2 Corinthians 2:17

2:17 For we are not like so many others, hucksters who peddle the word of God for profit, ¹  but we are speaking in Christ before ²  God as persons of sincerity, ³  as persons sent from God.

2 Corinthians 5:12

5:12 We are not trying to commend ⁴  ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, ⁵  so that you may be able to answer those who take pride ⁶  in outward appearance ⁷  and not in what is in the heart.

2 Corinthians 10:8

10:8 For if I boast somewhat more about our authority that the Lord gave us ⁸  for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of doing so. ⁹ 

2 Corinthians 10:12

Paul’s Mission

10:12 For we would not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who recommend themselves. But when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding. ¹⁰ 

2 Corinthians 12:11

The Signs of an Apostle

12:11 I have become a fool. You yourselves forced me to do it, for I should have been commended by you. For I lack nothing in comparison ¹¹  to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.

2 Corinthians 12:19

12:19 Have you been thinking all this time ¹²  that we have been defending ourselves to you? We are speaking in Christ before God, and everything we do, dear friends, is to build you up. ¹³ 

2 Corinthians 12:1

Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh

12:1 It is necessary to go on boasting. ¹⁴  Though it is not profitable, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.

Colossians 3:10

3:10 and have been clothed with the new man ¹⁵  that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it.

Colossians 4:15

4:15 Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters ¹⁶  who are in Laodicea and to Nympha and the church that meets in her ¹⁷  house. ¹⁸ 

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ¹⁹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

[2:17]  ¹ tn The participle καπηλεύοντες (kaphleuonte") refers to those engaged in retail business, but with the negative connotations of deceptiveness and greed – “to peddle for profit,” “to huckster” (L&N 57.202). In the translation a noun form (“hucksters”) has been used in combination with the English verb “peddle…for profit” to convey the negative connotations of this term.

[2:17]  ² tn Or “in the presence of.”

[2:17]  ³ tn Or “persons of pure motives.”

[5:12]  ⁴ tn The present tense of συνιστάνομεν (sunistanomen) has been translated as a conative present.

[5:12]  ⁵ tn Or “to boast about us.”

[5:12]  ⁶ tn Or “who boast.”

[5:12]  ⁷ tn Or “in what is seen.”

[10:8]  ⁸ tn The word “us” is not in the Greek text but is supplied. Indirect objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, and must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[10:8]  ⁹ tn Grk “I will not be put to shame,” “I will not be ashamed.” The words “of doing so” are supplied to clarify for the reader that Paul will not be ashamed of boasting somewhat more about the authority the Lord gave him (beginning of v. 8).

[10:12]  ¹⁰ tn Or “they are unintelligent.”

[12:11]  ¹¹ tn Or “I am in no way inferior.”

[12:19]  ¹² tc The reading “all this time” (πάλαι, palai) is found in several early and important Alexandrian and Western witnesses including א* A B F G 0243 6 33 81 365 1175 1739 1881 lat; the reading πάλιν (palin, “again”) is read by א² D Ψ 0278 Ï sy bo; the reading οὐ πάλαι (ou palai) is read by Ì⁴⁶, making the question even more emphatic. The reading of Ì⁴⁶ could only have arisen from πάλαι. The reading πάλιν is significantly easier (“are you once again thinking that we are defending ourselves?”), for it softens Paul’s tone considerably. It thus seems to be a motivated reading and cannot easily explain the rise of πάλαι. Further, πάλαι has considerable support in the Alexandrian and Western witnesses, rendering it virtually certain as the original wording here.

[12:19]  ¹³ tn Or “for your strengthening”; Grk “for your edification.”

[12:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Boasting is necessary.”

[3:10]  ¹⁵ 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).

[4:15]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[4:15]  ¹⁷ tc If the name Nympha is accented with a circumflex on the ultima (Νυμφᾶν, Numfan), then it refers to a man; if it receives an acute accent on the penult (Νύμφαν), the reference is to a woman. Scribes that considered Nympha to be a man’s name had the corresponding masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ here (autou, “his”; so D [F G] Ψ Ï), while those who saw Nympha as a woman read the feminine αὐτῆς here (auth", “her”; B 0278 6 1739^[*^] 1881 sa). Several mss (א A C P 075 33 81 104 326 1175 2464 bo) have αὐτῶν (autwn, “their”), perhaps because of indecisiveness on the gender of Nympha, perhaps because they included ἀδελφούς (adelfou", here translated “brothers and sisters”) as part of the referent. (Perhaps because accents were not part of the original text, scribes were particularly confused here.) The harder reading is certainly αὐτῆς, and thus Nympha should be considered a woman.

[4:15]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the church in her house.” The meaning is that Paul sends greetings to the church that meets at Nympha’s house.

[1:1]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.