Matthew 5:20

5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law ¹  and the Pharisees, ²  you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 19:23

19:23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, ³  it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven!

Luke 13:24

13:24 “Exert every effort ⁴  to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.

John 3:5

3:5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁵  unless a person is born of water and spirit, ⁶  he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Acts 14:22

14:22 They strengthened ⁷  the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue ⁸  in the faith, saying, “We must enter the kingdom ⁹  of God through many persecutions.” ¹⁰ 

Acts 14:2

14:2 But the Jews who refused to believe ¹¹  stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds ¹²  against the brothers.

Acts 1:11

1:11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here ¹³  looking up into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven ¹⁴  will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven.”

¹ tn Or “that of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

² sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

³ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

⁴ 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.

⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

⁶ tn Or “born of water and wind” (the same Greek word, πνεύματος [pneumatos], may be translated either “spirit/Spirit” or “wind”).

⁷ tn Grk “to Antioch, strengthening.” Due to the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was started here. This participle (ἐπιστηρίζοντες, episthrizonte") and the following one (παρακαλοῦντες, parakalounte") have been translated as finite verbs connected by the coordinating conjunction “and.”

⁸ sn And encouraged them to continue. The exhortations are like those noted in Acts 11:23; 13:43. An example of such a speech is found in Acts 20:18-35. Christianity is now characterized as “the faith.”

⁹ sn This reference to the kingdom of God clearly refers to its future arrival.

¹⁰ tn Or “sufferings.”

¹¹ tn Or “who would not believe.”

¹² tn Or “embittered their minds” (Grk “their souls”). BDAG 502 s.v. κακόω 2 has “make angry, embitter τὰς ψυχάς τινων κατά τινος poison the minds of some persons against another Ac 14:2.”

¹³ tn The word “here” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

¹⁴ tc Codex Bezae (D) and several other witnesses lack the words εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν (ei" ton ouranon, “into heaven”) here, most likely by way of accidental deletion. In any event, it is hardly correct to suppose that the Western text has intentionally suppressed references to the ascension of Christ here, for the phrase is solidly attested in the final clause of the verse.