Acts 15:36

Paul and Barnabas Part Company

15:36 After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s return ¹  and visit the brothers in every town where we proclaimed the word of the Lord ²  to see how they are doing.” ³ 

Acts 15:40-41

15:40 but Paul chose Silas and set out, commended ⁴  to the grace of the Lord by the brothers and sisters. ⁵  15:41 He passed through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening ⁶  the churches.

Acts 18:23

18:23 After he spent ⁷  some time there, Paul left and went through the region of Galatia ⁸  and Phrygia, ⁹  strengthening all the disciples.

Acts 20:2

20:2 After he had gone through those regions ¹⁰  and spoken many words of encouragement ¹¹  to the believers there, ¹²  he came to Greece, ¹³ 

Acts 20:18-35

20:18 When they arrived, he said to them, “You yourselves know how I lived ¹⁴  the whole time I was with you, from the first day I set foot ¹⁵  in the province of Asia, ¹⁶  20:19 serving the Lord with all humility ¹⁷  and with tears, and with the trials that happened to me because of the plots ¹⁸  of the Jews. 20:20 You know that I did not hold back from proclaiming ¹⁹  to you anything that would be helpful, ²⁰  and from teaching you publicly ²¹  and from house to house, 20:21 testifying ²²  to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus. ²³  20:22 And now, ²⁴  compelled ²⁵  by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem ²⁶  without knowing what will happen to me there, ²⁷  20:23 except ²⁸  that the Holy Spirit warns ²⁹  me in town after town ³⁰  that ³¹  imprisonment ³²  and persecutions ³³  are waiting for me. 20:24 But I do not consider my life ³⁴  worth anything ³⁵  to myself, so that ³⁶  I may finish my task ³⁷  and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news ³⁸  of God’s grace.

20:25 “And now ³⁹  I know that none ⁴⁰  of you among whom I went around proclaiming the kingdom ⁴¹  will see me ⁴²  again. 20:26 Therefore I declare ⁴³  to you today that I am innocent ⁴⁴  of the blood of you all. ⁴⁵  20:27 For I did not hold back from ⁴⁶  announcing ⁴⁷  to you the whole purpose ⁴⁸  of God. 20:28 Watch out for ⁴⁹  yourselves and for all the flock of which ⁵⁰  the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, ⁵¹  to shepherd the church of God ⁵²  that he obtained ⁵³  with the blood of his own Son. ⁵⁴  20:29 I know that after I am gone ⁵⁵  fierce wolves ⁵⁶  will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 20:30 Even from among your own group ⁵⁷  men ⁵⁸  will arise, teaching perversions of the truth ⁵⁹  to draw the disciples away after them. 20:31 Therefore be alert, ⁶⁰  remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning ⁶¹  each one of you with tears. 20:32 And now I entrust ⁶²  you to God and to the message ⁶³  of his grace. This message ⁶⁴  is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 20:33 I have desired ⁶⁵  no one’s silver or gold or clothing. 20:34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine ⁶⁶  provided for my needs and the needs of those who were with me. 20:35 By all these things, ⁶⁷  I have shown you that by working in this way we must help ⁶⁸  the weak, ⁶⁹  and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” ⁷⁰ 

Romans 1:14

1:14 I am a debtor ⁷¹  both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.

Romans 11:13

11:13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,

Romans 15:16

15:16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. I serve ⁷²  the gospel of God ⁷³  like a priest, so that the Gentiles may become an acceptable offering, ⁷⁴  sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 16:4

16:4 who risked their own necks for my life. Not only I, but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

Colossians 2:1

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, ⁷⁵  and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. ⁷⁶ 

[15:36]  ¹ tn Grk “Returning let us visit.” The participle ἐπιστρέψαντες (epistreyante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[15:36]  ² tn See the note on the phrase “word of the Lord” in v. 35.

[15:36]  ³ tn BDAG 422 s.v. ἔχω 10.b has “how they are” for this phrase.

[15:40]  ⁴ tn Or “committed.” BDAG 762 s.v. παραδίδωμι 2 gives “be commended by someone to the grace of the Lord” as the meaning for this phrase, although “give over” and “commit” are listed as alternatives for this category.

[15:40]  ⁵ tn Grk “by the brothers.” Here it it is highly probable that the entire congregation is in view, not just men, so the translation “brothers and sisters” has been used for the plural ἀδελφῶν (adelfwn),.

[15:41]  ⁶ sn Strengthening. See Acts 14:22; 15:32; 18:23.

[18:23]  ⁷ tn Grk “Having spent”; the participle ποιήσας (poihsas) is taken temporally.

