Luke 17:5

17:5 The ¹  apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” ² 

Ephesians 2:8

2:8 For by grace you are saved ³  through faith, ⁴  and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Philippians 1:29

1:29 For it has been granted to you ⁵  not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for him,

Philippians 1:2-3

1:2 Grace and peace to you ⁶  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Prayer for the Church

1:3 I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁷ 

Philippians 1:11

1:11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

Hebrews 12:2

12:2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. ⁸ 

¹ tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² sn The request of the apostles, “Increase our faith,” is not a request for a gift of faith, but a request to increase the depth of their faith.

³ tn See note on the same expression in v. 5.

⁴ tc The feminine article is found before πίστεως (pistews, “faith”) in the Byzantine text as well as in A Ψ 1881 pc. Perhaps for some scribes the article was intended to imply creedal fidelity as a necessary condition of salvation (“you are saved through the faith”), although elsewhere in the corpus Paulinum the phrase διὰ τῆς πίστεως (dia th" pistew") is used for the act of believing rather than the content of faith (cf. Rom 3:30, 31; Gal 3:14; Eph 3:17; Col 2:12). On the other side, strong representatives of the Alexandrian and Western texts (א B D* F G P 0278 6 33 1739 al bo) lack the article. Hence, both text-critically and exegetically, the meaning of the text here is most likely “saved through faith” as opposed to “saved through the faith.” Regarding the textual problem, the lack of the article is the preferred reading.

⁵ tn Grk “For that which is on behalf of Christ has been granted to you – namely, not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him.” The infinitive phrases are epexegetical to the subject, τὸ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ (to Juper Cristou), which has the force of “the on-behalf-of-Christ thing,” or “the thing on behalf of Christ.” To translate this in English requires a different idiom.

⁶ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

⁷ tn This could also be translated “for your every remembrance of me.” See discussion below.

⁸ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1.