Mark 1:7

1:7 He proclaimed, ¹  “One more powerful than I am is coming after me; I am not worthy ²  to bend down and untie the strap ³  of his sandals.

Luke 7:6-7

7:6 So ⁴  Jesus went with them. When ⁵  he was not far from the house, the centurion ⁶  sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, ⁷  for I am not worthy ⁸  to have you come under my roof. 7:7 That is why ⁹  I did not presume ¹⁰  to come to you. Instead, say the word, and my servant must be healed. ¹¹ 

Acts 13:25

13:25 But while John was completing his mission, ¹²  he said repeatedly, ¹³  ‘What do you think I am? I am not he. But look, one is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet!’ ¹⁴ 

Ephesians 3:8

3:8 To me – less than the least of all the saints ¹⁵  – this grace was given, ¹⁶  to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ

Ephesians 3:1

Paul's Relationship to the Divine Mystery

3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus ¹⁷  for the sake of you Gentiles –

Ephesians 5:5

5:5 For you can be confident of this one thing: ¹⁸  that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

¹ tn Grk “proclaimed, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

² tn Grk “of whom I am not worthy.”

³ tn The term refers to the leather strap or thong used to bind a sandal. This is often viewed as a collective singular and translated as a plural, “the straps of his sandals,” but it may be more emphatic to retain the singular here.

⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the resultative action.

⁵ tn The participle ἀπέχοντος (apeconto") has been taken temporally.

⁶ sn See the note on the word centurion in 7:2.

⁷ tn Or “do not be bothered.”

⁸ sn Note the humility in the centurion’s statement I am not worthy in light of what others think (as v. 4 notes). See Luke 5:8 for a similar example of humility.

⁹ tn Or “roof; therefore.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “I did not consider myself worthy to come to you.” See BDAG 94 s.v. ἀξιόω 1. “Presume” assumes this and expresses the idea in terms of offense.

¹¹ tc The aorist imperative ἰαθήτω (iaqhtw, “must be healed”) is found in Ì^75vid B L 1241 sa. Most mss (א A C D W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï latt bo) have instead a future indicative, ἰαθήσεται (iaqhsetai, “will be healed”). This is most likely an assimilation to Matt 8:8, and thus, as a motivated reading, should be considered secondary. The meaning either way is essentially the same.

¹² tn Or “task.”

¹³ tn The verb ἔλεγεν (elegen) has been translated as an iterative imperfect, since John undoubtedly said this or something similar on numerous occasions.

¹⁴ tn Literally a relative clause, “of whom I am not worthy to untie the sandals of his feet.” Because of the awkwardness of this construction in English, a new sentence was begun here.

¹⁵ sn In Pauline writings saints means any true believer. Thus for Paul to view himself as less than the least of all the saints is to view himself as the most unworthy object of Christ’s redemption.

¹⁶ sn The parallel phrases to proclaim and to enlighten which follow indicate why God’s grace was manifested to Paul. Grace was not something just to be received, but to be shared with others (cf. Acts 13:47).

¹⁷ tc Several early and important witnesses, chiefly of the Western text (א* D* F G [365]), lack ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) here, while most Alexandrian and Byzantine mss (Ì⁴⁶ א¹ A B [C] D¹ Ψ 33 1739 [1881] Ï lat sy bo) have the word. However, because of the Western text’s proclivities to add or delete to the text, seemingly at whim, serious doubts should be attached to the shorter reading. It is strengthened, however, by א’s support. Nevertheless, since both א and D were corrected with the addition of ᾿Ιησοῦ, their testimony might be questioned. Further, in uncial script the nomina sacra here could have led to missing a word by way of homoioteleuton (cMuiMu). At the same time, in light of the rarity of scribal omission of nomina sacra (see TCGNT 582, n. 1), a decision for inclusion of the word here must be tentative. NA²⁷ rightly places ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets.

¹⁸ tn Grk “be knowing this.” See also 2 Pet 1:20 for a similar phrase: τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες (touto prwton ginwskonte").