8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 12
1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together 13 in him.
5:1 For freedom 16 Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke 17 of slavery.
1 tc The MT reads “you”; many Hebrew
2 tn Heb “their flesh.”
3 tn Heb “heart of flesh.”
4 sn The expression They will be my people, and I will be their God occurs as a promise to Abraham (Gen 17:8), Moses (Exod 6:7), and the nation (Exod 29:45).
5 sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is stubborn and unresponsive (see 1 Sam 25:37). In Rabbinic literature a “stone” was associated with an evil inclination (b. Sukkah 52a).
6 sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is responsive and obedient to God.
7 tn Or “in the midst of you.” The word “you” is plural.
8 tn Heb “and I will do that which in my statutes you will walk.” The awkward syntax (verb “to do, act” + accusative sign + relative clause + prepositional phrase + second person verb) is unique, though Eccl 3:14 contains a similar construction. In the last line of that verse we read that “God acts so that (relative pronoun) they fear before him.” However, unlike Ezek 36:27, the statement has no accusative sign before the relative pronoun.
9 tn Heb “and my laws you will guard and you will do them.” Jer 31:31-34 is parallel to this passage.
10 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.
11 tn Or “are not controlled by the flesh but by the Spirit.”
12 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.
13 tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.
14 tn The words “has desires” do not occur in the Greek text a second time, but are repeated in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Or “are hostile toward” (L&N 39.1).
16 tn Translating the dative as “For freedom” shows the purpose for Christ setting us free; however, it is also possible to take the phrase in the sense of means or instrument (“with [or by] freedom”), referring to the freedom mentioned in 4:31 and implied throughout the letter.
17 sn Here the yoke figuratively represents the burdensome nature of slavery.
18 tn Grk “those who are by faith,” with the Greek expression “by faith” (ἐκ πίστεως, ek pistew") the same as the expression in v. 8.