitive for spirit is a genitive of apposition. However, the semantics of the genitive of apposition are against such an interpretation (cf. ExSyn 100).
49 tn Grk “working in.”
50 sn Sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” However, it also contains a subtle allusion to vv. 4-10: Some of those sons of disobedience have become sons of God.
51 sn Among whom. The relative pronoun phrase that begins v. 3 is identical, except for gender, to the one that begins v. 2 (ἐν αἵς [en Jais], ἐν οἵς [en Jois]). By the structure, the author is building an argument for our hopeless condition: We lived in sin and we lived among sinful people. Our doom looked to be sealed as well in v. 2: Both the external environment (kingdom of the air) and our internal motivation and attitude (the spirit that is now energizing) were under the devil’s thumb (cf. 2 Cor 4:4).
52 tn Grk “we all.”
53 tn Or “even.”
54 sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”
55 sn Eph 2:1-3. The translation of vv. 1-3 is very literal, even to the point of retaining the awkward syntax of the original. See note on the word dead in 2:1.