16:17 Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, 1 to watch out for those who create dissensions and obstacles contrary to the teaching that you learned. Avoid them!
16:1 Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant 2 of the church in Cenchrea,
3:1 You 9 foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell 10 on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed 11 as crucified! 3:2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law 12 or by believing what you heard? 13 3:3 Are you so foolish? Although you began 14 with 15 the Spirit, are you now trying to finish 16 by human effort? 17
4:4 Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? 21 So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy.
1 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
2 tn Or “deaconess.” It is debated whether διάκονος (diakonos) here refers to a specific office within the church. One contextual argument used to support this view is that Phoebe is associated with a particular church, Cenchrea, and as such would therefore be a deacon of that church. In the NT some who are called διάκονος are related to a particular church, yet the scholarly consensus is that such individuals are not deacons, but “servants” or “ministers” (other viable translations for διάκονος). For example, Epaphras is associated with the church in Colossians and is called a διάκονος in Col 1:7, but no contemporary translation regards him as a deacon. In 1 Tim 4:6 Paul calls Timothy a διάκονος; Timothy was associated with the church in Ephesus, but he obviously was not a deacon. In addition, the lexical evidence leans away from this view: Within the NT, the διακον- word group rarely functions with a technical nuance. In any case, the evidence is not compelling either way. The view accepted in the translation above is that Phoebe was a servant of the church, not a deaconess, although this conclusion should be regarded as tentative.
3 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.
4 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.
5 tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”
6 tn Here αὐτοῦ (autou) has been translated as a subjective genitive (“he loves”).
7 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.
8 tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”
9 tn Grk “O” (an interjection used both in address and emotion). In context the following section is highly charged emotionally.
10 tn Or “deceived”; the verb βασκαίνω (baskainw) can be understood literally here in the sense of bewitching by black magic, but could also be understood figuratively to refer to an act of deception (see L&N 53.98 and 88.159).
11 tn Or “publicly placarded,” “set forth in a public proclamation” (BDAG 867 s.v. προγράφω 2).
12 tn Grk “by [the] works of [the] law,” a reference to observing the Mosaic law.
13 tn Grk “by [the] hearing of faith.”
14 tn Grk “Having begun”; the participle ἐναρξάμενοι (enarxamenoi) has been translated concessively.
15 tn Or “by the Spirit.”
16 tn The verb ἐπιτελεῖσθε (epiteleisqe) has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534). This is something the Galatians were attempting to do, but could not accomplish successfully.
17 tn Grk “in/by [the] flesh.”
18 tn Grk “This.”
19 tn Grk “come down”; “descend.”
20 tn Grk “soulish,” which describes life apart from God, characteristic of earthly human life as opposed to what is spiritual. Cf. 1 Cor 2:14; 15:44-46; Jude 19.
21 tn Grk “is hostility toward God.”