1 Timothy 6:12

6:12 Compete well ¹  for the faith and lay hold of that eternal life you were called for and made your good confession ²  for ³  in the presence of many witnesses.

1 Timothy 6:2

6:2 But those who have believing masters must not show them less respect ⁴  because they are brothers. Instead they are to serve all the more, because those who benefit from their service are believers and dearly loved. ⁵ 

Summary of Timothy’s Duties

Teach them and exhort them about these things. ⁶ 

Colossians 1:3-4

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church

1:3 We always ⁷  give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 1:4 since ⁸  we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.

Ephesians 6:12-18

6:12 For our struggle ⁹  is not against flesh and blood, ¹⁰  but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, ¹¹  against the spiritual forces ¹²  of evil in the heavens. ¹³  6:13 For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground ¹⁴  on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. 6:14 Stand firm therefore, by fastening ¹⁵  the belt of truth around your waist, ¹⁶  by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, 6:15 by fitting your ¹⁷  feet with the preparation that comes from the good news ¹⁸  of peace, ¹⁹  6:16 and in all of this, ²⁰  by taking up the shield ²¹  of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation ²²  and the sword ²³  of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 6:18 With every prayer and petition, pray ²⁴  at all times in the Spirit, and to this end ²⁵  be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints.

Ephesians 6:2

6:2 “Honor your father and mother,” ²⁶  which is the first commandment accompanied by a promise, namely,

Ephesians 2:3-5

2:3 among whom ²⁷  all of us ²⁸  also ²⁹  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 ³⁰  even as the rest… ³¹ 

2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 2:5 even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! ³²  –

Ephesians 4:7

4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

[6:12]  ¹ tn This phrase literally means “compete in the good competition of the faith,” using words that may refer to a race or to a boxing or wrestling match: “run the good race” or “fight the good fight.” The similar phrase in 1 Tim 1:18 uses a military picture and is more literally “war the good warfare.”

[6:12]  ² sn At some point in Timothy’s life, he publicly acknowledged Jesus as the resurrected Lord, perhaps either at his baptism or his ordination as a minister of the gospel. With this reminder of the historical moment of his good confession, Timothy is encouraged to remain steadfast in his faith and to finish his life as a minister in the same way it began (see G. W. Knight, Pastoral Epistles [NIGTC], 264-65).

[6:12]  ³ tn Grk “confessed the good confession.”

[6:2]  ⁴ tn Or “think the less of them”; Grk “despise them,” “look down on them.”

[6:2]  ⁵ tn Or “those who devote themselves to service are faithful and dearly loved” (referring to slaves who serve them).

[6:2]  ⁶ tn Grk “these things teach and exhort.”

[1:3]  ⁷ tn The adverb πάντοτε (pantote) is understood to modify the indicative εὐχαριστοῦμεν (eucaristoumen) because it precedes περὶ ὑμῶν (peri Jumwn) which probably modifies the indicative and not the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi). But see 1:9 where the same expression occurs and περὶ ὑμῶν modifies the participle “praying” (προσευχόμενοι).

[1:4]  ⁸ tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).

[6:12]  ⁹ tn BDAG 752 s.v. πάλη says, “struggle against…the opponent is introduced by πρός w. the acc.”

[6:12]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “blood and flesh.”

[6:12]  ¹¹ tn BDAG 561 s.v. κοσμοκράτωρ suggests “the rulers of this sinful world” as a gloss.

[6:12]  ¹² tn BDAG 837 s.v. πνευματικός 3 suggests “the spirit-forces of evil” in Ephesians 6:12.

[6:12]  ¹³ sn The phrase spiritual forces of evil in the heavens serves to emphasize the nature of the forces which oppose believers as well as to indicate the locality from which they originate.

[6:13]  ¹⁴ tn The term ἀνθίστημι (anqisthmi) carries the idea of resisting or opposing something or someone (BDAG 80 s.v.). In Eph 6:13, when used in combination with στῆναι (sthnai; cf. also στῆτε [sthte] in v. 14) and in a context of battle imagery, it seems to have the idea of resisting, standing firm, and being able to stand your ground.

[6:14]  ¹⁵ sn The four participles fastening… putting on…fitting…taking up… indicate the means by which believers can take their stand against the devil and his schemes. The imperative take in v. 17 communicates another means by which to accomplish the standing, i.e., by the word of God.

[6:14]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “girding your waist with truth.” In this entire section the author is painting a metaphor for his readers based on the attire of a Roman soldier prepared for battle and its similarity to the Christian prepared to do battle against spiritually evil forces. Behind the expression “with truth” is probably the genitive idea “belt of truth.” Since this is an appositional genitive (i.e., belt which is truth), the author simply left unsaid the idea of the belt and mentioned only his real focus, namely, the truth. (The analogy would have been completely understandable to his 1st century readers.) The idea of the belt is supplied in the translation to clarify the sense in English.

[6:15]  ¹⁷ tn The definite article τοῖς (tois) was taken as a possessive pronoun, i.e., “your,” since it refers to a part of the physical body.

[6:15]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “gospel.” However, this is not a technical term here.

[6:15]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “in preparation of the gospel of peace.” The genitive τοῦ εὐαγγελίου (tou euangeliou) was taken as a genitive of source, i.e., “that comes from….”

[6:16]  ²⁰ tn Grk “in everything.”

[6:16]  ²¹ sn The Greek word translated shield (θυρεός, qureos) refers to the Roman soldier’s large rectangular wooden shield, called in Latin scutum, about 4 ft (1.2 m) high, covered with leather on the outside. Before a battle in which flaming arrows might be shot at them, the soldiers wet the leather covering with water to extinguish the arrows. The Roman legionaries could close ranks with these shields, the first row holding theirs edge to edge in front, and the rows behind holding the shields above their heads. In this formation they were practically invulnerable to arrows, rocks, and even spears.

[6:17]  ²² sn An allusion to Isa 59:17.

[6:17]  ²³ sn The Greek term translated sword (μάχαιρα, macaira) refers to the Roman gladius, a short sword about 2 ft (60 cm) long, used for close hand-to-hand combat. This is the only clearly offensive weapon in the list of armor mentioned by the author (he does not, for example, mention the lance [Latin pilum]).

[6:18]  ²⁴ tn Both “pray” and “be alert” are participles in the Greek text (“praying…being alert”). Both are probably instrumental, loosely connected with all of the preceding instructions. As such, they are not additional commands to do but instead are the means through which the prior instructions are accomplished.

[6:18]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and toward it.”

[6:2]  ²⁶ sn A quotation from Exod 20:12 and Deut 5:16.

[2:3]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ tn Grk “we all.”

[2:3]  ²⁹ tn Or “even.”

[2:3]  ³⁰ sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”

[2:3]  ³¹ 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.

[2:5]  ³² tn Or “by grace you have been saved.” The perfect tense in Greek connotes both completed action (“you have been saved”) and continuing results (“you are saved”).