1 Corinthians 12:4-11

12:4 Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. 12:5 And there are different ministries, but the same Lord. 12:6 And there are different results, but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. 12:7 To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the benefit of all. 12:8 For one person is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, and another the message of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 12:9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 12:10 to another performance of miracles, to another prophecy, and to another discernment of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. 12:11 It is one and the same Spirit, distributing as he decides to each person, who produces all these things.

1 Corinthians 15:10

15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

Romans 9:16-18

9:16 So then, ¹  it does not depend on human desire or exertion, ²  but on God who shows mercy. 9:17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh: ³  “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” ⁴  9:18 So then, ⁵  God ⁶  has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden. ⁷ 

Ephesians 3:3-5

3:3 that ⁸  by revelation the divine secret ⁹  was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly. ¹⁰  3:4 When reading this, ¹¹  you will be able to ¹²  understand my insight into this secret ¹³  of Christ. 3:5 Now this secret ¹⁴  was not disclosed to people ¹⁵  in former ¹⁶  generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by ¹⁷  the Spirit,

Ephesians 3:2

3:2 if indeed ¹⁸  you have heard of the stewardship ¹⁹  of God’s grace that was given to me for you,

Ephesians 2:12-14

2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, ²⁰  alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, ²¹  having no hope and without God in the world. 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ²²  2:14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one ²³  and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility,

Ephesians 2:1

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ²⁴  dead ²⁵  in your transgressions and sins,

Ephesians 1:12-15

1:12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope ²⁶  on Christ, ²⁷  would be to the praise of his glory. 1:13 And when ²⁸  you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation) – when you believed in Christ ²⁹  – you were marked with the seal ³⁰  of the promised Holy Spirit, ³¹  1:14 who is the down payment ³²  of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, ³³  to the praise of his glory.

Prayer for Wisdom and Revelation

1:15 For this reason, ³⁴  because I ³⁵  have heard ³⁶  of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love ³⁷  for all the saints,

Titus 3:3-7

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 ³⁸  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 ³⁹  through Jesus Christ our Savior. 3:7 And so, ⁴⁰  since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life.” ⁴¹ 

[9:16]  ¹ sn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.

[9:16]  ² tn Grk “So then, [it does] not [depend] on the one who desires nor on the one who runs.”

[9:17]  ¹ sn Paul uses a typical rabbinic formula here in which the OT scriptures are figuratively portrayed as speaking to Pharaoh. What he means is that the scripture he cites refers (or can be applied) to Pharaoh.

[9:17]  ² sn A quotation from Exod 9:16.

[9:18]  ¹ sn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.

[9:18]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:18]  ³ tn Grk “So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.”

[3:3]  ¹ tn Or “namely, that is.”

[3:3]  ² tn Or “mystery.”

[3:3]  ³ tn Or “as I wrote above briefly.”

[3:4]  ¹ tn Grk “which, when reading.”

[3:4]  ² tn Grk “you are able to.”

[3:4]  ³ tn Or “mystery.”

[3:5]  ¹ tn Grk “which.” Verse 5 is technically a relative clause, subordinate to the thought of v. 4.

[3:5]  ² tn Grk “the sons of men” (a Semitic idiom referring to human beings, hence, “people”).

[3:5]  ³ tn Grk “other.”

[3:5]  ⁴ tn Or “in.”

[3:2]  ¹ sn If indeed. The author is not doubting whether his audience has heard, but is rather using provocative language (if indeed) to engage his audience in thinking about the magnificence of God’s grace. However, in English translation, the apodosis (“then”-clause) does not come until v. 13, leaving the protasis (“if”-clause) dangling. Eph 3:2-7 constitute one sentence in Greek.

[3:2]  ² tn Or “administration,” “dispensation,” “commission.”

[2:12]  ¹ tn Or “without Christ.” Both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.” Because the context refers to ancient Israel’s messianic expectation, “Messiah” was employed in the translation at this point rather than “Christ.”

[2:12]  ² tn Or “covenants of the promise.”

[2:13]  ¹ tn Or “have come near in the blood of Christ.”

