Ephesians 1:14

1:14 who is the down payment ¹  of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, ²  to the praise of his glory.

Psalms 37:18

37:18 The Lord watches over the innocent day by day ³ 

and they possess a permanent inheritance. ⁴ 

Acts 20:32

20:32 And now I entrust ⁵  you to God and to the message ⁶  of his grace. This message ⁷  is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Acts 26:18

26:18 to open their eyes so that they turn ⁸  from darkness to light and from the power ⁹  of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share ¹⁰  among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Romans 8:17

8:17 And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ) ¹¹  – if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.

Galatians 3:18

3:18 For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise, but God graciously gave ¹²  it to Abraham through the promise.

Colossians 1:12

1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ¹³  in the saints’ ¹⁴  inheritance in the light.

Colossians 3:24

3:24 because you know that you will receive your ¹⁵  inheritance ¹⁶  from the Lord as the reward. Serve ¹⁷  the Lord Christ.

Titus 3:7

3:7 And so, ¹⁸  since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life.” ¹⁹ 

James 2:5

2:5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! ²⁰  Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?

James 2:1

Prejudice and the Law of Love

2:1 My brothers and sisters, ²¹  do not show prejudice ²²  if you possess faith ²³  in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ 

James 1:4

1:4 And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything.

James 3:9

3:9 With it we bless the Lord ²⁵  and Father, and with it we curse people ²⁶  made in God’s image.

¹ tn Or “first installment,” “pledge,” “deposit.”

² tn Grk “the possession.”

³ tn Heb “the Lord knows the days of the innocent ones.” He “knows” their days in the sense that he is intimately aware of and involved in their daily struggles. He meets their needs and sustains them.

⁴ tn Heb “and their inheritance is forever.”

⁵ tn Or “commend.” BDAG 772 s.v. παρατίθημι 3.b has “τινά τινι entrust someone to the care or protection of someone…Of divine protection παρέθεντο αὐτοὺς τῷ κυρίῳ Ac 14:23; cp. 20:32.”

⁶ tn Grk “word.”

⁷ tn Grk “the message of his grace, which.” The phrase τῷ δυναμένῳ οἰκοδομῆσαι… (tw dunamenw oikodomhsai…) refers to τῷ λόγω (tw logw), not τῆς χάριτος (ths caritos); in English it could refer to either “the message” or “grace,” but in Greek, because of agreement in gender, the referent can only be “the message.” To make this clear, a new sentence was begun in the translation and the referent “the message” was repeated at the beginning of this new sentence.

⁷ sn To open their eyes so that they turn… Here is Luke’s most comprehensive report of Paul’s divine calling. His role was to call humanity to change their position before God and experience God’s forgiveness as a part of God’s family. The image of turning is a key one in the NT: Luke 1:79; Rom 2:19; 13:12; 2 Cor 4:6; 6:14; Eph 5:8; Col 1:12; 1 Thess 5:5. See also Luke 1:77-79; 3:3; 24:47.

⁸ tn BDAG 352-53 s.v. ἐξουσία 2 states, “Also of Satan’s power Ac 26:18.” It is also possible to translate this “the domain of Satan” (cf. BDAG 353 s.v. 6)

⁹ tn Or “and an inheritance.”

⁹ tn Grk “on the one hand, heirs of God; on the other hand, fellow heirs with Christ.” Some prefer to render v. 17 as follows: “And if children, then heirs – that is, heirs of God. Also fellow heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.” Such a translation suggests two distinct inheritances, one coming to all of God’s children, the other coming only to those who suffer with Christ. The difficulty of this view, however, is that it ignores the correlative conjunctions μέν…δέ (men…de, “on the one hand…on the other hand”): The construction strongly suggests that the inheritances cannot be separated since both explain “then heirs.” For this reason, the preferred translation puts this explanation in parentheses.

¹¹ tn On the translation “graciously gave” for χαρίζομαι (carizomai) see L&N 57.102.

¹³ tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

¹⁴ tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”

¹⁵ tn The article τῆς (ths) has been translated as a possessive pronoun, “your” (ExSyn 215). It may also be functioning to indicate a well-known concept (inheritance as eternal life). See BDAG 548 s.v. κληρονομία 3: “common in Christian usage (corresp. to the LXX) (the possession of) transcendent salvation (as the inheritance of God’s children).”

¹⁶ tn The genitive τῆς κληρονομίας (th" klhronomia") is a genitive of apposition: The reward consists of the inheritance.

¹⁷ tn The form of the term δουλεύετε (douleuete) is ambiguous; it can be read as either indicative or imperative. In favor of the indicative: (1) it seems to explain better the first part of v. 24, esp. “from the Lord” which would then read as: “because you know that you will receive your inheritance from the Lord as a reward for it is the Lord you are serving.” The “for” is supplied to make the relation explicit (it is actually added in many mss – D¹ Ψ 075 Ï – but the best ms evidence is against its inclusion). (2) With the imperative, one might expect ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ (Jw" tw kuriw), as for example in Eph 6:7. In favor of the imperative: (1) an imperative resumes the ἐργάζεσθε (ergazesqe) in v. 23a and forms a chiasm with it; (2) an imperative makes more sense of the γάρ (gar) in v. 25a; (3) an imperative relates equally well to the preceding statement; (4) a parallel can be found in Rom 12:11 which uses an imperatival participle δουλεύοντες (douleuonte") with the dative τῷ κυρίῳ. For an elaboration of these points see M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 185-86.

¹⁷ tn This is the conclusion of a single, skillfully composed sentence in Greek encompassing Titus 3:4-7. Showing the goal of God’s merciful salvation, v. 7 begins literally, “in order that, being justified…we might become heirs…”

¹⁸ tn Grk “heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

¹⁹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

²¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

²² tn Or “partiality.”

²³ tn Grk “do not have faith with personal prejudice,” with emphasis on the last phrase.

²⁴ tn Grk “our Lord Jesus Christ of glory.” Here δόξης (doxhs) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

²³ tc Most later mss (Ï), along with several versional witnesses, have θεόν (qeon, “God”) here instead of κύριον (kurion, “Lord”). Such is a predictable variant since nowhere else in the NT is God described as “Lord and Father,” but he is called “God and Father” on several occasions. Further, the reading κύριον is well supported by early and diversified witnesses (̲⁰ א A B C P Ψ 33 81 945 1241 1739), rendering it as the overwhelmingly preferred reading.

²⁴ tn Grk “men”; but here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpous) has generic force, referring to both men and women.