2 Corinthians 4:2

4:2 But we have rejected ¹  shameful hidden deeds, ²  not behaving ³  with deceptiveness ⁴  or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.

2 Corinthians 6:4-10

6:4 But as God’s servants, ⁵  we have commended ourselves in every way, ⁶  with great endurance, in persecutions, ⁷  in difficulties, in distresses, 6:5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, ⁸  in troubles, ⁹  in sleepless nights, in hunger, 6:6 by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by benevolence, by the Holy Spirit, ¹⁰  by genuine ¹¹  love, 6:7 by truthful ¹²  teaching, ¹³  by the power of God, with weapons of righteousness both for the right hand and for the left, ¹⁴  6:8 through glory and dishonor, through slander and praise; regarded as impostors, ¹⁵  and yet true; 6:9 as unknown, and yet well-known; as dying and yet – see! – we continue to live; as those who are scourged ¹⁶  and yet not executed; 6:10 as sorrowful, but always rejoicing, as poor, but making many rich, as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

2 Corinthians 11:4

11:4 For if someone comes and proclaims ¹⁷  another Jesus different from the one we proclaimed, ¹⁸  or if you receive a different spirit than the one you received, ¹⁹  or a different gospel than the one you accepted, ²⁰  you put up with it well enough! ²¹ 

2 Corinthians 11:6

11:6 And even if I am unskilled ²²  in speaking, yet I am certainly not so in knowledge. Indeed, we have made this plain to you in everything in every way.

Romans 15:18-19

15:18 For I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in order to bring about the obedience ²³  of the Gentiles, by word and deed, 15:19 in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem even as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

Romans 15:1

Exhortation for the Strong to Help the Weak

15:1 But we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not just please ourselves. ²⁴ 

Colossians 1:5-7

1:5 Your faith and love have arisen ²⁵  from the hope laid up ²⁶  for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel ²⁷  1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel ²⁸  is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing ²⁹  among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. 1:7 You learned the gospel ³⁰  from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave ³¹  – a ³²  faithful minister of Christ on our ³³  behalf –

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ³⁴  brothers and sisters ³⁵  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ³⁶  from God our Father! ³⁷ 

Colossians 1:18

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ³⁸  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ³⁹ 

[4:2]  ¹ tn L&N 13.156; the word can also mean “to assert opposition to,” thus here “we have denounced” (L&N 33.220).

[4:2]  ² tn Grk “the hidden things [deeds] of shame”; here αἰσχύνης (aiscunh") has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[4:2]  ³ tn Or “not conducting ourselves”; Grk “not walking” (a common NT idiom for conduct, way of life, or behavior).

[4:2]  ⁴ tn Or “craftiness.”

[6:4]  ⁵ tn Or “ministers.”

[6:4]  ⁶ tn Or “we have commended ourselves by all things.”

[6:4]  ⁷ tn Or “in trouble and suffering.”

[6:5]  ⁸ tn Or “rebellions” (uprisings in open defiance of civil authority).

[6:5]  ⁹ tn Usually κόποις (kopois) has been translated as “labors” or “hard work,” but see Matt 26:10 where it means “trouble”; “distress” (L&N 22.7). In this context with so many other terms denoting suffering and difficulty, such a meaning is preferable.

[6:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “by holiness of spirit.”

[6:6]  ¹¹ tn Or “sincere.”

[6:7]  ¹² tn Grk “by the word of truth”; understanding ἀληθείας (alhqeias) as an attributive genitive (“truthful word”).

[6:7]  ¹³ tn Or “speech.” In this context it is more likely that λόγος (logos) refers to Paul’s message (thus “teaching”) than to his speech in general.

[6:7]  ¹⁴ tn The phrase “for the right hand and for the left” possibly refers to a combination of an offensive weapon (a sword for the right hand) and a defensive weapon (a shield for the left).

[6:8]  ¹⁵ tn Or “regarded as deceivers.”

[6:9]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “disciplined,” but in this context probably a reference to scourging prior to execution (yet the execution is not carried out).

[11:4]  ¹⁷ tn Or “preaches.”