[2:14]  ¹ tn Grk “who made the both one.”

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

[2:1]  ² 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.

[1:12]  ¹ tn Or “who had already hoped.”

[1:12]  ² tn Or “the Messiah.”

[1:13]  ¹ tn Grk “in whom you also, when…” (continuing the sentence from v. 12).

[1:13]  ² tn Grk “in whom also having believed.” The relative pronoun “whom” has been replaced in the translation with its antecedent (“Christ”) to improve the clarity.

[1:13]  ³ tn Or “you were sealed.”

[1:13]  ⁴ tn Grk “the Holy Spirit of promise.” Here ἐπαγγελίας (epangelias, “of promise”) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[1:14]  ¹ tn Or “first installment,” “pledge,” “deposit.”

[1:14]  ² tn Grk “the possession.”

[1:15]  ¹ sn The conjunctive phrase For this reason points back to the preceding section, vv. 3-14, which is also summed up in this verse in the expression because I have heard of your faith. In other words, the author’s prayer can be made for his audience because he knows that they are true believers.

[1:15]  ² tn Grk “even I.”

[1:15]  ³ tn Grk “having also heard.”

[1:15]  ⁴ tc Ì⁴⁶ א* A B P 33 1739 1881 2464 Hier lack “your love” (τὴν ἀγάπην, thn agaphn), while various other groups of mss have different arrangements of the phrase “your love toward all the saints” (τὴν ἀγάπην τὴν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους, thn agaphn thn ei" panta" tou" Jagiou"). Most witnesses, especially the later ones (א² D¹ Ψ Ï latt sa), read τὴν ἀγάπην τὴν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους. Externally, the shorter reading is superior. Internally, the omission of τὴν ἀγάπην is a significantly harder reading, for the saints become an object of faith on par with the Lord Jesus. If this reading is authentic, however, the force of πίστις (pisti") is probably closer to “faithfulness,” a meaning that could perhaps be suitable toward both the Lord and the saints. Nevertheless, if the shorter reading is authentic, later scribes would no doubt have been tempted to alter it. With the parallel in Col 1:4 at hand, τὴν ἀγάπην would have been the most obvious phrase to add. (TCGNT 533 suggests that ἣν ἔχετε would have been added instead of the second τήν if the shorter reading were original, in conformity with Col 1:4, but this is not necessarily so: Scribes often altered the text as minimally as possible, and since the second τήν was already present, replacing it with ἣν ἔχετε, when the meaning was not significantly different from the second τήν, seems unlikely.) Further, ἀγάπην comes after “saints” (thus, τὴν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους ἀγάπην) in some witnesses (81 104 326 365 1175), and the second τήν is lacking (thus, τὴν ἀγάπην εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους) in others (D* F G). Such a floating text normally indicates inauthenticity. On the other hand, τὴν ἀγάπην could easily have dropped out of the text by way of haplography, the Alexandrian scribes’ eyes skipping from τήν to τήν. The weak first declension feminine article-noun-article construction is common enough in the NT, occurring over 40 times, yet in four of these texts there is some ms evidence for an omission similar to Eph 1:15 (Rom 11:17; 2 Tim 3:10; Rev 11:2; 21:9). But in none of these places is the Alexandrian testimony united in the omission as it is here. Further, a wholesale Alexandrian omission of τὴν ἀγάπην presupposes a much stronger genealogical relation among the Alexandrian mss than many scholars would embrace. What seems to tip the scales in favor of the longer reading, however, is the intrinsic evidence: The question of whether πίστις could be used to mean faithfulness in the general sense toward both the Lord and the saints is quite problematic. All in all, a decision is difficult, but the longer reading is, with hesitation, preferred.

[3:4]  ¹ 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]  ¹ tn Or “on us richly.”

[3:7]  ¹ tn This is the conclusion of a single, skillfully composed sentence in Greek encompassing Titus 3:4-7. Showing the goal of God’s merciful salvation, v. 7 begins literally, “in order that, being justified…we might become heirs…”

[3:7]  ² tn Grk “heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”