2 Corinthians 5:19

5:19 In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us ¹  the message of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:21

5:21 God ²  made the one who did not know sin ³  to be sin for us, so that in him ⁴  we would become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 12:2

12:2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows) was caught up to the third heaven.

Isaiah 45:17

45:17 Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord; ⁵ 

you will never again be ashamed or humiliated. ⁶ 

Isaiah 45:24-25

45:24 they will say about me,

“Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’” ⁷ 

All who are angry at him will cower before him. ⁸ 

45:25 All the descendants of Israel will be vindicated by the Lord

and will boast in him. ⁹ 

John 14:20

14:20 You will know at that time ¹⁰  that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you.

John 15:2

15:2 He takes away ¹¹  every branch that does not bear ¹²  fruit in me. He ¹³  prunes ¹⁴  every branch that bears ¹⁵  fruit so that it will bear more fruit.

John 15:5

15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains ¹⁶  in me – and I in him – bears ¹⁷  much fruit, ¹⁸  because apart from me you can accomplish ¹⁹  nothing.

John 17:23

17:23 I in them and you in me – that they may be completely one, ²⁰  so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.

Romans 8:1

The Believer’s Relationship to the Holy Spirit

8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ²¹ 

Romans 8:9

8:9 You, however, are not in ²²  the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him.

Romans 16:7

16:7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, ²³  my compatriots ²⁴  and my fellow prisoners. They are well known ²⁵  to the apostles, ²⁶  and they were in Christ before me.

Romans 16:11

16:11 Greet Herodion, my compatriot. ²⁷  Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.

Romans 16:1

Personal Greetings

16:1 Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant ²⁸  of the church in Cenchrea,

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²⁹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Galatians 3:28

3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave ³⁰  nor free, there is neither male nor female ³¹  – for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 5:6

5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight – the only thing that matters is faith working through love. ³² 

Ephesians 1:3-4

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

1:3 Blessed ³³  is ³⁴  the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed ³⁵  us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. 1:4 For ³⁶  he chose us in Christ ³⁷  before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished ³⁸  in his sight ³⁹  in love. ⁴⁰ 

Philippians 4:21

Final Greetings

4:21 Give greetings to all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers ⁴¹  with me here send greetings.

[5:19]  ¹ tn Or “he has entrusted to us.”

[5:21]  ² tn Grk “He”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:21]  ³ sn The one who did not know sin is a reference to Jesus Christ.

[5:21]  ⁴ sn That is, “in Christ.”

[45:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “Israel will be delivered by the Lord [with] a permanent deliverance.”

[45:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “you will not be ashamed and you will not be humiliated for ages of future time.”

[45:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “‘Yes, in the Lord,’ one says about me, ‘is deliverance and strength.’”

[45:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “will come to him and be ashamed.”

[45:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be vindicated and boast.”

[14:20]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “will know in that day.”

[15:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “He cuts off.”

[15:2]  ¹² tn Or “does not yield.”

[15:2]  ¹³ tn Grk “And he”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been omitted in the translation in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[15:2]  ¹⁴ tn Or “trims”; Grk “cleanses” (a wordplay with “clean” in v. 3). Καθαίρει (kaqairei) is not the word one would have expected here, but it provides the transition from the vine imagery to the disciples – there is a wordplay (not reproducible in English) between αἴρει (airei) and καθαίρει in this verse. While the purpose of the Father in cleansing his people is clear, the precise means by which he does so is not immediately obvious. This will become clearer, however, in the following verse.

[15:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or “that yields.”

[15:5]  ¹⁶ tn Or “resides.”

[15:5]  ¹⁷ tn Or “yields.”

[15:5]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “in him, this one bears much fruit.” The pronoun “this one” has been omitted from the translation because it is redundant according to contemporary English style.

[15:5]  ¹⁹ tn Or “do.”

[17:23]  ²⁰ tn Or “completely unified.”

[8:1]  ²¹ tc The earliest and best witnesses of the Alexandrian and Western texts, as well as a few others (א* B D* F G 6 1506 1739 1881 pc co), have no additional words for v. 1. Later scribes (A D¹ Ψ 81 365 629 pc vg) added the words μὴ κατὰ σάρκα περιπατοῦσιν (mh kata sarka peripatousin, “who do not walk according to the flesh”), while even later ones (א² D² 33^vid Ï) added ἀλλὰ κατὰ πνεῦμα (alla kata pneuma, “but [who do walk] according to the Spirit”). Both the external evidence and the internal evidence are compelling for the shortest reading. The scribes were evidently motivated to add such qualifications (interpolated from v. 4) to insulate Paul’s gospel from charges that it was characterized too much by grace. The KJV follows the longest reading found in Ï.

[8:9]  ²² tn Or “are not controlled by the flesh but by the Spirit.”

[16:7]  ²³ tn Or “Junias.”

[16:7]  ²⁴ tn Or “kinsmen,” “relatives,” “fellow countrymen.”

[16:7]  ²⁵ tn Or “prominent, outstanding, famous.” The term ἐπίσημος (epishmo") is used either in an implied comparative sense (“prominent, outstanding”) or in an elative sense (“famous, well known”). The key to determining the meaning of the term in any given passage is both the general context and the specific collocation of this word with its adjuncts. When a comparative notion is seen, that to which ἐπίσημος is compared is frequently, if not usually, put in the genitive case (cf., e.g., 3 Macc 6:1 [Ελεαζαρος δέ τις ἀνὴρ ἐπίσημος τῶν ἀπὸ τής χώρας ἱερέων “Eleazar, a man prominent among the priests of the country”]; cf. also Pss. Sol. 17:30). When, however, an elative notion is found, ἐν (en) plus a personal plural dative is not uncommon (cf. Pss. Sol. 2:6). Although ἐν plus a personal dative does not indicate agency, in collocation with words of perception, (ἐν plus) dative personal nouns are often used to show the recipients. In this instance, the idea would then be “well known to the apostles.” See M. H. Burer and D. B. Wallace, “Was Junia Really an Apostle? A Re-examination of Rom 16.7,” NTS 47 (2001): 76-91, who argue for the elative notion here.

