16:11 We put out to sea 4 from Troas 5 and sailed a straight course 6 to Samothrace, 7 the next day to Neapolis, 8
1 tn Although the normal meaning for παρέρχομαι (parercomai) is “pass by, go by,” it would be difficult to get to Troas from where Paul and his companions were without going through rather than around Mysia. BDAG 776 s.v. παρέρχομαι 6 list some nonbiblical examples of the meaning “go through, pass through,” and give that meaning for the usage here.
2 sn Mysia was a province in northwest Asia Minor.
3 sn Troas was a port city (and surrounding region) on the northwest coast of Asia Minor, near ancient Troy.
4 tn BDAG 62 s.v. ἀνάγω 4, “as a nautical t.t. (ἀ. τὴν ναῦν put a ship to sea), mid. or pass. ἀνάγεσθαι to begin to go by boat, put out to sea.”
5 sn Troas was a port city (and surrounding region) on the northwest coast of Asia Minor. See v. 8.
6 tn BDAG 406 s.v. εὐθυδρομέω has “of a ship run a straight course” here; L&N 54.3 has “to sail a straight course, sail straight to.”
7 sn Samothrace is an island in the northern part of the Aegean Sea.
8 sn Neapolis was a seaport on the southern coast of Macedonia. It was 10 mi (16 km) from Philippi.
9 sn Lystra was a city in Lycaonia about 25 mi (40 km) south of Iconium.
10 sn Iconium was a city in Lycaonia about 110 mi (175 km) east of Pisidian Antioch.
11 tn For this sense of μαρτυρέω (marturew), see BDAG 618 s.v. 2.b.
12 tn Grk “who was well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium.” Because of the awkwardness in English of having two relative clauses follow one another (“who was a believer…who was well spoken of”) and the awkwardness of the passive verb (“was well spoken of”), the relative pronoun at the beginning of 16:2 (“who”) has been translated as a pronoun (“him”) and the construction converted from passive to active at the same time a new sentence was started in the translation.
13 tn The article with the genitive modifier τῆς πίστεως (th" pistew") is functioning as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
14 tn The genitive τῆς ἐνεργείας (th" energeia") has been translated as an objective genitive, “faith in the power.”
15 tn Verse two begins a subordinate ἵνα (Jina) clause which was divided up into two sentences for the sake of clarity in English. Thus the phrase “My goal is that” is an attempt to reflect in the translation the purpose expressed through the ἵνα clauses.
16 tn BDAG 956 s.v. συμβιβάζω 1.b reads “unite, knit together.” Some commentators take the verb as a reference to instruction, “instructed in love.” See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 93.
17 tn The phrase “and that” translates the first εἰς (eis) clause of v. 2 and reflects the second goal of Paul’s striving and struggle for the Colossians – the first is “encouragement” and the second is “full assurance.”
18 tc There are at least a dozen variants here, almost surely generated by the unusual wording τοῦ θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ (tou qeou, Cristou, “of God, Christ”; so Ì46 B Hil). Scribes would be prone to conform this to more common Pauline expressions such as “of God, who is in Christ” (33), “of God, the Father of Christ” (א* A C 048vid 1175 bo), and “of the God and Father of Christ” (א2 Ψ 075 0278 365 1505 pc). Even though the external support for the wording τοῦ θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ is hardly overwhelming, it clearly best explains the rise of the other readings and should thus be regarded as authentic.
19 tn Grk “pain.” This word appears only three times in the NT outside of this verse (Rev 16:10, 11; 21:4) where the translation “pain” makes sense. For the present verse it has been translated “worked hard.” See BDAG 852 s.v. πόνος 1.