2 Corinthians 1:20

1:20 For every one of God’s promises are “Yes” in him; therefore also through him the “Amen” is spoken, to the glory we give to God.

2 Corinthians 6:17-18

6:17 Therefore “come out from their midst, and be separate,” says the Lord, “and touch no unclean thing, ¹  and I will welcome ²  you, ³  6:18 and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,” ⁴  says the All-Powerful Lord. ⁵ 

Romans 5:20--6:11

5:20 Now the law came in ⁶  so that the transgression ⁷  may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, 5:21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Believer’s Freedom from Sin’s Domination

6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase? 6:2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 6:3 Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 6:4 Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life. ⁸ 

6:5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection. ⁹  6:6 We know that ¹⁰  our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, ¹¹  so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 6:7 (For someone who has died has been freed from sin.) ¹² 

6:8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 6:9 We know ¹³  that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die ¹⁴  again; death no longer has mastery over him. 6:10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. 6:11 So you too consider yourselves ¹⁵  dead to sin, but ¹⁶  alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 4:1-2

God’s Promised Rest

4:1 Therefore we must be wary ¹⁷  that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it. 4:2 For we had good news proclaimed to us just as they did. But the message they heard did them no good, since they did not join in ¹⁸  with those who heard it in faith. ¹⁹ 

Hebrews 1:4-8

1:4 Thus he became ²⁰  so far better than the angels as ²¹  he has inherited a name superior to theirs.

The Son Is Superior to Angels

1:5 For to which of the angels did God ²²  ever say, “You are my son! Today I have fathered you”? ²³  And in another place ²⁴  he says, ²⁵  “I will be his father and he will be my son.” ²⁶  1:6 But when he again brings ²⁷  his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him!” ²⁸  1:7 And he says ²⁹  of the angels, “He makes ³⁰  his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire,” ³¹  1:8 but of ³²  the Son he says, ³³ 

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, ³⁴ 

and a righteous scepter ³⁵  is the scepter of your kingdom.

[6:17]  ¹ sn A quotation from Isa 52:11.

[6:17]  ² tn Or “will receive.”

[6:17]  ³ sn A paraphrased quotation from Ezek 20:41.

[6:18]  ⁴ sn A paraphrased quotation from 2 Sam 7:14 and Isa 43:6.

[6:18]  ⁵ tn Traditionally, “the Lord Almighty.” BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…κύριος π. (oft. LXX) 2 Cor 6:18.”

[5:20]  ⁶ tn Grk “slipped in.”

[5:20]  ⁷ tn Or “trespass.”

[6:4]  ⁸ tn Grk “may walk in newness of life,” in which ζωῆς (zwhs) functions as an attributed genitive (see ExSyn 89-90, where this verse is given as a prime example).

[6:5]  ⁹ tn Grk “we will certainly also of his resurrection.”

[6:6]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “knowing this, that.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[6:6]  ¹¹ tn Grk “may be rendered ineffective, inoperative,” or possibly “may be destroyed.” The term καταργέω (katargew) has various nuances. In Rom 7:2 the wife whose husband has died is freed from the law (i.e., the law of marriage no longer has any power over her, in spite of what she may feel). A similar point seems to be made here (note v. 7).

[6:7]  ¹² sn Verse 7 forms something of a parenthetical comment in Paul’s argument.

[6:9]  ¹³ tn Grk “knowing.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[6:9]  ¹⁴ tn The present tense here has been translated as a futuristic present (see ExSyn 536, where this verse is listed as an example).

[6:11]  ¹⁵ tc ‡ Some Alexandrian and Byzantine mss (Ì^94vid א* B C 81 365 1506 1739 1881 pc) have the infinitive “to be” (εἶναι, einai) following “yourselves”. The infinitive is lacking from some mss of the Alexandrian and Western texttypes (Ì^46vid A D*^,c F G 33^vid pc). The infinitive is found elsewhere in the majority of Byzantine mss, suggesting a scribal tendency toward clarification. The lack of infinitive best explains the rise of the other readings. The meaning of the passage is not significantly altered by inclusion or omission, but on internal grounds omission is more likely. NA²⁷ includes the infinitive in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

[6:11]  ¹⁶ tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.