[16:7]  ²⁶ tn Or “among the apostles.” See discussion in the note on “well known” for these options.

[16:11]  ²⁷ tn Or “kinsman,” “relative,” “fellow countryman.”

[16:1]  ²⁸ tn Or “deaconess.” It is debated whether διάκονος (diakonos) here refers to a specific office within the church. One contextual argument used to support this view is that Phoebe is associated with a particular church, Cenchrea, and as such would therefore be a deacon of that church. In the NT some who are called διάκονος are related to a particular church, yet the scholarly consensus is that such individuals are not deacons, but “servants” or “ministers” (other viable translations for διάκονος). For example, Epaphras is associated with the church in Colossians and is called a διάκονος in Col 1:7, but no contemporary translation regards him as a deacon. In 1 Tim 4:6 Paul calls Timothy a διάκονος; Timothy was associated with the church in Ephesus, but he obviously was not a deacon. In addition, the lexical evidence leans away from this view: Within the NT, the διακον- word group rarely functions with a technical nuance. In any case, the evidence is not compelling either way. The view accepted in the translation above is that Phoebe was a servant of the church, not a deaconess, although this conclusion should be regarded as tentative.

[1:1]  ²⁹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[3:28]  ³⁰ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 1:10.

[3:28]  ³¹ tn Grk “male and female.”

[5:6]  ³² tn Grk “but faith working through love.”

[1:3]  ³³ sn Eph 1:3-14 comprises one long sentence in Greek, with three major sections. Each section ends with a note of praise for God (vv. 6, 12, 14), focusing on a different member of the Trinity. After an opening summary of all the saints’ spiritual blessings (v. 3), the first section (vv. 4-6) offers up praise that the Father has chosen us in eternity past; the second section (vv. 7-12) offers up praise that the Son has redeemed us in the historical past (i.e., at the cross); the third section (vv. 13-14) offers up praise that the Holy Spirit has sealed us in our personal past, at the point of conversion.

[1:3]  ³⁴ tn There is no verb in the Greek text; either the optative (“be”) or the indicative (“is”) can be supplied. The meaning of the term εὐλογητός (euloghtos), the author’s intention at this point in the epistle, and the literary genre of this material must all come into play to determine which is the preferred nuance. εὐλογητός as an adjective can mean either that one is praised or that one is blessed, that is, in a place of favor and benefit. The meaning “blessed” would be more naturally paired with an indicative verb here and would suggest that blessedness is an intrinsic part of God’s character. The meaning “praised” would be more naturally paired with an optative verb here and would suggest that God ought to be praised. Pauline style in the epistles generally moves from statements to obligations, expressing the reality first and then the believer’s necessary response, which would favor the indicative. However, many scholars regard Eph 1:3-14 as a berakah psalm (cf. A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians [WBC], 10-11). Rooted in the OT and Jewish worship, berakah psalms were songs of praise in which the worshiper gave praise to God; this would favor the optative (although not all scholars are agreed on this genre classification here; see H. W. Hoehner, Ephesians, 153-59, for discussion and an alternate conclusion). When considered as a whole, although a decision is difficult, the indicative seems to fit all the factors better. The author seems to be pointing to who God is and what he has done for believers in this section; the indicative more naturally fits that emphasis. Cf. also 2 Cor 1:3; 1 Pet 1:3.

[1:3]  ³⁵ tn Or “enriched,” “conferred blessing.”

[1:4]  ³⁶ tn Grk “just as.” Eph 1:3-14 are one long sentence in Greek that must be broken up in English translation. Verse 4 expresses the reason why God the Father is blessed (cf. BDAG 494 s.v. καθώς 3).

[1:4]  ³⁷ tn Grk “in him.”

[1:4]  ³⁸ sn The Greek word translated unblemished (ἀμώμους, amwmous) is often used of an acceptable paschal lamb. Christ, as our paschal lamb, is also said to be unblemished (Heb 9:14; 1 Pet 1:19). Since believers are in Christ, God views them positionally and will make them ultimately without blemish as well (Jude 24; Eph 5:27; Col 1:22).

[1:4]  ³⁹ tn Grk “before him.”

[1:4]  ⁴⁰ tn The prepositional phrase ἐν ἀγάπῃ (en agaph, “in love”) may modify one of three words or phrases: (1) “chose,” (2) “holy and unblemished,” both in v. 4, or (3) “by predestining” in v. 5. If it modifies “chose,” it refers to God’s motivation in that election, but this option is unlikely because of the placement of the prepositional phrase far away from the verb. The other two options are more likely. If it modifies “holy and unblemished,” it specifies that our holiness cannot be divorced from love. This view is in keeping with the author’s use of ἀγάπη to refer often to human love in Ephesians, but the placement of the prepositional phrase not immediately following the words it modifies would be slightly awkward. If it modifies “by predestining” (v. 5), again the motivation of God’s choice is love. This would fit the focus of the passage on God’s gracious actions toward believers, but it could be considered slightly redundant in that God’s predestination itself proves his love.

[4:21]  ⁴¹ tn Or perhaps, “The brothers and sisters” (so TEV, TNIV; cf. NRSV “The friends”; CEV “The Lord’s followers”) If “brothers” refers to Paul’s traveling companions, it is probably that only men are in view (cf. NAB, NLT). Since v. 22 mentions “all the saints,” which presumably includes everyone, it is more probable here that only Paul’s traveling companions are in view.