[11:4]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “another Jesus whom we have not proclaimed.”

[11:4]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “a different spirit which you did not receive.”

[11:4]  ²⁰ tn Grk “a different gospel which you did not accept.”

[11:4]  ²¹ tn Or “you endure it very well.”

[11:6]  ²² sn Unskilled in speaking means not professionally trained as a rhetorician.

[15:18]  ²³ tn Grk “unto obedience.”

[15:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “and not please ourselves.” NT Greek negatives used in contrast like this are often not absolute, but relative: “not so much one as the other.”

[1:5]  ²⁵ tn Col 1:3-8 form one long sentence in the Greek text and have been divided at the end of v. 4 and v. 6 and within v. 6 for clarity, in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English toward shorter sentences. Thus the phrase “Your faith and love have arisen from the hope” is literally “because of the hope.” The perfect tense “have arisen” was chosen in the English to reflect the fact that the recipients of the letter had acquired this hope at conversion in the past, but that it still remains and motivates them to trust in Christ and to love one another.

[1:5]  ²⁶ tn BDAG 113 s.v. ἀπόκειμαι 2 renders ἀποκειμένην (apokeimenhn) with the expression “reserved” in this verse.

[1:5]  ²⁷ tn The term “the gospel” (τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, tou euangeliou) is in apposition to “the word of truth” (τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας, tw logw th" alhqeia") as indicated in the translation.

[1:6]  ²⁸ tn Grk “just as in the entire world it is bearing fruit.” The antecedent (“the gospel”) of the implied subject (“it”) of ἐστιν (estin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:6]  ²⁹ tn Though the participles are periphrastic with the present tense verb ἐστίν (estin), the presence of the temporal indicator “from the day” in the next clause indicates that this is a present tense that reaches into the past and should be translated as “has been bearing fruit and growing.” For a discussion of this use of the present tense, see ExSyn 519-20.

[1:7]  ³⁰ tn Or “learned it.” The Greek text simply has “you learned” without the reference to “the gospel,” but “the gospel” is supplied to clarify the sense of the clause. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[1:7]  ³¹ tn The Greek word translated “fellow slave” is σύνδουλος (sundoulo"); the σύν- prefix here denotes association. Though δοῦλος is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:7]  ³² tn The Greek text has “who (ὅς, Jos) is a faithful minister.” The above translation conveys the antecedent of the relative pronoun quite well and avoids the redundancy with the following substantival participle of v. 8, namely, “who told” (ὁ δηλώσας, Jo dhlwsa").

[1:7]  ³³ tc ‡ Judging by the superior witnesses for the first person pronoun ἡμῶν (Jhmwn, “us”; Ì⁴⁶ א* A B D* F G 326* 1505 al) vs. the second person pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “you”; found in א² C D¹ Ψ 075 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy co), ἡμῶν should be regarded as original. Although it is possible that ἡμῶν was an early alteration of ὑμῶν (either unintentionally, as dittography, since it comes seventeen letters after the previous ἡμῶν; or intentionally, to conform to the surrounding first person pronouns), this supposition is difficult to maintain in light of the varied and valuable witnesses for this reading. Further, the second person is both embedded in the verb ἐμάθετε (emaqete) and is explicit in v. 8 (ὑμῶν). Hence, the motivation to change to the first person pronoun is counterbalanced by such evidence. The second person pronoun may have been introduced unintentionally via homoioarcton with the ὑπέρ (Juper) that immediately precedes it. As well, the second person reading is somewhat harder for it seems to address Epaphras’ role only in relation to Paul and his colleagues, rather than in relation to the Colossians. Nevertheless, the decision must be based ultimately on external evidence (because the internal evidence can be variously interpreted), and this strongly supports ἡμῶν.

[1:2]  ³⁴ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ³⁵ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ³⁶ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ³⁷ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[1:18]  ³⁸ tn See the note on the term “firstborn” in 1:15. Here the reference to Jesus as the “firstborn from among the dead” seems to be arguing for a chronological priority, i.e., Jesus was the first to rise from the dead.

[1:18]  ³⁹ tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”