1 Peter 1:14

1:14 Like obedient children, do not comply with ¹  the evil urges you used to follow in your ignorance, ² 

Deuteronomy 12:30-31

12:30 After they have been destroyed from your presence, be careful not to be ensnared like they are; do not pursue their gods and say, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do the same.” 12:31 You must not worship the Lord your God the way they do! ³  For everything that is abhorrent ⁴  to him, ⁵  everything he hates, they have done when worshiping their gods. They even burn up their sons and daughters before their gods!

Romans 1:20-32

1:20 For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people ⁶  are without excuse. 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts ⁷  were darkened. 1:22 Although they claimed ⁸  to be wise, they became fools 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings ⁹  or birds or four-footed animals ¹⁰  or reptiles.

1:24 Therefore God gave them over ¹¹  in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor ¹²  their bodies among themselves. ¹³  1:25 They ¹⁴  exchanged the truth of God for a lie ¹⁵  and worshiped and served the creation ¹⁶  rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, ¹⁷  1:27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women ¹⁸  and were inflamed in their passions ¹⁹  for one another. Men ²⁰  committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, ²¹  God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. ²²  1:29 They are filled ²³  with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with ²⁴  envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 1:31 senseless, covenant-breakers, ²⁵  heartless, ruthless. 1:32 Although they fully know ²⁶  God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, ²⁷  they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them. ²⁸ 

Ephesians 2:2-3

2:2 in which ²⁹  you formerly lived ³⁰  according to this world’s present path, ³¹  according to the ruler of the kingdom ³²  of the air, the ruler of ³³  the spirit ³⁴  that is now energizing ³⁵  the sons of disobedience, ³⁶  2:3 among whom ³⁷  all of us ³⁸  also ³⁹  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 ⁴⁰  even as the rest… ⁴¹ 

Ephesians 4:17

Live in Holiness

4:17 So I say this, and insist ⁴²  in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility ⁴³  of their thinking. ⁴⁴ 

Ephesians 4:1

Live in Unity

4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, ⁴⁵  urge you to live ⁴⁶  worthily of the calling with which you have been called, ⁴⁷ 

Ephesians 4:5

4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

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.

[1:14]  ¹ tn Or “do not be conformed to”; Grk “not being conformed to.”

[1:14]  ² tn Grk “the former lusts in your ignorance.”

[12:31]  ³ tn Heb “you must not do thus to/for the Lord your God.”

[12:31]  ⁴ tn See note on this term at Deut 7:25.

[12:31]  ⁵ tn Heb “every abomination of the Lord.” See note on the word “his” in v. 27.

[1:20]  ⁶ tn Grk “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:21]  ⁷ tn Grk “heart.”

[1:22]  ⁸ tn The participle φάσκοντες (faskonte") is used concessively here.

[1:23]  ⁹ tn Grk “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God in likeness of an image of corruptible man.” Here there is a wordplay on the Greek terms ἄφθαρτος (afqarto", “immortal, imperishable, incorruptible”) and φθαρτός (fqarto", “mortal, corruptible, subject to decay”).

[1:23]  ¹⁰ sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 106:19-20.

[1:24]  ¹¹ sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 81:12.

[1:24]  ¹² tn The genitive articular infinitive τοῦ ἀτιμάζεσθαι (tou atimazesqai, “to dishonor”) has been taken as (1) an infinitive of purpose; (2) an infinitive of result; or (3) an epexegetical (i.e., explanatory) infinitive, expanding the previous clause.

[1:24]  ¹³ tn Grk “among them.”

[1:25]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:25]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “the lie.”

[1:25]  ¹⁶ tn Or “creature, created things.”

[1:26]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “for their females exchanged the natural function for that which is contrary to nature.” The term χρῆσις (crhsi") has the force of “sexual relations” here (L&N 23.65).

[1:27]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “likewise so also the males abandoning the natural function of the female.”

[1:27]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “burned with intense desire” (L&N 25.16).

[1:27]  ²⁰ tn Grk “another, men committing…and receiving,” continuing the description of their deeds. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:28]  ²¹ tn Grk “and just as they did not approve to have God in knowledge.”

[1:28]  ²² tn Grk “the things that are improper.”

[1:29]  ²³ tn Grk “being filled” or “having been filled,” referring to those described in v. 28. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:29]  ²⁴ tn Grk “malice, full of,” continuing the description. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:31]  ²⁵ tn Or “promise-breakers.”

[1:32]  ²⁶ tn Grk “who, knowing…, not only do them but also approve…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:32]  ²⁷ tn Grk “are worthy of death.”

[1:32]  ²⁸ sn “Vice lists” like vv. 28-32 can be found elsewhere in the NT in Matt 15:19; Gal 5:19-21; 1 Tim 1:9-10; and 1 Pet 4:3. An example from the intertestamental period can be found in Wis 14:25-26.

[2:2]  ²⁹ sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ³⁰ tn Grk “walked.”

[2:2]  ³¹ tn Or possibly “Aeon.”

[2:2]  ³² tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ³³ tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ³⁴ 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]  ³⁵ tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ tn Grk “we all.”

[2:3]  ³⁹ tn Or “even.”

[2:3]  ⁴⁰ sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”

[2:3]  ⁴¹ 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]  ⁴² tn On the translation of μαρτύρομαι (marturomai) as “insist” see BDAG 619 s.v. 2.

[4:17]  ⁴³ tn On the translation of ματαιότης (mataioth") as “futility” see BDAG 621 s.v.

[4:17]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “thoughts,” “mind.”

[4:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “prisoner in the Lord.”

[4:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “walk.” The verb “walk” in the NT letters refers to the conduct of one’s life, not to physical walking.

[4:1]  ⁴⁷ 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.