1 John 4:8

4:8 The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ¹ 

Luke 10:22

10:22 All things have been given to me by my Father. ²  No one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides ³  to reveal him.”

John 8:19

8:19 Then they began asking ⁴  him, “Who is your father?” Jesus answered, “You do not know either me or my Father. If you knew me you would know my Father too.” ⁵ 

John 8:45-50

8:45 But because I am telling you ⁶  the truth, you do not believe me. 8:46 Who among you can prove me guilty ⁷  of any sin? ⁸  If I am telling you ⁹  the truth, why don’t you believe me? 8:47 The one who belongs to ¹⁰  God listens and responds ¹¹  to God’s words. You don’t listen and respond, ¹²  because you don’t belong to God.” ¹³ 

8:48 The Judeans ¹⁴  replied, ¹⁵  “Aren’t we correct in saying ¹⁶  that you are a Samaritan and are possessed by a demon?” ¹⁷  8:49 Jesus answered, “I am not possessed by a demon, ¹⁸  but I honor my Father – and yet ¹⁹  you dishonor me. 8:50 I am not trying to get ²⁰  praise for myself. ²¹  There is one who demands ²²  it, and he also judges. ²³ 

John 10:27

10:27 My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

John 13:20

13:20 I tell you the solemn truth, ²⁴  whoever accepts ²⁵  the one I send accepts me, and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” ²⁶ 

John 18:37

18:37 Then Pilate said, ²⁷  “So you are a king!” Jesus replied, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world – to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to ²⁸  my voice.”

John 20:21

20:21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, I also send you.”

John 20:1

The Resurrection

20:1 Now very early on the first day of the week, ²⁹  while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene ³⁰  came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance. ³¹ 

Colossians 1:1-2

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ³²  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 1:2 to the saints, the faithful ³³  brothers and sisters ³⁴  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ³⁵  from God our Father! ³⁶ 

Colossians 1:7

1:7 You learned the gospel ³⁷  from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave ³⁸  – a ³⁹  faithful minister of Christ on our ⁴⁰  behalf –

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ⁴¹  brothers and sisters ⁴²  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ⁴³  from God our Father! ⁴⁴ 

Colossians 1:8

1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

[4:8]  ¹ tn The author proclaims in 4:8 ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν (Jo qeo" agaph estin), but from a grammatical standpoint this is not a proposition in which subject and predicate nominative are interchangeable (“God is love” does not equal “love is God”). The predicate noun is anarthrous, as it is in two other Johannine formulas describing God, “God is light” in 1 John 1:5 and “God is Spirit” in John 4:24. The anarthrous predicate suggests a qualitative force, not a mere abstraction, so that a quality of God’s character is what is described here.

[10:22]  ² sn This verse has been noted for its conceptual similarity to teaching in John’s Gospel (10:15; 17:2). The authority of the Son and the Father are totally intertwined.

[10:22]  ³ tn Or “wishes”; or “intends”; or “plans” (cf. BDAG 182 s.v. βούλομαι 2.b). Here it is the Son who has sovereignty.

[8:19]  ⁴ tn Grk “Then they were saying to him.” The imperfect verb has been translated with ingressive force here because of the introduction of a new line of questioning by the Pharisees. Jesus had just claimed his Father as a second witness; now his opponents want to know who his father is.

[8:19]  ⁵ sn If you knew me you would know my Father too. Jesus’ reply is based on his identity with the Father (see also John 1:18; 14:9).

[8:45]  ⁶ tn Or “because I tell you.”

[8:46]  ⁷ tn Or “can convict me.”

[8:46]  ⁸ tn Or “of having sinned”; Grk “of sin.”

[8:46]  ⁹ tn Or “if I tell you.”

[8:47]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “who is of.”

[8:47]  ¹¹ tn Grk “to God hears” (in the sense of listening to something and responding to it).

[8:47]  ¹² tn Grk “you do not hear” (in the sense of listening to something and responding to it).

[8:47]  ¹³ tn Grk “you are not of God.”

[8:48]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the Jews.” See the note on this term in v. 31. Here the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem (“Judeans”; cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e) who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple courts (8:20) and had initially believed his claim to be the Messiah (cf. 8:31). They had become increasingly hostile as Jesus continued to teach. Now they were ready to say that Jesus was demon-possessed.

