1 Corinthians 12:2

12:2 You know that when you were pagans you were often led astray by speechless idols, however you were led.

Romans 6:17-19

6:17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyed ¹  from the heart that pattern ²  of teaching you were entrusted to, 6:18 and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. 6:19 (I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.) ³  For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

Ephesians 2:1-3

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ⁴  dead ⁵  in your transgressions and sins, 2:2 in which ⁶  you formerly lived ⁷  according to this world’s present path, ⁸  according to the ruler of the kingdom ⁹  of the air, the ruler of ¹⁰  the spirit ¹¹  that is now energizing ¹²  the sons of disobedience, ¹³  2:3 among whom ¹⁴  all of us ¹⁵  also ¹⁶  formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath ¹⁷  even as the rest… ¹⁸ 

Ephesians 4:17-22

Live in Holiness

4:17 So I say this, and insist ¹⁹  in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility ²⁰  of their thinking. ²¹  4:18 They are darkened in their understanding, ²²  being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. 4:19 Because they are callous, they have given themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. ²³  4:20 But you did not learn about Christ like this, 4:21 if indeed you heard about him and were taught in him, just as the truth is in Jesus. 4:22 You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside ²⁴  the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires,

Ephesians 5:8

5:8 for you were at one time darkness, but now you are ²⁵  light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light –

Colossians 3:5-7

3:5 So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: ²⁶  sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, ²⁷  evil desire, and greed which is idolatry. 3:6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. ²⁸  3:7 You also lived your lives ²⁹  in this way at one time, when you used to live among them.

Titus 3:3-6

3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another. 3:4 ³⁰  But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 3:5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 3:6 whom he poured out on us in full measure ³¹  through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Titus 3:1

Conduct Toward Those Outside the Church

3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and ³²  authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.

Titus 1:2-3

1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the ages began. ³³  1:3 But now in his own time ³⁴  he has made his message evident through the preaching I was entrusted with according to the command of God our Savior.

[6:17]  ¹ tn Grk “you were slaves of sin but you obeyed.”

[6:17]  ² tn Or “type, form.”

[6:19]  ³ tn Or “because of your natural limitations” (NRSV).

[2:1]  ⁴ tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

[2:1]  ⁵ sn Chapter 2 starts off with a participle, although you were dead, that is left dangling. The syntax in Greek for vv. 1-3 constitutes one incomplete sentence, though it seems to have been done intentionally. The dangling participle leaves the readers in suspense while they wait for the solution (in v. 4) to their spiritual dilemma.

[2:2]  ⁶ sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ⁷ tn Grk “walked.”

[2:2]  ⁸ tn Or possibly “Aeon.”

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ¹¹ 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).

[2:2]  ¹² tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ¹³ 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.

[2:3]  ¹⁴ sn Among whom. The relative pronoun phrase that begins v. 3 is identical, except for gender, to the one that begins v. 2 (ἐν αἵς [en Jais], ἐν οἵς [en Jois]). By the structure, the author is building an argument for our hopeless condition: We lived in sin and we lived among sinful people. Our doom looked to be sealed as well in v. 2: Both the external environment (kingdom of the air) and our internal motivation and attitude (the spirit that is now energizing) were under the devil’s thumb (cf. 2 Cor 4:4).

[2:3]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “we all.”

[2:3]  ¹⁶ tn Or “even.”

[2:3]  ¹⁷ sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”

[2:3]  ¹⁸ sn Eph 2:1-3. The translation of vv. 1-3 is very literal, even to the point of retaining the awkward syntax of the original. See note on the word dead in 2:1.

[4:17]  ¹⁹ tn On the translation of μαρτύρομαι (marturomai) as “insist” see BDAG 619 s.v. 2.

[4:17]  ²⁰ tn On the translation of ματαιότης (mataioth") as “futility” see BDAG 621 s.v.

[4:17]  ²¹ tn Or “thoughts,” “mind.”

[4:18]  ²² tn In the Greek text this clause is actually subordinate to περιπατεῖ (peripatei) in v. 17. It was broken up in the English translation so as to avoid an unnecessarily long and cumbersome statement.

[4:19]  ²³ sn Greediness refers to an increasing desire for more and more. The point is that sinful passions and desires are never satisfied.

[4:22]  ²⁴ tn An alternative rendering for the infinitives in vv. 22-24 (“to lay aside… to be renewed… to put on”) is “that you have laid aside… that you are being renewed… that you have put on.” The three infinitives of vv. 22 (ἀποθέσθαι, apoqesqai), 23 (ἀνανεοῦσθαι, ananeousqai), and 24 (ἐνδύσασθαι, endusasqai), form part of an indirect discourse clause; they constitute the teaching given to the believers addressed in the letter. The problem in translation is that one cannot be absolutely certain whether they go back to indicatives in the original statement (i.e., “you have put off”) or imperatives (i.e., “put off!”). Every other occurrence of an aorist infinitive in indirect discourse in the NT goes back to an imperative, but in all of these examples the indirect discourse is introduced by a verb that implies a command. The verb διδάσκω (didaskw) in the corpus Paulinum may be used to relate the indicatives of the faith as well as the imperatives. This translation implies that the infinitives go back to imperatives, though the alternate view that they refer back to indicatives is also a plausible interpretation. For further discussion, see ExSyn 605.

[5:8]  ²⁵ tn The verb “you are” is implied in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to make it clear.

[3:5]  ²⁶ tn Grk “the members which are on the earth.” See BDAG 628 s.v. μέλος 1, “put to death whatever in you is worldly.”

[3:5]  ²⁷ tn Or “lust.”

[3:6]  ²⁸ tc The words ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας (epi tou" Juiou" th" apeiqeia", “on the sons of disobedience”) are lacking in Ì⁴⁶ B b sa, but are found in א A C D F G H I Ψ 075 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy bo. The words are omitted by several English translations (NASB, NIV, ESV, TNIV). This textual problem is quite difficult to resolve. On the one hand, the parallel account in Eph 5:6 has these words, thus providing scribes a motive for adding them here. On the other hand, the reading without the words may be too hard: The ἐν οἷς (en |oi") of v. 7 seems to have no antecedent without υἱούς already in the text, although it could possibly be construed as neuter referring to the vice list in v. 5. Further, although the witness of B is especially important, there are other places in which B and Ì⁴⁶ share errant readings of omission. Nevertheless, the strength of the internal evidence against the longer reading is at least sufficient to cause doubt here. The decision to retain the words in the text is less than certain.

[3:7]  ²⁹ tn Grk “you also walked.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is commonly used in the NT to refer to behavior or conduct of one’s life (L&N 41.11).

[3:4]  ³⁰ tn Verses 4-7 are set as poetry in NA²⁶/NA²⁷. These verses probably constitute the referent of the expression “this saying” in v. 8.

[3:6]  ³¹ tn Or “on us richly.”

[3:1]  ³² tc Most later witnesses (D² 0278 Ï lat sy) have καί (kai, “and”) after ἀρχαῖς (arcai", “rulers”), though the earliest and best witnesses (א A C D* F G Ψ 33 104 1739 1881) lack the conjunction. Although the καί is most likely not authentic, it has been added in translation due to the requirements of English style. For more discussion, see TCGNT 586.

[1:2]  ³³ tn Grk “before eternal ages.”

[1:3]  ³⁴ tn The Greek text emphasizes the contrast between vv. 2b and 3a: God promised this long ago but now has revealed it in his own time.