Matthew 16:19

16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”

Matthew 18:16-18

18:16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others with you, so that at the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. ¹  18:17 If ²  he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If ³  he refuses to listen to the church, treat him like ⁴  a Gentile ⁵  or a tax collector. ⁶ 

18:18 “I tell you the truth, ⁷  whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.

Matthew 18:20

18:20 For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them.”

Matthew 28:18

28:18 Then Jesus came up and said to them, ⁸  “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Matthew 28:20

28:20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, ⁹  I am with you ¹⁰  always, to the end of the age.” ¹¹ 

John 20:23

20:23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; ¹²  if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.” ¹³ 

John 20:2

20:2 So she went running ¹⁴  to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

Colossians 2:9-10

2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives ¹⁵  in bodily form, 2:10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

Colossians 1:3

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church

1:3 We always ¹⁶  give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

Colossians 1:10

1:10 so that you may live ¹⁷  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ¹⁸  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

¹ sn A quotation from Deut 19:15.

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

³ tn Grk “let him be to you as.”

⁴ tn Or “a pagan.”

⁵ sn To treat him like a Gentile or a tax collector means not to associate with such a person. See the note on tax collectors in 5:46.

¹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

¹ tn Grk “coming, Jesus spoke to them, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn, “saying”) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

¹ tn The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has been translated here as “remember” (BDAG 468 s.v. 1.c).

² sn I am with you. Matthew’s Gospel begins with the prophecy that the Savior’s name would be “Emmanuel, that is, ‘God with us,’” (1:23, in which the author has linked Isa 7:14 and 8:8, 10 together) and it ends with Jesus’ promise to be with his disciples forever. The Gospel of Matthew thus forms an inclusio about Jesus in his relationship to his people that suggests his deity.

³ tc Most mss (A^c Θ Ë¹³ Ï it sy) have ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”) at the end of v. 20. Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, no good reason exists for the omission of the particle in significant and early witnesses such as א A* B D W ˹ 33 al lat sa.

¹ tn Grk “they are forgiven to them.” The words “to them” are unnecessary in English and somewhat redundant.

² sn The statement by Jesus about forgive or retaining anyone’s sins finds its closest parallel in Matt 16:19 and 18:18. This is probably not referring to apostolic power to forgive or retain the sins of individuals (as it is sometimes understood), but to the “power” of proclaiming this forgiveness which was entrusted to the disciples. This is consistent with the idea that the disciples are to carry on the ministry of Jesus after he has departed from the world and returned to the Father, a theme which occurred in the Farewell Discourse (cf. 15:27, 16:1-4, and 17:18).

¹ tn Grk “So she ran and came.”

¹ sn In him all the fullness of deity lives. The present tense in this verse (“lives”) is significant. Again, as was stated in the note on 1:19, this is not a temporary dwelling, but a permanent one. Paul’s point is polemical against the idea that the fullness of God dwells anywhere else, as the Gnostics believed, except in Christ alone. At the incarnation, the second person of the Trinity assumed humanity, and is forever the God-man.

¹ tn The adverb πάντοτε (pantote) is understood to modify the indicative εὐχαριστοῦμεν (eucaristoumen) because it precedes περὶ ὑμῶν (peri Jumwn) which probably modifies the indicative and not the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi). But see 1:9 where the same expression occurs and περὶ ὑμῶν modifies the participle “praying” (προσευχόμενοι).

¹ 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.”

² 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.”