5:24 “I tell you the solemn truth, 1 the one who hears 2 my message 3 and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, 4 but has crossed over from death to life.
13:41 ‘Look, you scoffers; be amazed and perish! 14
For I am doing a work in your days,
a work you would never believe, even if someone tells you.’” 15
13:1 Now there were these prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch: 16 Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, 17 Lucius the Cyrenian, 18 Manaen (a close friend of Herod 19 the tetrarch 20 from childhood 21 ) and Saul.
1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn 22 from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. 23
1 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
2 tn Or “obeys.”
3 tn Or “word.”
4 tn Grk “and does not come into judgment.”
5 tn Grk “And I give.”
6 tn Or “will never die” or “will never be lost.”
7 tn Or “no one will seize.”
8 tn Or “is superior to all.”
9 tn Or “no one can seize.”
10 tn Grk “I and the Father.” The order has been reversed to reflect English style.
11 tn The phrase ἕν ἐσμεν ({en esmen) is a significant assertion with trinitarian implications. ἕν is neuter, not masculine, so the assertion is not that Jesus and the Father are one person, but one “thing.” Identity of the two persons is not what is asserted, but essential unity (unity of essence).
12 tc The most important
13 sn The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost is Jesus’ mission succinctly defined. See Luke 15:1-32.
14 tn Or “and die!”
15 sn A quotation from Hab 1:5. The irony in the phrase even if someone tells you, of course, is that Paul has now told them. So the call in the warning is to believe or else face the peril of being scoffers whom God will judge. The parallel from Habakkuk is that the nation failed to see how Babylon’s rising to power meant perilous judgment for Israel.
16 sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia).
17 sn Simeon may well have been from North Africa, since the Latin loanword Niger refers to someone as “dark-complexioned.”
18 sn The Cyrenian refers to a native of the city of Cyrene, on the coast of northern Africa west of Egypt.
19 sn Herod is generally taken as a reference to Herod Antipas, who governed Galilee from 4
20 tn Or “the governor.”
21 tn Or “(a foster brother of Herod the tetrarch).” The meaning “close friend from childhood” is given by L&N 34.15, but the word can also mean “foster brother” (L&N 10.51). BDAG 976 s.v. σύντροφας states, “pert. to being brought up with someone, either as a foster-brother or as a companion/friend,” which covers both alternatives. Context does not given enough information to be certain which is the case here, although many modern translations prefer the meaning “close friend from childhood.”
22 tn See the note on the term “firstborn” in 1:15. Here the reference to Jesus as the “firstborn from among the dead” seems to be arguing for a chronological priority, i.e., Jesus was the first to rise from the dead.
23 tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”
24 tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.
25 tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).
26 tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”
27 tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these
28 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.
29 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.
30 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.
31 tn Or “so that we may speak.”
32 tn Or “in prison.”