2:1 And although you were 25 dead 26 in your transgressions and sins,
1 tn Grk “Or how can.”
2 sn The strong man here pictures Satan.
3 sn Some see the imagery here as similar to Eph 4:7-10, although no opponents are explicitly named in that passage. Jesus has the victory over Satan. Jesus’ acts of healing mean that the war is being won and the kingdom is coming.
4 tn The referent of the expression “a strong man” is Satan.
5 tn The word αὐλή (aulh) describes any building large and elaborate enough to have an interior courtyard, thus “dwelling, palace, mansion” (L&N 7.6).
6 tn Grk “his goods are in peace.”
7 tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
8 tn The referent of the expression “a stronger man” is Jesus.
9 tn Grk “stronger man than he attacks.”
10 tn Grk “his”; the referent (the first man mentioned) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Grk “on which he relied.”
12 tn Or “and distributes.”
13 sn Some see the imagery here as similar to Eph 4:7-10, although no opponents are explicitly named in that passage. Jesus has the victory over Satan. Jesus’ acts of healing mean that the war is being won and the kingdom is coming.
14 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Judas) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Grk “into that one”; the pronoun “he” is more natural English style here.
16 tn Grk “Then Jesus said to him.”
17 sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.
18 tn Grk “walked.”
19 tn Or possibly “Aeon.”
20 tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”
21 tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).
22 sn The ruler of the kingdom of the air is also the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. Although several translations regard the ruler to be the same as the spirit, this is unlikely since the cases in Greek are different (ruler is accusative and spirit is genitive). To get around this, some have suggested that the genitive for spirit is a genitive of apposition. However, the semantics of the genitive of apposition are against such an interpretation (cf. ExSyn 100).
23 tn Grk “working in.”
24 sn Sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” However, it also contains a subtle allusion to vv. 4-10: Some of those sons of disobedience have become sons of God.
25 tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.
26 sn Chapter 2 starts off with a participle, although you were dead, that is left dangling. The syntax in Greek for vv. 1-3 constitutes one incomplete sentence, though it seems to have been done intentionally. The dangling participle leaves the readers in suspense while they wait for the solution (in v. 4) to their spiritual dilemma.