[18:23]  ⁸ sn Galatia refers to either (1) the region of the old kingdom of Galatia in the central part of Asia Minor, or (2) the Roman province of Galatia, whose principal cities in the 1st century were Ancyra and Pisidian Antioch. The exact extent and meaning of this area has been a subject of considerable controversy in modern NT studies.

[18:23]  ⁹ sn Phrygia was a district in central Asia Minor west of Pisidia. See Acts 16:6.

[20:2]  ¹⁰ tn BDAG 633 s.v. μέρος 1.b.γ gives the meanings “the parts (of a geographical area), region, district,” but the use of “district” in this context probably implies too much specificity.

[20:2]  ¹¹ tn Grk “and encouraging them with many words.” The participle παρακαλέσας (parakalesa", “encouraging”) has been translated by the phrase “spoken…words of encouragement” because the formal equivalent is awkward in contemporary English.

[20:2]  ¹² tn Grk “[to] them”; the referent (the believers there) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:2]  ¹³ tn In popular usage the term translated “Greece” here could also refer to the Roman province officially known as Achaia (BDAG 318 s.v. ῾Ελλάς).

[20:18]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “You yourselves know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time.” This could be understood to mean “how I stayed with you the whole time,” but the following verses make it clear that Paul’s lifestyle while with the Ephesians is in view here. Thus the translation “how I lived the whole time I was with you” makes this clear.

[20:18]  ¹⁵ tn Or “I arrived.” BDAG 367 s.v. ἐπιβαίνω 2, “set foot in…εἰς τ. ᾿Ασίαν set foot in Asia Ac 20:18.” However, L&N 15.83 removes the idiom: “you know that since the first day that I came to Asia.”

[20:18]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Asia”; see the note on this word in v. 16.

[20:19]  ¹⁷ sn On humility see 2 Cor 10:1; 11:7; 1 Thess 2:6; Col 3:12; Eph 4:2; Phil 2:3-11.

[20:19]  ¹⁸ sn These plots are mentioned in Acts 9:24; 20:13.

[20:20]  ¹⁹ tn Or “declaring.”

[20:20]  ²⁰ tn Or “profitable.” BDAG 960 s.v. συμφέρω 2.b.α has “τὰ συμφέροντα what advances your best interests or what is good for you Ac 20:20,” but the broader meaning (s.v. 2, “to be advantageous, help, confer a benefit, be profitable/useful”) is equally possible in this context.

[20:20]  ²¹ tn Or “openly.”

[20:21]  ²² tn BDAG 233 s.v. διαμαρτύρομαι 1 has “testify of, bear witness to (orig. under oath)…of repentance to Judeans and Hellenes Ac 20:21.”

[20:21]  ²³ tc Several mss, including some of the more important ones (Ì⁷⁴ א Α C [D] E 33 36 323 945 1175 1241 1505 1739 pm and a number of versions), read Χριστόν (Criston, “Christ”) at the end of this verse. This word is lacking in B H L P Ψ 614 pm. Although the inclusion is supported by many earlier and better mss, internal evidence is on the side of the omission: In Acts, both “Lord Jesus” and “Lord Jesus Christ” occur, though between 16:31 and the end of the book “Lord Jesus Christ” appears only in 28:31, perhaps as a kind of climactic assertion. Thus, the shorter reading is to be preferred.

[20:22]  ²⁴ tn Grk “And now, behold.” Here ἰδού (idou) has not been translated.

[20:22]  ²⁵ tn Grk “bound.”

[20:22]  ²⁶ sn This journey to Jerusalem suggests a parallel between Paul and Jesus, since the “Jerusalem journey” motif figures so prominently in Luke’s Gospel (9:51-19:44).

[20:22]  ²⁷ tn BDAG 965 s.v. συναντάω 2 has τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ συναντήσοντα ἐμοὶ μὴ εἰδώς without knowing what will happen to me there Ac 20:22.”

[20:23]  ²⁸ tn BDAG 826 s.v. πλήν 1.d has “πλὴν ὅτι except that…Ac 20:23.”

[20:23]  ²⁹ tn The verb διαμαρτύρομαι (diamarturomai) can mean “warn” (BDAG 233 s.v. διαμαρτύρομαι 2 has “solemnly urge, exhort, warn…w. dat. of pers. addressed”), and this meaning better fits the context here, although BDAG categorizes Acts 20:23 under the meaning “testify of, bear witness to” (s.v. 1).

[20:23]  ³⁰ tn The Greek text here reads κατὰ πόλιν (kata polin).

