1:18 Zechariah 20 said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? 21 For I am an old man, and my wife is old as well.” 22 1:19 The 23 angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands 24 in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring 25 you this good news.
1 tn Grk “for she loved much.” The connection between this statement and the preceding probably involves an ellipsis, to the effect that the ὅτι clause gives the evidence of forgiveness, not the ground. For similar examples of an “evidentiary” ὅτι, cf. Luke 1:22; 6:21; 13:2. See discussion in D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:703-5. Further evidence that this is the case here is the final statement: “the one who is forgiven little loves little” means that the one who is forgiven little is thus not able to love much. The REB renders this verse: “her great love proves that her many sins have been forgiven; where little has been forgiven, little love is shown.”
2 sn Jesus’ point repeats v. 3. The circumstances make no difference. All must deal with the reality of what death means.
3 tn Grk “similarly.”
4 tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.
5 sn Jesus did not want his hearers to think that tragedy was necessarily a judgment on these people because they were worse sinners.
6 tn The passive means that the prayer was heard by God.
7 tn Grk “a son, and you”; καί (kai) has not been translated. Instead a semicolon is used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
8 tn Grk “you will call his name John.” The future tense here functions like a command (see ExSyn 569-70). This same construction occurs in v. 31.
9 tn Grk “This will be joy and gladness.”
10 tn Or “because of.”
11 tn “At his birth” is more precise as the grammatical subject (1:58), though “at his coming” is a possible force, since it is his mission, as the following verses note, that will really bring joy.
12 tn Grk “before.”
13 tn Grk “and he”; because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun in the translation.
14 tn Grk “even from his mother’s womb.” While this idiom may be understood to refer to the point of birth (“even from his birth”), Luke 1:41 suggests that here it should be understood to refer to a time before birth.
15 tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
16 sn The word translated will turn is a good summary term for repentance and denotes John’s call to a change of direction (Luke 3:1-14).
17 tn Grk “sons”; but clearly this is a generic reference to people of both genders.
18 tn Grk “before him”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
19 sn These two lines cover all relationships: Turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children points to horizontal relationships, while (turn) the disobedient to the wisdom of the just shows what God gives from above in a vertical manner.
20 tn Grk “And Zechariah.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
21 tn Grk “How will I know this?”
22 tn Grk “is advanced in days” (an idiom for old age).
23 tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
24 tn Grk “the one who is standing before God.”
25 tn Grk “to announce these things of good news to you.”
26 tn Grk “these things.”
27 tn Or “became silent,” but this would create an apparent contradiction with the subsequent action of praising God. The point, in context, is that they ceased objecting to what Peter had done.
28 tn Or “glorified.”
29 sn Here the summary phrase for responding to the gospel is the repentance that leads to life. Note how the presence of life is tied to the presence of the Spirit (cf. John 4:7-42; 7:37-39).
30 sn In the Greek text the phrase even to the Gentiles is in an emphatic position.
31 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
32 tn Or “the Jewish Christians”; Grk “those of the circumcision.” Within the larger group of Christians were some whose loyalties ran along ethnic-religious lines.
33 tn Or “believers disputed with,” “believers criticized” (BDAG 231 s.v. διακρίνω 5.b).
34 tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”
35 tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”
36 sn So that you would have him back eternally. The notion here is not that Onesimus was to be the slave of Philemon eternally, but that their new relationship as brothers in Christ would transcend the societal structures of this age. The occasion of Onesimus’ flight to Rome would ultimately be a catalyst in the formation of a new and stronger bond between these two men.