[8:48]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[8:48]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Do we not say rightly.”

[8:48]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and have a demon.” It is not clear what is meant by the charge Σαμαρίτης εἶ σὺ καὶ δαιμόνιον ἔχεις (Samarith" ei su kai daimonion ecei"). The meaning could be “you are a heretic and are possessed by a demon.” Note that the dual charge gets one reply (John 8:49). Perhaps the phrases were interchangeable: Simon Magus (Acts 8:14-24) and in later traditions Dositheus, the two Samaritans who claimed to be sons of God, were regarded as mad, that is, possessed by demons.

[8:49]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “I do not have a demon.”

[8:49]  ¹⁹ tn “Yet” is supplied to show the contrastive element present in the context.

[8:50]  ²⁰ tn Grk “I am not seeking.”

[8:50]  ²¹ tn Grk “my glory.”

[8:50]  ²² tn Grk “who seeks.”

[8:50]  ²³ tn Or “will be the judge.”

[13:20]  ²⁴ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[13:20]  ²⁵ tn Or “receives,” and so throughout this verse.

[13:20]  ²⁶ sn The one who sent me refers to God.

[18:37]  ²⁷ tn Grk “said to him.”

[18:37]  ²⁸ tn Or “obeys”; Grk “hears.”

[20:1]  ²⁹ sn The first day of the week would be early Sunday morning. The Sabbath (and in this year the Passover) would have lasted from 6 p.m. Friday until 6 p.m. Saturday. Sunday would thus mark the first day of the following week.

[20:1]  ³⁰ sn John does not mention that Mary Magdalene was accompanied by any of the other women who had been among Jesus’ followers. The synoptic accounts all mention other women who accompanied her (although Mary Magdalene is always mentioned first). Why John does not mention the other women is not clear, but Mary probably becomes the focus of the author’s attention because it was she who came and found Peter and the beloved disciple and informed them of the empty tomb (20:2). Mary’s use of the plural in v. 2 indicates there were others present, in indirect agreement with the synoptic accounts.

[20:1]  ³¹ tn Grk “from the tomb.”

[1:1]  ³² tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:2]  ³³ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ³⁴ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ³⁵ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ³⁶ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[1:7]  ³⁷ tn Or “learned it.” The Greek text simply has “you learned” without the reference to “the gospel,” but “the gospel” is supplied to clarify the sense of the clause. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[1:7]  ³⁸ tn The Greek word translated “fellow slave” is σύνδουλος (sundoulo"); the σύν- prefix here denotes association. Though δοῦλος is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:7]  ³⁹ tn The Greek text has “who (ὅς, Jos) is a faithful minister.” The above translation conveys the antecedent of the relative pronoun quite well and avoids the redundancy with the following substantival participle of v. 8, namely, “who told” (ὁ δηλώσας, Jo dhlwsa").

[1:7]  ⁴⁰ tc ‡ Judging by the superior witnesses for the first person pronoun ἡμῶν (Jhmwn, “us”; Ì⁴⁶ א* A B D* F G 326* 1505 al) vs. the second person pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “you”; found in א² C D¹ Ψ 075 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy co), ἡμῶν should be regarded as original. Although it is possible that ἡμῶν was an early alteration of ὑμῶν (either unintentionally, as dittography, since it comes seventeen letters after the previous ἡμῶν; or intentionally, to conform to the surrounding first person pronouns), this supposition is difficult to maintain in light of the varied and valuable witnesses for this reading. Further, the second person is both embedded in the verb ἐμάθετε (emaqete) and is explicit in v. 8 (ὑμῶν). Hence, the motivation to change to the first person pronoun is counterbalanced by such evidence. The second person pronoun may have been introduced unintentionally via homoioarcton with the ὑπέρ (Juper) that immediately precedes it. As well, the second person reading is somewhat harder for it seems to address Epaphras’ role only in relation to Paul and his colleagues, rather than in relation to the Colossians. Nevertheless, the decision must be based ultimately on external evidence (because the internal evidence can be variously interpreted), and this strongly supports ἡμῶν.

[1:2]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ⁴² tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ⁴³ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ⁴⁴ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.