[20:23]  ³¹ tn Grk “saying that,” but the participle λέγον (legon) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[20:23]  ³² tn Grk “bonds.”

[20:23]  ³³ tn Or “troubles,” “suffering.” See Acts 19:21; 21:4, 11.

[20:24]  ³⁴ tn Grk “soul.”

[20:24]  ³⁵ tn Or “I do not consider my life worth a single word.” According to BDAG 599 s.v. λόγος 1.a.α, “In the textually uncertain pass. Ac 20:24 the text as it stands in N., οὐδενὸς λόγου (v.l. λόγον) ποιοῦμαι τὴν ψυχὴν τιμίαν, may well mean: I do not consider my life worth a single word (cp. λόγου ἄξιον [ἄξιος 1a] and our ‘worth mention’).”

[20:24]  ³⁶ tn BDAG 1106 s.v. ὡς 9 describes this use as “a final particle, expressing intention/purpose, with a view to, in order to.”

[20:24]  ³⁷ tn Grk “course.” See L&N 42.26, “(a figurative extension of meaning of δρόμος ‘race’) a task or function involving continuity, serious, effort, and possibly obligation – ‘task, mission’…Ac 20:24.” On this Pauline theme see also Phil 1:19-26; Col 1:24; 2 Tim 4:6-7.

[20:24]  ³⁸ tn Or “to the gospel.”

[20:25]  ³⁹ tn Grk “And now, behold.” Here ἰδού (idou) has not been translated.

[20:25]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “all of you…will not see.” Greek handles its negation somewhat differently from English, and the translation follows English grammatical conventions.

[20:25]  ⁴¹ sn Note how Paul’s usage of the expression proclaiming the kingdom is associated with (and intertwined with) his testifying to the good news of God’s grace in v. 24. For Paul the two concepts were interrelated.

[20:25]  ⁴² tn Grk “will see my face” (an idiom for seeing someone in person).

[20:26]  ⁴³ tn Or “testify.”

[20:26]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “clean, pure,” thus “guiltless” (BDAG 489 s.v. καθαρός 3.a).

[20:26]  ⁴⁵ tn That is, “that if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible” (an idiom). According to L&N 33.223, the meaning of the phrase “that I am innocent of the blood of all of you” is “that if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible.” However, due to the length of this phrase and its familiarity to many modern English readers, the translation was kept closer to formal equivalence in this case. The word “you” is not in the Greek text, but is implied; Paul is addressing the Ephesian congregation (in the person of its elders) in both v. 25 and 27.

[20:27]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “did not avoid.” BDAG 1041 s.v. ὑποστέλλω 2.b has “shrink from, avoid implying fear…οὐ γὰρ ὑπεστειλάμην τοῦ μὴ ἀναγγεῖλαι I did not shrink from proclaiming Ac 20:27”; L&N 13.160 has “to hold oneself back from doing something, with the implication of some fearful concern – ‘to hold back from, to shrink from, to avoid’…‘for I have not held back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God’ Ac 20:27.”

[20:27]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “proclaiming,” “declaring.”

[20:27]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “plan.”

[20:28]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “Be on your guard for” (cf. v. 29). Paul completed his responsibility to the Ephesians with this warning.

[20:28]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “in which.”

[20:28]  ⁵¹ tn Or “guardians.” BDAG 379-80 s.v. ἐπίσκοπος 2 states, “The term was taken over in Christian communities in ref. to one who served as overseer or supervisor, with special interest in guarding the apostolic tradition…Ac 20:28.” This functional term describes the role of the elders (see v. 17). They were to guard and shepherd the congregation.

[20:28]  ⁵² tc The reading “of God” (τοῦ θεοῦ, tou qeou) is found in א B 614 1175 1505 al vg sy; other witnesses have “of the Lord” (τοῦ κυρίου, tou kuriou) here (so Ì⁷⁴ A C* D E Ψ 33 1739 al co), while the majority of the later minuscule mss conflate these two into “of the Lord and God” (τοῦ κυρίου καὶ [τοῦ] θεοῦ, tou kuriou kai [tou] qeou). Although the evidence is evenly balanced between the first two readings, τοῦ θεοῦ is decidedly superior on internal grounds. The final prepositional phrase of this verse, διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἰδίου (dia tou {aimato" tou idiou), could be rendered “through his own blood” or “through the blood of his own.” In the latter translation, the object that “own” modifies must be supplied (see tn below for discussion). But this would not be entirely clear to scribes; those who supposed that ἰδίου modified αἵματος would be prone to alter “God” to “Lord” to avoid the inference that God had blood. In a similar way, later scribes would be prone to conflate the two titles, thereby affirming the deity (with the construction τοῦ κυρίου καὶ θεοῦ following the Granville Sharp rule and referring to a single person [see ExSyn 272, 276-77, 290]) and substitutionary atonement of Christ. For these reasons, τοῦ θεοῦ best explains the rise of the other readings and should be considered authentic.

