Acts 15:14

15:14 Simeon ¹  has explained ²  how God first concerned himself ³  to select ⁴  from among the Gentiles ⁵  a people for his name.

Romans 8:29-30

8:29 because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son ⁶  would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ⁷  8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

Ephesians 2:1-5

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ⁸  dead ⁹  in your transgressions and sins, 2:2 in which ¹⁰  you formerly lived ¹¹  according to this world’s present path, ¹²  according to the ruler of the kingdom ¹³  of the air, the ruler of ¹⁴  the spirit ¹⁵  that is now energizing ¹⁶  the sons of disobedience, ¹⁷  2:3 among whom ¹⁸  all of us ¹⁹  also ²⁰  formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath ²¹  even as the rest… ²² 

2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 2:5 even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! ²³  –

Ephesians 2:15-18

2:15 when he nullified ²⁴  in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man ²⁵  out of two, ²⁶  thus making peace, 2:16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. ²⁷  2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, 2:18 so that ²⁸  through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Ephesians 2:2

2:2 in which ²⁹  you formerly lived ³⁰  according to this world’s present path, ³¹  according to the ruler of the kingdom ³²  of the air, the ruler of ³³  the spirit ³⁴  that is now energizing ³⁵  the sons of disobedience, ³⁶ 

Ephesians 2:13

2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ³⁷ 

Titus 3:3-5

3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another. 3:4 ³⁸  But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 3:5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit,

[15:14]  ¹ sn Simeon is a form of the apostle Peter’s Aramaic name. James uses Peter’s “Jewish” name here.

[15:14]  ² tn Or “reported,” “described.”

[15:14]  ³ tn BDAG 378 s.v. ἐπισκέπτομαι 3 translates this phrase in Acts 15:14, “God concerned himself about winning a people fr. among the nations.”

[15:14]  ⁴ tn Grk “to take,” but in the sense of selecting or choosing (accompanied by the preposition ἐκ [ek] plus a genitive specifying the group selected from) see Heb 5:1; also BDAG 584 s.v. λαμβάνω 6.

[15:14]  ⁵ sn In the Greek text the expression “from among the Gentiles” is in emphatic position.

[8:29]  ⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God’s Son) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:29]  ⁷ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[2:1]  ⁸ tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

[2:1]  ⁹ sn Chapter 2 starts off with a participle, although you were dead, that is left dangling. The syntax in Greek for vv. 1-3 constitutes one incomplete sentence, though it seems to have been done intentionally. The dangling participle leaves the readers in suspense while they wait for the solution (in v. 4) to their spiritual dilemma.

[2:2]  ¹⁰ sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ¹¹ tn Grk “walked.”

[2:2]  ¹² tn Or possibly “Aeon.”

[2:2]  ¹³ tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ¹⁵ sn The ruler of the kingdom of the air is also the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. Although several translations regard the ruler to be the same as the spirit, this is unlikely since the cases in Greek are different (ruler is accusative and spirit is genitive). To get around this, some have suggested that the genitive for spirit is a genitive of apposition. However, the semantics of the genitive of apposition are against such an interpretation (cf. ExSyn 100).

[2:2]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ¹⁷ sn Sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” However, it also contains a subtle allusion to vv. 4-10: Some of those sons of disobedience have become sons of God.

[2:3]  ¹⁸ sn Among whom. The relative pronoun phrase that begins v. 3 is identical, except for gender, to the one that begins v. 2 (ἐν αἵς [en Jais], ἐν οἵς [en Jois]). By the structure, the author is building an argument for our hopeless condition: We lived in sin and we lived among sinful people. Our doom looked to be sealed as well in v. 2: Both the external environment (kingdom of the air) and our internal motivation and attitude (the spirit that is now energizing) were under the devil’s thumb (cf. 2 Cor 4:4).

[2:3]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “we all.”

[2:3]  ²⁰ tn Or “even.”

[2:3]  ²¹ sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”

[2:3]  ²² sn Eph 2:1-3. The translation of vv. 1-3 is very literal, even to the point of retaining the awkward syntax of the original. See note on the word dead in 2:1.

[2:5]  ²³ tn Or “by grace you have been saved.” The perfect tense in Greek connotes both completed action (“you have been saved”) and continuing results (“you are saved”).

[2:15]  ²⁴ tn Or “rendered inoperative.” This is a difficult text to translate because it is not easy to find an English term which communicates well the essence of the author’s meaning, especially since legal terminology is involved. Many other translations use the term “abolish” (so NRSV, NASB, NIV), but this term implies complete destruction which is not the author’s meaning here. The verb καταργέω (katargew) can readily have the meaning “to cause someth. to lose its power or effectiveness” (BDAG 525 s.v. 2, where this passage is listed), and this meaning fits quite naturally here within the author’s legal mindset. A proper English term which communicates this well is “nullify” since this word carries the denotation of “making something legally null and void.” This is not, however, a common English word. An alternate term like “rendered inoperative [or ineffective]” is also accurate but fairly inelegant. For this reason, the translation retains the term “nullify”; it is the best choice of the available options, despite its problems.

[2:15]  ²⁵ tn In this context the author is not referring to a new individual, but instead to a new corporate entity united in Christ (cf. BDAG 497 s.v. καινός 3.b: “All the Christians together appear as κ. ἄνθρωπος Eph 2:15”). This is clear from the comparison made between the Gentiles and Israel in the immediately preceding verses and the assertion in v. 14 that Christ “made both groups into one.” This is a different metaphor than the “new man” of Eph 4:24; in that passage the “new man” refers to the new life a believer has through a relationship to Christ.

[2:15]  ²⁶ tn Grk “in order to create the two into one new man.” Eph 2:14-16 is one sentence in Greek. A new sentence was started here in the translation for clarity since contemporary English is less tolerant of extended sentences.

[2:16]  ²⁷ tn Grk “by killing the hostility in himself.”

[2:18]  ²⁸ tn Or “for.” BDAG gives the consecutive ὅτι (Joti) as a possible category of NT usage (BDAG 732 s.v. 5.c).

[2:2]  ²⁹ sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ³⁰ tn Grk “walked.”

[2:2]  ³¹ tn Or possibly “Aeon.”

[2:2]  ³² tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ³³ tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ³⁴ sn The ruler of the kingdom of the air is also the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. Although several translations regard the ruler to be the same as the spirit, this is unlikely since the cases in Greek are different (ruler is accusative and spirit is genitive). To get around this, some have suggested that the genitive for spirit is a genitive of apposition. However, the semantics of the genitive of apposition are against such an interpretation (cf. ExSyn 100).

[2:2]  ³⁵ tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ³⁶ sn Sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” However, it also contains a subtle allusion to vv. 4-10: Some of those sons of disobedience have become sons of God.

[2:13]  ³⁷ tn Or “have come near in the blood of Christ.”

[3:4]  ³⁸ tn Verses 4-7 are set as poetry in NA²⁶/NA²⁷. These verses probably constitute the referent of the expression “this saying” in v. 8.