2 Chronicles 3:1

The Building of the Temple

3:1 Solomon began building the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem ¹  on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David prepared at the threshing floor of Ornan ²  the Jebusite.

Isaiah 28:16

28:16 Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says:

“Look, I am laying ³  a stone in Zion,

an approved ⁴  stone,

set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. ⁵ 

The one who maintains his faith will not panic. ⁶ 

Matthew 16:18

16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades ⁷  will not overpower it.

Matthew 16:1

The Demand for a Sign

16:1 Now when the Pharisees ⁸  and Sadducees ⁹  came to test Jesus, ¹⁰  they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ¹¹ 

Colossians 3:10-11

3:10 and have been clothed with the new man ¹²  that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. 3:11 Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave ¹³  or free, but Christ is all and in all.

Ephesians 2:20-22

2:20 because you have been built ¹⁴  on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, ¹⁵  with Christ Jesus himself as ¹⁶  the cornerstone. ¹⁷  2:21 In him ¹⁸  the whole building, ¹⁹  being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 2:22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:1

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ²⁰  dead ²¹  in your transgressions and sins,

Ephesians 2:4-8

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! ²²  – 2:6 and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 2:7 to demonstrate in the coming ages ²³  the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward ²⁴  us in Christ Jesus. 2:8 For by grace you are saved ²⁵  through faith, ²⁶  and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God;

[3:1]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:1]  ² tn In 2 Sam 24:16 this individual is called אֲרַוְנָא (“Aravna”; traditionally “Araunah”). The form of the name found here also occurs in 1 Chr 21:15; 18-28.

[28:16]  ³ tc The Hebrew text has a third person verb form, which does not agree with the first person suffix that precedes. The form should be emended to יֹסֵד (yosed), a Qal active participle used in a present progressive or imminent future sense.

[28:16]  ⁴ tn Traditionally “tested,” but the implication is that it has passed the test and stands approved.

[28:16]  ⁵ sn The reality behind the metaphor is not entirely clear from the context. The stone appears to represent someone or something that gives Zion stability. Perhaps the ideal Davidic ruler is in view (see 32:1). Another option is that the image of beginning a building project by laying a precious cornerstone suggests that God is about to transform Zion through judgment and begin a new covenant community that will experience his protection (see 4:3-6; 31:5; 33:20-24; 35:10).

[28:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “will not hurry,” i.e., act in panic.

[16:18]  ⁷ tn Or “and the power of death” (taking the reference to the gates of Hades as a metonymy).

[16:1]  ⁸ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[16:1]  ⁹ sn See the note on Sadducees in 3:7.

[16:1]  ¹⁰ tn The object of the participle πειράζοντες (peirazontes) is not given in the Greek text but has been supplied here for clarity.

[16:1]  ¹¹ sn What exactly this sign would have been, given what Jesus was already doing, is not clear. But here is where the fence-sitters reside, refusing to commit to him.

[3:10]  ¹² sn Put off all such things. The commands in vv. 8-9 are based on two reasons given in vv. 9-10 – reasons which are expressed in terms of a metaphor about clothing oneself. Paul says that they have put off the old man and have put on the new man. Two things need to be discussed in reference to Paul’s statement. (1) What is the meaning of the clothing imagery (i.e., the “have put off” and “have been clothed”)? (2) What is the meaning of the old man and the new man? Though some commentators understand the participles “have put off” (v. 9) and “have been clothed” (v. 10) as imperatives (i.e., “put off!” and “put on!”), this use of participles is extremely rare in the NT and thus unlikely here. It is better to take them as having the semantic force of indicatives, and thus they give an explanation of what had happened to the Colossians at the time of their conversion – they had taken off the old man and put on the new when they trusted in Christ (cf. 1:4). While it is difficult to say for certain what the background to Paul’s “clothing” metaphor might be (whether it is primarily Jewish and comes from the OT, or primarily Gentile and comes from some facet of the Greco-Roman religious milieu), it is nonetheless clear, on the basis of Paul’s usage of the expression, that the old man refers to man as he is in Adam and dominated by sin (cf. Rom 6:6; Eph 4:22), while the new man refers to the Christian whose new sphere of existence is in Christ. Though the metaphor of clothing oneself primarily reflects outward actions, there is a distinct inward aspect to it, as the rest of v. 10 indicates: being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. Paul’s point, then, is that Christians should take off their dirty clothing (inappropriate behavior) and put on clean clothing (behavior consistent with knowing Christ) because this has already been accomplished in a positional sense at the time of their conversion (cf. Gal 3:27 with Rom 13:14).

[3:11]  ¹³ tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[2:20]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “having been built.”

[2:20]  ¹⁵ sn Apostles and prophets. Because the prophets appear after the mention of the apostles and because they are linked together in 3:5 as recipients of revelation about the church, they are to be regarded not as Old Testament prophets, but as New Testament prophets.

[2:20]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “while Christ Jesus himself is” or “Christ Jesus himself being.”

[2:20]  ¹⁷ tn Or perhaps “capstone” (NAB). The meaning of ἀκρογωνιαῖος (akrogwniaio") is greatly debated. The meaning “capstone” is proposed by J. Jeremias (TDNT 1:792), but the most important text for this meaning (T. Sol. 22:7-23:4) is late and possibly not even an appropriate parallel. The only place ἀκρογωνιαῖος is used in the LXX is Isa 28:16, and there it clearly refers to a cornerstone that is part of a foundation. Furthermore, the imagery in this context has the building growing off the cornerstone upward, whereas if Christ were the capstone, he would not assume his position until the building was finished, which vv. 21-22 argue against.

[2:21]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “in whom” (v. 21 is a relative clause, subordinate to v. 20).

[2:21]  ¹⁹ tc Although several important witnesses (א¹ A C P 6 81 326 1739^c 1881) have πᾶσα ἡ οἰκοδομή (pasa Jh oikodomh), instead of πᾶσα οἰκοδομή (the reading of א* B D F G Ψ 33 1739* Ï), the article is almost surely a scribal addition intended to clarify the meaning of the text, for with the article the meaning is unambiguously “the whole building.”

[2:1]  ²⁰ tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

[2:1]  ²¹ 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.

[2:5]  ²² 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”).

[2:7]  ²³ tn Or possibly “to the Aeons who are about to come.”

[2:7]  ²⁴ tn Or “upon.”

[2:8]  ²⁵ tn See note on the same expression in v. 5.

[2:8]  ²⁶ tc The feminine article is found before πίστεως (pistews, “faith”) in the Byzantine text as well as in A Ψ 1881 pc. Perhaps for some scribes the article was intended to imply creedal fidelity as a necessary condition of salvation (“you are saved through the faith”), although elsewhere in the corpus Paulinum the phrase διὰ τῆς πίστεως (dia th" pistew") is used for the act of believing rather than the content of faith (cf. Rom 3:30, 31; Gal 3:14; Eph 3:17; Col 2:12). On the other side, strong representatives of the Alexandrian and Western texts (א B D* F G P 0278 6 33 1739 al bo) lack the article. Hence, both text-critically and exegetically, the meaning of the text here is most likely “saved through faith” as opposed to “saved through the faith.” Regarding the textual problem, the lack of the article is the preferred reading.