[4:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “let us fear.”

[4:2]  ¹⁸ tn Or “they were not united.”

[4:2]  ¹⁹ tc A few mss (א and a few versional witnesses) have the nominative singular participle συγκεκερασμένος (sunkekerasmeno", “since it [the message] was not combined with faith by those who heard it”), a reading that refers back to the ὁ λόγος (Jo logo", “the message”). There are a few other variants here (e.g., συγκεκεραμμένοι [sunkekerammenoi] in 104, συγκεκεραμένους [sunkekeramenou"] in 1881 Ï), but the accusative plural participle συγκεκερασμένους (sunkekerasmenou"), found in Ì^13vid,46 A B C D* Ψ 0243 0278 33 81 1739 2464 pc, has by far the best external credentials. This participle agrees with the previous ἐκείνους (ekeinou", “those”), a more difficult construction grammatically than the nominative singular. Thus, both on external and internal grounds, συγκεκερασμένους is preferred.

[1:4]  ²⁰ tn Grk “having become.” This is part of the same sentence that extends from v. 1 through v. 4 in the Greek text.

[1:4]  ²¹ tn Most modern English translations attempt to make the comparison somewhat smoother by treating “name” as if it were the subject of the second element: “as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, CEV). However, the Son is the subject of both the first and second elements: “he became so far better”; “he has inherited a name.” The present translation maintains this parallelism even though it results in a somewhat more awkward rendering.

[1:5]  ²² tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:5]  ²³ tn Grk “I have begotten you.”

[1:5]  ²⁴ tn Grk “And again,” quoting another OT passage.

[1:5]  ²⁵ tn The words “he says” are not in the Greek text but are supplied to make a complete English sentence. In the Greek text this is a continuation of the previous sentence, but English does not normally employ such long and complex sentences.

[1:5]  ²⁶ tn Grk “I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me.”

[1:6]  ²⁷ tn Or “And again when he brings.” The translation adopted in the text looks forward to Christ’s second coming to earth. Some take “again” to introduce the quotation (as in 1:5) and understand this as Christ’s first coming, but this view does not fit well with Heb 2:7. Others understand it as his exaltation/ascension to heaven, but this takes the phrase “into the world” in an unlikely way.

[1:6]  ²⁸ sn A quotation combining themes from Deut 32:43 and Ps 97:7.

[1:7]  ²⁹ sn The Greek correlative conjunctions μέν and δέ (men and de) emphasize the contrastive parallelism of vs. 7 (what God says about the angels) over against vv. 8-9 and vv. 10-12 (what God says about the son).

[1:7]  ³⁰ tn Grk “He who makes.”

[1:7]  ³¹ sn A quotation from Ps 104:4.

[1:8]  ³² tn Or “to.”

[1:8]  ³³ tn The verb “he says” (λέγει, legei) is implied from the λέγει of v. 7.

[1:8]  ³⁴ tn Or possibly, “Your throne is God forever and ever.” This translation is quite doubtful, however, since (1) in the context the Son is being contrasted to the angels and is presented as far better than they. The imagery of God being the Son’s throne would seem to be of God being his authority. If so, in what sense could this not be said of the angels? In what sense is the Son thus contrasted with the angels? (2) The μέν…δέ (men…de) construction that connects v. 7 with v. 8 clearly lays out this contrast: “On the one hand, he says of the angels…on the other hand, he says of the Son.” Thus, although it is grammatically possible that θεός (qeos) in v. 8 should be taken as a predicate nominative, the context and the correlative conjunctions are decidedly against it. Hebrews 1:8 is thus a strong affirmation of the deity of Christ.

[1:8]  ³⁵ tn Grk “the righteous scepter,” but used generically.