24:45 “Who then is the faithful and wise slave, 3 whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves 4 their food at the proper time?
25:1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.
5:1 Therefore, be 15 imitators of God as dearly loved children
1 sn The title “my servant” or “servant of the
2 tn The word “faithful” is נֶאֱמָן (ne’eman), the Niphal participle of the verb אָמַן (’aman). This basic word has the sense of “support, be firm.” In the Niphal it describes something that is firm, reliable, dependable – what can be counted on. It could actually be translated “trustworthy.”
3 tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.
4 tn Grk “give them.”
5 tn Grk “His master said to him.”
6 tn BDAG 697 s.v. οἰκονομία 1.b renders the term here as “divine office.”
7 tn See BDAG 828 s.v. πληρόω 3. The idea here seems to be that the apostle wants to “complete the word of God” in that he wants to preach it to every person in the known world (cf. Rom 15:19). See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 82.
8 tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.
9 tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).
10 tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”
11 tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these
12 tn BDAG 276 s.v. ἑδραῖος suggests “firm, steadfast.”
13 tn BDAG 639 s.v. μετακινέω suggests “without shifting from the hope” here.
14 sn Eph 5:19-21. In Eph 5:18 the author gives the command to be filled by means of the Holy Spirit. In 5:19-21 there follows five participles: (1) speaking; (2) singing; (3) making music; (4) giving thanks; (5) submitting. These participles have been variously interpreted, but perhaps the two most likely interpretations are (1) the participles indicate the means by which one is filled by the Spirit; (2) the participles indicate the result of being filled by the Spirit. The fact that the participles are present tense and follow the command (i.e., “be filled”) would tend to support both of these options. But it seems out of Paul’s character to reduce the filling of the Spirit to a formula of some kind. To the extent that this is true, it is unlikely then that the author is here stating the means for being filled by the Spirit. Because it is in keeping with Pauline theology and has good grammatical support, it is better to take the participles as indicating certain results of being filled by the Spirit. See ExSyn 639.
15 tn Or “become.”
16 tn Or “meekness.” The word is often used in Hellenistic Greek of the merciful execution of justice on behalf of those who have no voice by those who are in a position of authority (Matt 11:29; 21:5).
17 tn Or “putting up with”; or “forbearing.”
18 sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.
19 tn Grk “walked.”
20 tn Or possibly “Aeon.”
21 tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”
22 tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).
23 sn The ruler of the kingdom of the air is also the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. Although several translations regard the ruler to be the same as the spirit, this is unlikely since the cases in Greek are different (ruler is accusative and spirit is genitive). To get around this, some have suggested that the genitive for spirit is a genitive of apposition. However, the semantics of the genitive of apposition are against such an interpretation (cf. ExSyn 100).
24 tn Grk “working in.”
25 sn Sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” However, it also contains a subtle allusion to vv. 4-10: Some of those sons of disobedience have become sons of God.
26 tn Or “he was obligated.”
27 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.
28 tn Or “propitiation.”
29 tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.
30 tc ‡ The reading adopted by the translation follows a few early