4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.
1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, 17 whether things on earth or things in heaven.
1 tn Heb “True teaching was in his mouth”; cf. NASB, NRSV “True instruction (doctrine NAB) was in his mouth.”
2 tn Grk “who speaks from himself.”
3 tn Or “seeks.”
4 tn Or “praise”; Grk “glory.”
5 tn Or “seeks.”
6 tn Or “praise”; Grk “glory.”
7 tn Or “is truthful”; Grk “is true.”
8 tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”
9 tn Or “I am the way, even the truth and the life.”
10 tn Grk “said to him.”
11 tn Or “obeys”; Grk “hears.”
12 tn Or “often.”
13 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
14 tn The word “only,” though not in the Greek text, is supplied in the English translation to bring out the force of the Greek phrase.
15 tn Grk “but the body of Christ.” The term body here, when used in contrast to shadow (σκιά, skia) indicates the opposite meaning, i.e., the reality or substance itself.
16 tn The genitive τοῦ Χριστοῦ (tou Cristou) is appositional and translated as such: “the reality is Christ.”
17 tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì46 א A C D1 Ψ 048vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.