Luke 13:24

13:24 “Exert every effort ¹  to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.

Luke 13:1

A Call to Repent

13:1 Now ²  there were some present on that occasion who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ³ 

Colossians 1:25-27

1:25 I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship ⁴  from God – given to me for you – in order to complete ⁵  the word of God, 1:26 that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. 1:27 God wanted to make known to them the glorious ⁶  riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ⁷  brothers and sisters ⁸  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ⁹  from God our Father! ¹⁰ 

Colossians 2:5

2:5 For though ¹¹  I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, rejoicing to see ¹²  your morale ¹³  and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

Hebrews 12:1

The Lord’s Discipline

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, ¹⁴  we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us,

Hebrews 12:4

12:4 You have not yet resisted to the point of bloodshed ¹⁵  in your struggle against sin.

¹ tn Or “Make every effort” (L&N 68.74; cf. NIV); “Do your best” (TEV); “Work hard” (NLT); Grk “Struggle.” The idea is to exert one’s maximum effort (cf. BDAG 17 s.v. ἀγωνίζομαι 2.b, “strain every nerve to enter”) because of the supreme importance of attaining entry into the kingdom of God.

² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

³ sn This is an event that otherwise is unattested, though several events similar to it are noted in Josephus (J. W. 2.9.2-4 [2.169-177]; Ant. 13.13.5 [13.372-73], 18.3.1-2 [18.55-62]; 18.4.1 [18.85-87]). It would have caused a major furor.

³ tn BDAG 697 s.v. οἰκονομία 1.b renders the term here as “divine office.”

⁴ tn See BDAG 828 s.v. πληρόω 3. The idea here seems to be that the apostle wants to “complete the word of God” in that he wants to preach it to every person in the known world (cf. Rom 15:19). See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 82.

⁴ tn The genitive noun τῆς δόξης (ths doxhs) is an attributive genitive and has therefore been translated as “glorious riches.”

⁵ 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.

⁶ 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).

⁷ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

⁸ 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 mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

⁶ tn The conditional particle εἰ (ei) together with καί (kai) here indicates a first class condition in Greek and carries a concessive force, especially when seen in contrast to the following phrase which begins with ἀλλά (alla).

⁷ tn Grk “rejoicing and seeing.”

⁸ tn The Greek word τάξις can mean “order,” “discipline,” or even “unbroken ranks” (REB).

⁷ tn Grk “having such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us.”

⁸ tn Grk “until blood.”