Luke 12:35

Call to Faithful Stewardship

12:35 “Get dressed for service ¹  and keep your lamps burning; ² 

Luke 12:2

12:2 Nothing is hidden ³  that will not be revealed, ⁴  and nothing is secret that will not be made known.

Luke 3:14

3:14 Then some soldiers ⁵  also asked him, “And as for us – what should we do?” ⁶  He told them, “Take money from no one by violence ⁷  or by false accusation, ⁸  and be content with your pay.”

Revelation 2:4-5

2:4 But I have this against you: You have departed ⁹  from your first love! 2:5 Therefore, remember from what high state ¹⁰  you have fallen and repent! Do ¹¹  the deeds you did at the first; ¹²  if not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place – that is, if you do not repent. ¹³ 

Revelation 3:2

3:2 Wake up then, and strengthen what remains that was about ¹⁴  to die, because I have not found your deeds complete ¹⁵  in the sight ¹⁶  of my God.

Revelation 3:19-20

3:19 All those ¹⁷  I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent! 3:20 Listen! ¹⁸  I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into his home ¹⁹  and share a meal with him, and he with me.

¹ tn Grk “Let your loins be girded,” an idiom referring to the practice of tucking the ends of the long cloak (outer garment) into the belt to shorten it in preparation for activities like running, etc.

² sn Keep your lamps burning means to be ready at all times.

³ tn Or “concealed.”

⁴ sn I.e., be revealed by God. The passive voice verbs here (“be revealed,” be made known”) see the revelation as coming from God. The text is both a warning about bad things being revealed and an encouragement that good things will be made known, though the stress with the images of darkness and what is hidden in vv. 2-3 is on the attempt to conceal.

⁵ tn Grk “And soldiers.”

⁶ tn Grk “And what should we ourselves do?”

⁷ tn Or “Rob no one.” The term διασείσητε (diaseishte) here refers to “shaking someone.” In this context it refers to taking financial advantage of someone through violence, so it refers essentially to robbery. Soldiers are to perform their tasks faithfully. A changed person is to carry out his tasks in life faithfully and without grumbling.

⁸ tn The term translated “accusation” (συκοφαντήσητε, sukofanthshte) refers to a procedure by which someone could bring charges against an individual and be paid a part of the fine imposed by the court. Soldiers could do this to supplement their pay, and would thus be tempted to make false accusations.

⁹ tn The Greek word translated “departed from” (ἀφίημι, afihmi; L&N 15.48) can actually be used of divorce (L&N 34.78), so the imagery here is very strong.

¹⁰ tn Grk “from where,” but status is in view rather than physical position. On this term BDAG 838 s.v. πόθεν 1 states, “from what place? from where?…In imagery μνημόνευε πόθεν πέπτωκες remember from what (state) you have fallen Rv 2:5.”

¹¹ tn Grk “and do” (a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text). For stylistic reasons in English a new sentence was started here in the translation. The repeated mention of repenting at the end of the verse suggests that the intervening material (“do the deeds you did at first”) specifies how the repentance is to be demonstrated.

¹² tn Or “you did formerly.”

¹³ tn Although the final clause is somewhat awkward, it is typical of the style of Revelation.

¹⁴ tn The verb ἔμελλον (emellon) is in the imperfect tense.

¹⁵ tn The perfect passive participle has been translated as an intensive (resultative) perfect here.

¹⁶ tn Or “in the judgment.” BDAG 342 s.v. ἐνώπιον 3 states, “in the opinion/judgment of…As a rule…of θεός or κύριος; so after…πεπληρωμένος Rv 3:2.”

¹⁷ tn The Greek pronoun ὅσος (Josos) means “as many as” and can be translated “All those” or “Everyone.”

¹⁸ tn Grk “Behold.”

¹⁹ tn Grk “come in to him.”