2 Corinthians 5:8

5:8 Thus we are full of courage and would prefer to be away ¹  from the body and at home with the Lord.

Philippians 1:20-23

1:20 My confident hope ²  is that I will in no way be ashamed ³  but that with complete boldness, even now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether I live or die. ⁴  1:21 For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. 1:22 Now if I am to go on living in the body, ⁵  this will mean productive work ⁶  for me, yet I don’t know which I prefer: ⁷  1:23 I feel torn between the two, ⁸  because I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far,

Philippians 2:17

2:17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice together with all of you.

Colossians 1:24

1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ⁹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 3:16

3:16 Let the word of Christ ¹⁰  dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace ¹¹  in your hearts to God.

Revelation 12:11

12:11 But ¹²  they overcame him

by the blood of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony,

and they did not love their lives ¹³  so much that they were afraid to die.

¹ tn Or “be absent.”

² tn Grk “according to my eager expectation and hope.” The κατά (kata) phrase is taken as governing the following ὅτι (Joti) clause (“that I will not be ashamed…”); the idea could be expressed more verbally as “I confidently hope that I will not be ashamed…”

³ tn Or possibly, “be intimidated, be put to shame.”

⁴ tn Grk “whether by life or by death.”

⁵ tn Grk “flesh.”

⁶ tn Grk “fruit of work”; the genitive ἔργου (ergou) is taken as an attributed genitive in which the head noun, καρπός (karpos), functions attributively (cf. ExSyn 89-91).

⁷ tn Grk “what I shall prefer.” The Greek verb αἱρέω (Jairew) could also mean “choose,” but in this context such a translation is problematic for it suggests that Paul could perhaps choose suicide (cf. L&N 30.86).

⁸ tn Grk “I am hard-pressed between the two.” Cf. L&N 30.18.

⁹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

¹⁰ tc Since “the word of Christ” occurs nowhere else in the NT, two predictable variants arose: “word of God” and “word of the Lord.” Even though some of the witnesses for these variants are impressive (κυρίου [kuriou, “of the Lord”] in א* I 1175 pc bo; θεοῦ [qeou, “of God”] in A C* 33 104 323 945 al), the reading Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “of Christ”) is read by an excellent cross-section of witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א² B C² D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï lat sa). On both internal and external grounds, Χριστοῦ is strongly preferred.

¹¹ tn Grk “with grace”; “all” is supplied as it is implicitly related to all the previous instructions in the verse.

¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast.

¹³ sn They did not love their lives. See Matt 16:25; Luke 17:33; John 12:25.