12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, 5 by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God 6 – which is your reasonable service.
1 sn The expression By all these things means “In everything I did.”
2 tn Or “must assist.”
3 tn Or “the sick.” See Eph 4:28.
4 sn The saying is similar to Matt 10:8. Service and generosity should be abundant. Interestingly, these exact words are not found in the gospels. Paul must have known of this saying from some other source.
5 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
6 tn The participle and two adjectives “alive, holy, and pleasing to God” are taken as predicates in relation to “sacrifice,” making the exhortation more emphatic. See ExSyn 618-19.
7 tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.
8 tc ‡ Strong Alexandrian testimony, along with some other witnesses, suggests that ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) follows Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “Christ”; so א A B C I L 0278 33 81 365 629 1175 2464 al lat), but the evidence for the shorter reading is diverse (Ì46 D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï it sy Hier), cutting across all major texttypes. There can be little motivation for omitting the name of Jesus; hence, the shorter reading is judged to be original. NA27 has ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.
9 tn Or “filled.”
10 tn Or “meekness.” The word is often used in Hellenistic Greek of the merciful execution of justice on behalf of those who have no voice by those who are in a position of authority (Matt 11:29; 21:5).
11 tn Or “putting up with”; or “forbearing.”
12 tn Grk “of which I was made a minister,” “of which I became a servant.”
13 tn Grk “according to.”
14 sn On the exercise of his power see 1:19-20.
15 sn In Pauline writings saints means any true believer. Thus for Paul to view himself as less than the least of all the saints is to view himself as the most unworthy object of Christ’s redemption.
16 sn The parallel phrases to proclaim and to enlighten which follow indicate why God’s grace was manifested to Paul. Grace was not something just to be received, but to be shared with others (cf. Acts 13:47).
17 tn There is a possible causative nuance in the Greek verb, but this is difficult to convey in the translation.
18 tn Grk “what is the plan of the divine secret.” Earlier the author had used οἰκονομία (oikonomia; here “plan”) to refer to his own “stewardship” (v. 2). But now he is speaking about the content of this secret, not his own activity in relation to it.
19 tn Or “for eternity,” or perhaps “from the Aeons.” Cf. 2:2, 7.
20 tn Or “by God.” It is possible that ἐν (en) plus the dative here indicates agency, that is, that God has performed the action of hiding the secret. However, this usage of the preposition ἐν is quite rare in the NT, and even though here it does follow a perfect passive verb as in the Classical idiom, it is more likely that a different nuance is intended.
21 tn Grk “that.” Verse 10 is a subordinate clause to the verb “enlighten” in v. 9.
22 tn Or “manifold wisdom,” “wisdom in its rich variety.”
23 tn Grk “according to.” The verse is a prepositional phrase subordinate to v. 10.
24 tn Grk “access in confidence.”
25 tn The phrase “to God” is not in the text, but is clearly implied by the preceding, “access.”
26 tn Grk “through,” “by way of.”
27 tn Grk “his.”
28 tn Or “faith in him.” A decision is difficult here. Though traditionally translated “faith in Jesus Christ,” an increasing number of NT scholars are arguing that πίστις Χριστοῦ (pisti" Cristou) and similar phrases in Paul (here and in Rom 3:22, 26; Gal 2:16, 20; 3:22; Phil 3:9) involve a subjective genitive and mean “Christ’s faith” or “Christ’s faithfulness” (cf., e.g., G. Howard, “The ‘Faith of Christ’,” ExpTim 85 [1974]: 212-15; R. B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ [SBLDS]; Morna D. Hooker, “Πίστις Χριστοῦ,” NTS 35 [1989]: 321-42). Noteworthy among the arguments for the subjective genitive view is that when πίστις takes a personal genitive it is almost never an objective genitive (cf. Matt 9:2, 22, 29; Mark 2:5; 5:34; 10:52; Luke 5:20; 7:50; 8:25, 48; 17:19; 18:42; 22:32; Rom 1:8; 12; 3:3; 4:5, 12, 16; 1 Cor 2:5; 15:14, 17; 2 Cor 10:15; Phil 2:17; Col 1:4; 2:5; 1 Thess 1:8; 3:2, 5, 10; 2 Thess 1:3; Titus 1:1; Phlm 6; 1 Pet 1:9, 21; 2 Pet 1:5). On the other hand, the objective genitive view has its adherents: A. Hultgren, “The Pistis Christou Formulations in Paul,” NovT 22 (1980): 248-63; J. D. G. Dunn, “Once More, ΠΙΣΤΙΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ,” SBL Seminar Papers, 1991, 730-44. Most commentaries on Romans and Galatians usually side with the objective view.
29 tn Grk “that those who are ours” (referring to the Christians).
30 tn Grk “and also let our people learn.”