Romans 15:18-19

15:18 For I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in order to bring about the obedience ¹  of the Gentiles, by word and deed, 15:19 in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem even as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

Romans 16:26

16:26 but now is disclosed, and through the prophetic scriptures has been made known to all the nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith –

Acts 6:7

6:7 The word of God continued to spread, ²  the number of disciples in Jerusalem ³  increased greatly, and a large group ⁴  of priests became obedient to the faith.

Acts 6:2

6:2 So the twelve ⁵  called ⁶  the whole group ⁷  of the disciples together and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to wait on tables. ⁸ 

Colossians 1:4-6

1:4 since ⁹  we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints. 1:5 Your faith and love have arisen ¹⁰  from the hope laid up ¹¹  for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel ¹²  1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel ¹³  is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing ¹⁴  among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

Hebrews 5:9

5:9 And by being perfected in this way, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

¹ tn Grk “unto obedience.”

² tn Grk “kept on spreading”; the verb has been translated as a progressive imperfect.

³ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁴ tn Grk “a great multitude.”

⁵ sn The twelve refers to the twelve apostles.

⁶ tn Grk “calling the whole group…together, said.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενοι (proskalesamenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

⁷ tn Or “the multitude.”

⁸ tn Grk “to serve tables.”

⁹ tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).

¹⁰ tn Col 1:3-8 form one long sentence in the Greek text and have been divided at the end of v. 4 and v. 6 and within v. 6 for clarity, in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English toward shorter sentences. Thus the phrase “Your faith and love have arisen from the hope” is literally “because of the hope.” The perfect tense “have arisen” was chosen in the English to reflect the fact that the recipients of the letter had acquired this hope at conversion in the past, but that it still remains and motivates them to trust in Christ and to love one another.

¹¹ tn BDAG 113 s.v. ἀπόκειμαι 2 renders ἀποκειμένην (apokeimenhn) with the expression “reserved” in this verse.

¹² tn The term “the gospel” (τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, tou euangeliou) is in apposition to “the word of truth” (τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας, tw logw th" alhqeia") as indicated in the translation.

¹³ tn Grk “just as in the entire world it is bearing fruit.” The antecedent (“the gospel”) of the implied subject (“it”) of ἐστιν (estin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁴ tn Though the participles are periphrastic with the present tense verb ἐστίν (estin), the presence of the temporal indicator “from the day” in the next clause indicates that this is a present tense that reaches into the past and should be translated as “has been bearing fruit and growing.” For a discussion of this use of the present tense, see ExSyn 519-20.