1 Corinthians 6:11

6:11 Some of you once lived this way. ¹  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ ²  and by the Spirit of our God.

Galatians 4:8

Heirs of Promise Are Not to Return to Law

4:8 Formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all. ³ 

Ephesians 2:11-12

New Life Corporately

2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh – who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body ⁴  by human hands – 2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, ⁵  alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, ⁶  having no hope and without God in the world.

Ephesians 4:17-18

Live in Holiness

4:17 So I say this, and insist ⁷  in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility ⁸  of their thinking. ⁹  4:18 They are darkened in their understanding, ¹⁰  being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.

Ephesians 4:1

Live in Unity

4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, ¹¹  urge you to live ¹²  worthily of the calling with which you have been called, ¹³ 

Ephesians 1:9

1:9 He did this when he revealed ¹⁴  to us the secret ¹⁵  of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth ¹⁶  in Christ, ¹⁷ 

Titus 3:3

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.

Titus 3:1

Conduct Toward Those Outside the Church

3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and ¹⁸  authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.

Titus 1:3

1:3 But now in his own time ¹⁹  he has made his message evident through the preaching I was entrusted with according to the command of God our Savior.

[6:11]  ¹ tn Grk “and some [of you] were these.”

[6:11]  ² tc The external evidence in support of the reading ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (Ihsou Cristou, “Jesus Christ”) is quite impressive: Ì^11vid,46 א B C^vid D* P 33 81 104 365 629 630 1739 1881 2464 al lat bo as well as several fathers, while the reading with merely ᾿Ιησοῦ has significantly poorer support (A D² Ψ Ï sa). Although the wording of the original could certainly have been expanded, it is also possible that Χριστοῦ as a nomen sacrum could have accidentally dropped out. Although the latter is not as likely under normal circumstances, in light of the early and widespread witnesses for the fuller expression, the original wording seems to have been ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ.

[4:8]  ³ tn Grk “those that by nature…” with the word “beings” implied. BDAG 1070 s.v. φύσις 2 sees this as referring to pagan worship: “Polytheists worship…beings that are by nature no gods at all Gal 4:8.”

[2:11]  ⁴ tn Grk “in the flesh.”

[2:12]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Or “covenants of the promise.”

[4:17]  ⁷ tn On the translation of μαρτύρομαι (marturomai) as “insist” see BDAG 619 s.v. 2.

[4:17]  ⁸ tn On the translation of ματαιότης (mataioth") as “futility” see BDAG 621 s.v.

[4:17]  ⁹ tn Or “thoughts,” “mind.”

[4:18]  ¹⁰ 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.

[4:1]  ¹¹ tn Grk “prisoner in the Lord.”

[4:1]  ¹² tn Grk “walk.” The verb “walk” in the NT letters refers to the conduct of one’s life, not to physical walking.

[4:1]  ¹³ sn With which you have been called. The calling refers to the Holy Spirit’s prompting that caused them to believe. The author is thus urging his readers to live a life that conforms to their saved status before God.

[1:9]  ¹⁴ tn Or “He did this by revealing”; Grk “making known, revealing.” Verse 9 begins with a participle dependent on “lavished” in v. 8; the adverbial participle could be understood as temporal (“when he revealed”), which would be contemporaneous to the action of the finite verb “lavished,” or as means (“by revealing”). The participle has been translated here with the temporal nuance to allow for means to also be a possible interpretation. If the translation focused instead upon means, the temporal nuance would be lost as the time frame for the action of the participle would become indistinct.

[1:9]  ¹⁵ tn Or “mystery.” In the NT μυστήριον (musthrion) refers to a divine secret previously undisclosed.

[1:9]  ¹⁶ tn Or “purposed,” “publicly displayed.” Cf. Rom 3:25.

[1:9]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “in him”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[3:1]  ¹⁸ 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.

[1:3]  ¹⁹ 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.