John 3:17-20

3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, ¹  but that the world should be saved through him. 3:18 The one who believes in him is not condemned. ²  The one who does not believe has been condemned ³  already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only ⁴  Son of God. 3:19 Now this is the basis for judging: ⁵  that the light has come into the world and people ⁶  loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 3:20 For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed.

Mark 16:16

16:16 The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned.

Mark 16:2

16:2 And very early on the first day of the week, at sunrise, they went to the tomb.

Colossians 2:15-16

2:15 Disarming ⁷  the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross. ⁸ 

2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days –

Colossians 4:3

4:3 At the same time pray ⁹  for us too, that ¹⁰  God may open a door for the message ¹¹  so that we may proclaim ¹²  the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ¹³ 

Colossians 4:2

Exhortation to Pray for the Success of Paul’s Mission

4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

Colossians 1:8

1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

¹ sn That is, “to judge the world to be guilty and liable to punishment.”

² tn Grk “judged.”

³ tn Grk “judged.”

⁴ tn See the note on the term “one and only” in 3:16.

⁵ tn Or “this is the reason for God judging,” or “this is how judgment works.”

⁶ tn Grk “and men,” but in a generic sense, referring to people of both genders (as “everyone” in v. 20 makes clear).

⁷ tn See BDAG 100 s.v. ἀπεκδύομαι 2.

⁸ tn The antecedent of the Greek pronoun αὐτῷ (autw) could either be “Christ” or the “cross.” There are several reasons for choosing “the cross” as the antecedent for αὐτῷ in verse 15: (1) The nearest antecedent is τῷ σταυρῷ (tw staurw) in v. 14; (2) the idea of ἐδειγμάτισεν ἐν παρρησία (edeigmatisen en parrhsia, “made a public disgrace”) seems to be more in keeping with the idea of the cross; (3) a reference to Christ seems to miss the irony involved in the idea of triumph – the whole point is that where one would expect defeat, there came the victory; (4) if Christ is the subject of the participles in v. 15 then almost certainly the cross is the referent for αὐτῷ. Thus the best solution is to see αὐτῷ as a reference to the cross and the preposition ἐν (en) indicating “means” (i.e., by means of the cross) or possibly (though less likely) location (on the cross).

⁹ tn Though προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi) is an adverbial participle related to the previous imperative, προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite), it is here translated as an independent clause due to requirements of contemporary English style.

¹⁰ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been rendered as substantival here, indicating the content of the prayer rather than the purpose for it. These two ideas are very similar and difficult to differentiate in this passage, but the conjunction ἵνα following a verb of praying is generally regarded as giving the content of the prayer.

¹¹ tn Grk “that God may open for us a door of the word to speak the mystery of Christ.” The construction in Greek is somewhat awkward in this clause. The translation attempts to simplify this structure somewhat and yet communicate exactly what Paul is asking for.

¹² tn Or “so that we may speak.”

¹³ tn Or “in prison.”