[20:28]  ⁵³ tn Or “acquired.”

[20:28]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “with his own blood”; Grk “with the blood of his own.” The genitive construction could be taken in two ways: (1) as an attributive genitive (second attributive position) meaning “his own blood”; or (2) as a possessive genitive, “with the blood of his own.” In this case the referent is the Son, and the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. See further C. F. DeVine, “The Blood of God,” CBQ 9 (1947): 381-408.

[20:29]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “after my departure.”

[20:29]  ⁵⁶ tn That is, people like fierce wolves. See BDAG 167-68 s.v. βαρύς 4 on the term translated “fierce.” The battle that will follow would be a savage one.

[20:30]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “from among yourselves.”

[20:30]  ⁵⁸ tn The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only rarely is used in a generic sense to refer to both males and females. Since Paul is speaking to the Ephesian elders at this point and there is nothing in the context to suggest women were included in that group (“from among your own group”), it is most likely Paul was not predicting that these false teachers would include women.

[20:30]  ⁵⁹ tn Grk “speaking crooked things”; BDAG 237 s.v. διαστρέφω 2 has “λαλεῖν διεστραμμένα teach perversions (of the truth) Ac 20:30.”

[20:31]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “be watchful.”

[20:31]  ⁶¹ tn Or “admonishing.”

[20:32]  ⁶² tn Or “commend.” BDAG 772 s.v. παρατίθημι 3.b has “τινά τινι entrust someone to the care or protection of someone…Of divine protection παρέθεντο αὐτοὺς τῷ κυρίῳ Ac 14:23; cp. 20:32.”

[20:32]  ⁶³ tn Grk “word.”

[20:32]  ⁶⁴ tn Grk “the message of his grace, which.” The phrase τῷ δυναμένῳ οἰκοδομῆσαι… (tw dunamenw oikodomhsai…) refers to τῷ λόγω (tw logw), not τῆς χάριτος (ths caritos); in English it could refer to either “the message” or “grace,” but in Greek, because of agreement in gender, the referent can only be “the message.” To make this clear, a new sentence was begun in the translation and the referent “the message” was repeated at the beginning of this new sentence.

[20:33]  ⁶⁵ tn Traditionally, “coveted.” BDAG 371 s.v. ἐπιθυμέω 1 has “to have a strong desire to do or secure someth., desire, long for w. gen. of the thing desired…silver, gold, clothing Ac 20:33.” The traditional term “covet” is not in common usage and difficult for many modern English readers to understand. The statement affirms Paul’s integrity. He was not doing this for personal financial gain.

[20:34]  ⁶⁶ tn The words “of mine” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to clarify whose hands Paul is referring to.

[20:35]  ⁶⁷ sn The expression By all these things means “In everything I did.”

[20:35]  ⁶⁸ tn Or “must assist.”

[20:35]  ⁶⁹ tn Or “the sick.” See Eph 4:28.

[20:35]  ⁷⁰ sn The saying is similar to Matt 10:8. Service and generosity should be abundant. Interestingly, these exact words are not found in the gospels. Paul must have known of this saying from some other source.

[1:14]  ⁷¹ tn Or “obligated.”

[15:16]  ⁷² tn Grk “serving.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text, but in keeping with contemporary English style, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[15:16]  ⁷³ tn The genitive in the phrase τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ (to euangelion tou qeou, “the gospel of God”) could be translated as either a subjective genitive (“the gospel which God brings”) or an objective genitive (“the gospel about God”). Either is grammatically possible. This is possibly an instance of a plenary genitive (see ExSyn 119-21; M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek, §§36-39). If so, an interplay between the two concepts is intended: The gospel which God brings is in fact the gospel about himself.

[15:16]  ⁷⁴ tn Grk “so that the offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable.” This could be understood to refer to an offering belonging to the Gentiles (a possessive genitive) or made by the Gentiles (subjective genitive), but more likely the phrase should be understood as an appositive genitive, with the Gentiles themselves consisting of the offering (so J. D. G. Dunn, Romans [WBC 38], 2:860). The latter view is reflected in the translation “so that the Gentiles may become an acceptable offering.”

[2:1]  ⁷⁵ tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”

[2:1]  ⁷⁶ tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”