6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase?
6:1 Therefore we must progress beyond 12 the elementary 13 instructions about Christ 14 and move on 15 to maturity, not laying this foundation again: repentance from dead works and faith in God,
3:1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, 16 partners in a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess, 17
1 tn “Go…baptize…teach” are participles modifying the imperative verb “make disciples.” According to ExSyn 645 the first participle (πορευθέντες, poreuqentes, “Go”) fits the typical structural pattern for the attendant circumstance participle (aorist participle preceding aorist main verb, with the mood of the main verb usually imperative or indicative) and thus picks up the mood (imperative in this case) from the main verb (μαθητεύσατε, maqhteusate, “make disciples”). This means that semantically the action of “going” is commanded, just as “making disciples” is. As for the two participles that follow the main verb (βαπτίζοντες, baptizontes, “baptizing”; and διδάσκοντες, didaskontes, “teaching”), these do not fit the normal pattern for attendant circumstance participles, since they are present participles and follow the aorist main verb. However, some interpreters do see them as carrying additional imperative force in context. Others regard them as means, manner, or even result.
2 tc Although some scholars have denied that the trinitarian baptismal formula in the Great Commission was a part of the original text of Matthew, there is no ms support for their contention. F. C. Conybeare, “The Eusebian Form of the Text of Mt. 28:19,” ZNW 2 (1901): 275-88, based his view on a faulty reading of Eusebius’ quotations of this text. The shorter reading has also been accepted, on other grounds, by a few other scholars. For discussion (and refutation of the conjecture that removes this baptismal formula), see B. J. Hubbard, The Matthean Redaction of a Primitive Apostolic Commissioning (SBLDS 19), 163-64, 167-75; and Jane Schaberg, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (SBLDS 61), 27-29.
3 tn Grk “may walk in newness of life,” in which ζωῆς (zwhs) functions as an attributed genitive (see ExSyn 89-90, where this verse is given as a prime example).
4 tn Here αὐτοῦ (autou) has been translated as a subjective genitive (“he loves”).
5 tn Or “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
6 tn Grk “For as many of you as.”
7 tn See the note on the word “slave” in 1:10.
8 tn Grk “male and female.”
9 tn Or “have fallen away.”
10 tn Or “while”; Grk “crucifying…and holding.” The Greek participles here (“crucifying…and holding”) can be understood as either causal (“since”) or temporal (“while”).
11 tn Grk “recrucifying the son of God for themselves.”
12 tn Grk “Therefore leaving behind.” The implication is not of abandoning this elementary information, but of building on it.
13 tn Or “basic.”
14 tn Grk “the message of the beginning of Christ.”
15 tn Grk “leaving behind…let us move on.”
16 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.
17 tn Grk “of our confession.”