16:18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries 3 someone else commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
16:1 Jesus 4 also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who was informed of accusations 5 that his manager 6 was wasting 7 his assets.
1:1 From Paul, 14 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
1 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “So” to indicate that Jesus’ statement is in response to the disciples’ question (v. 10).
2 sn It was not uncommon in Jesus’ day for a Jewish man to divorce his wife, but it was extremely rare for a wife to initiate such an action against her husband, since among many things it would have probably left her destitute and without financial support. Mark’s inclusion of the statement And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery (v. 12) reflects more the problem of the predominantly Gentile church in Rome to which he was writing. As such it may be an interpretive and parenthetical comment by the author rather than part of the saying by Jesus, which would stop at the end of v. 11. As such it should then be placed in parentheses. Further NT passages that deal with the issue of divorce and remarriage are Matt 5:31-32; 19:1-12; Luke 16:18; 1 Cor 7.
3 sn The examples of marriage and divorce show that the ethical standards of the new era are still faithful to promises made in the presence of God. To contribute to the breakup of a marriage, which involved a vow before God, is to commit adultery. This works whether one gets a divorce or marries a person who is divorced, thus finalizing the breakup of the marriage. Jesus’ point concerns the need for fidelity and ethical integrity in the new era.
4 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn These are not formal legal charges, but reports from friends, acquaintances, etc.; Grk “A certain man was rich who had a manager, and this one was reported to him as wasting his property.”
6 sn His manager was the steward in charge of managing the house. He could have been a slave trained for the role.
7 tn Or “squandering.” This verb is graphic; it means to scatter (L&N 57.151).
8 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.”
9 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.”
10 tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.
11 tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.
12 tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”
13 tn Here αὐτοῦ (autou) has been translated as a subjective genitive (“he loves”).
14 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.