2 Corinthians 13:7

13:7 Now we pray to God that you may not do anything wrong, not so that we may appear to have passed the test, ¹  but so that you may do what is right ²  even if we may appear to have failed the test. ³ 

2 Corinthians 13:11

Final Exhortations and Greetings

13:11 Finally, brothers and sisters, ⁴  rejoice, set things right, be encouraged, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

2 Corinthians 7:1

Self-Purification

7:1 Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves ⁵  from everything that could defile the body ⁶  and the spirit, and thus accomplish ⁷  holiness out of reverence for God. ⁸ 

Ephesians 4:13

4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God – a mature person, attaining to ⁹  the measure of Christ’s full stature. ¹⁰ 

Philippians 3:12-15

Keep Going Forward

3:12 Not that I have already attained this – that is, I have not already been perfected – but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. ¹¹  3:13 Brothers and sisters, ¹²  I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: ¹³  Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, 3:14 with this goal in mind, ¹⁴  I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God ¹⁵  in Christ Jesus. 3:15 Therefore let those of us who are “perfect” embrace this point of view. ¹⁶  If you think otherwise, God will reveal to you the error of your ways. ¹⁷ 

Colossians 1:28

1:28 We proclaim him by instructing ¹⁸  and teaching ¹⁹  all people ²⁰  with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature ²¹  in Christ.

Colossians 4:12

4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a slave ²²  of Christ, ²³  greets you. He is always struggling in prayer on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured ²⁴  in all the will of God.

Colossians 4:1

4:1 Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

Colossians 3:10

3:10 and have been clothed with the new man ²⁵  that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it.

Colossians 3:2

3:2 Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth,

Colossians 3:17

3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Hebrews 6:1

6:1 Therefore we must progress beyond ²⁶  the elementary ²⁷  instructions about Christ ²⁸  and move on ²⁹  to maturity, not laying this foundation again: repentance from dead works and faith in God,

Hebrews 12:23

12:23 and congregation of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous, who have been made perfect,

Hebrews 13:21

13:21 equip you with every good thing to do his will, working in us ³⁰  what is pleasing before him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. ³¹  Amen.

Hebrews 13:1

Final Exhortations

13:1 Brotherly love must continue.

Hebrews 5:10

5:10 and he was designated ³²  by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek. ³³ 

[13:7]  ¹ tn Or “that we may appear to be approved.”

[13:7]  ² tn Or “what is good.”

[13:7]  ³ tn Or “even if we appear disapproved.”

[13:11]  ⁴ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:8.

[7:1]  ⁵ tn Or “purify ourselves.”

[7:1]  ⁶ tn Grk “from every defilement of the flesh.”

[7:1]  ⁷ tn Grk “accomplishing.” The participle has been translated as a finite verb due to considerations of contemporary English style, and “thus” has been supplied to indicate that it represents a result of the previous cleansing.

[7:1]  ⁸ tn Grk “in the fear of God.”

[4:13]  ⁹ tn The words “attaining to” were supplied in the translation to pick up the καταντήσωμεν (katanthswmen) mentioned earlier in the sentence and the εἰς (eis) which heads up this clause.

[4:13]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” On this translation of ἡλικία (Jhlikia, “stature”) see BDAG 436 s.v. 3.

[3:12]  ¹¹ tn Grk “that for which I also was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” The passive has been translated as active in keeping with contemporary English style.

[3:13]  ¹² tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:12.

[3:13]  ¹³ tn Grk “But this one thing (I do).”

[3:14]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “according to the goal.”

[3:14]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “prize, namely, the heavenly calling of God.”

[3:15]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “those of us who are ‘perfect’ should think this,” or possibly “those of us who are mature should think this.”

[3:15]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “reveal this to you.” The referent of the pronoun “this” is the fact that the person is thinking differently than Paul does. This has been specified in the translation with the phrase “the error of your ways”; Paul is stating that God will make it known to these believers when they are not in agreement with Paul.

[1:28]  ¹⁸ tn Or “admonishing,” or “warning.” BDAG 679 s.v. νουθετέω states, “to counsel about avoidance or cessation of an improper course of conduct,, admonish, warn, instruct.” After the participle νουθετοῦντες (nouqetounte", “instructing”) the words πάντα ἄνθρωπον (panta anqrwpon, “all men”) occur in the Greek text, but since the same phrase appears again after διδάσκοντες (didaskontes) it was omitted in translation to avoid redundancy in English.

[1:28]  ¹⁹ tn The two participles “instructing” (νουθετοῦντες, nouqetounte") and “teaching” (διδάσκοντες, didaskonte") are translated as participles of means (“by”) related to the finite verb “we proclaim” (καταγγέλλομεν, katangellomen).

[1:28]  ²⁰ tn Here ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon) is twice translated as a generic (“people” and “person”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.

[1:28]  ²¹ tn Since Paul’s focus is on the present experience of the Colossians, “mature” is a better translation of τέλειον (teleion) than “perfect,” since the latter implies a future, eschatological focus.

[4:12]  ²² tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[4:12]  ²³ tc ‡ Strong Alexandrian testimony, along with some other witnesses, suggests that ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) follows Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “Christ”; so א A B C I L 0278 33 81 365 629 1175 2464 al lat), but the evidence for the shorter reading is diverse (Ì⁴⁶ D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï it sy Hier), cutting across all major texttypes. There can be little motivation for omitting the name of Jesus; hence, the shorter reading is judged to be original. NA²⁷ has ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[4:12]  ²⁴ tn Or “filled.”

[3:10]  ²⁵ 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).

[6:1]  ²⁶ tn Grk “Therefore leaving behind.” The implication is not of abandoning this elementary information, but of building on it.

[6:1]  ²⁷ tn Or “basic.”

[6:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “the message of the beginning of Christ.”

[6:1]  ²⁹ tn Grk “leaving behind…let us move on.”

[13:21]  ³⁰ tc Some mss (C P Ψ 6 629* 630 1505 pm latt sy^h) read ὑμῖν (Jumin, “in you”) here, but ἡμῖν (Jhmin) has stronger external support (Ì⁴⁶ א A D^vid K 0243 0285 33 81 104 326 365 629^c 1175 1739 1881 pm sy^p co). It is also more likely that ἡμῖν would have been changed to ὑμῖν in light of the “you” which occurs at the beginning of the verse than vice versa.

[13:21]  ³¹ tc ‡ Most mss (א A [C*] 0243 0285 33 1739 1881 Ï latt) include the words “and ever” here, but the shorter reading (supported by Ì⁴⁶ C³ D Ψ 6 104 365 1505 al) is preferred on internal grounds. It seemed more likely that scribes would assimilate the wording to the common NT doxological expression “for ever and ever,” found especially in the Apocalypse (cf., e.g., 1 Tim 1:17; 2 Tim 4:18; Rev 4:9; 22:5) than to the “forever” of Heb 13:8. Nevertheless, a decision is difficult here. NA²⁷ places the phrase in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[5:10]  ³² tn Grk “having been designated,” continuing the thought of Heb 5:9.

[5:10]  ³³ sn The phrase in the order of Melchizedek picks up the quotation from Ps 110:4 in Heb 5:6.