Discovery BoxActs 4:23-31
Context4:23 When they were released, Peter and John 1 went to their fellow believers 2 and reported everything the high priests and the elders had said to them. 4:24 When they heard this, they raised their voices to God with one mind 3 and said, “Master of all, 4 you who made the heaven, the earth, 5 the sea, and everything that is in them, 4:25 who said by the Holy Spirit through 6 your servant David our forefather, 7
and the peoples plot foolish 10 things?
4:26 The kings of the earth stood together, 11
and the rulers assembled together,
against the Lord and against his 12 Christ.’ 13
4:27 “For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against 14 your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, 15 4:28 to do as much as your power 16 and your plan 17 had decided beforehand 18 would happen. 4:29 And now, Lord, pay attention to 19 their threats, and grant 20 to your servants 21 to speak your message 22 with great courage, 23 4:30 while you extend your hand to heal, and to bring about miraculous signs 24 and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 4:31 When 25 they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, 26 and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak 27 the word of God 28 courageously. 29
Acts 4:2
Context4:2 angry 30 because they were teaching the people and announcing 31 in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
Colossians 1:3-7
Context1:3 We always 32 give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 1:4 since 33 we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints. 1:5 Your faith and love have arisen 34 from the hope laid up 35 for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel 36 1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel 37 is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing 38 among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. 1:7 You learned the gospel 39 from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave 40 – a 41 faithful minister of Christ on our 42 behalf –
Ephesians 3:13
Context3:13 For this reason I ask you 43 not to lose heart because of what I am suffering for you, 44 which 45 is your glory. 46
Ephesians 6:19-20
Context6:19 Pray 47 for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak 48 – that I may confidently make known 49 the mystery of the gospel, 6:20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak.
Colossians 4:4
Context4:4 Pray that I may make it known as I should. 50
Colossians 4:1
Context4:1 Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.
Colossians 2:2
Context2:2 My goal is that 51 their hearts, having been knit together 52 in love, may be encouraged, and that 53 they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 54
[4:23] 1 tn Grk “they”; the referents (Peter and John) have been specified in the translation for clarity, since a new topic begins in v. 23 and the last specific reference to Peter and John in the Greek text is in 4:19.
[4:23] 2 tn Grk “to their own [people].” In context this phrase is most likely a reference to other believers rather than simply their own families and/or homes, since the group appears to act with one accord in the prayer that follows in v. 24. At the literary level, this phrase suggests how Jews were now splitting into two camps, pro-Jesus and anti-Jesus.
[4:24] 3 sn With one mind. Compare Acts 1:14.
[4:24] 5 tn Grk “and the earth, and the sea,” but καί (kai) has not been translated before “the earth” and “the sea” since contemporary English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.
[4:25] 6 tn Grk “by the mouth of” (an idiom).
[4:25] 7 tn Or “ancestor”; Grk “father.”
[4:25] 9 sn The Greek word translated rage includes not only anger but opposition, both verbal and nonverbal. See L&N 88.185.
[4:25] 10 tn Or “futile”; traditionally, “vain.”
[4:26] 11 tn Traditionally, “The kings of the earth took their stand.”
[4:26] 12 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
[4:26] 13 sn A quotation from Ps 2:1-2.
[4:27] 14 sn The application of Ps 2:1-2 is that Jews and Gentiles are opposing Jesus. The surprise of the application is that Jews are now found among the enemies of God’s plan.
[4:27] 15 sn A wordplay on “Christ,” v. 26, which means “one who has been anointed.”
[4:28] 16 tn Grk “hand,” here a metaphor for God’s strength or power or authority.
[4:28] 17 tn Or “purpose,” “will.”
[4:28] 18 tn Or “had predestined.” Since the term “predestine” is something of a technical theological term, not in wide usage in contemporary English, the translation “decide beforehand” was used instead (see L&N 30.84). God’s direction remains as the major theme.
[4:29] 19 tn Or “Lord, take notice of.”
[4:29] 20 sn Grant to your servants to speak your message with great courage. The request is not for a stop to persecution or revenge on the opponents, but for boldness (great courage) to carry out the mission of proclaiming the message of what God is doing through Jesus.
[4:29] 21 tn Grk “slaves.” See the note on the word “servants” in 2:18.
[4:29] 23 tn Or “with all boldness.”
[4:30] 24 tn The miraculous nature of these signs is implied in the context.
[4:31] 25 tn Grk “And when.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
[4:31] 26 sn The place where they were assembled…was shaken. This signifies that God is in their midst. See Acts 16:26; Exod 19:18; Ps 114:7; Isa 6:4.
[4:31] 27 tn The imperfect verb has been translated as an ingressive imperfect (“began to speak”). Logical sequencing suggests that their speaking began after they were filled with the Spirit. The prayer was answered immediately.
[4:31] 28 tn Or “speak God’s message.”
[4:31] 29 tn Or “with boldness.”
[4:2] 30 tn Or “greatly annoyed,” “provoked.”
[1:3] 32 tn The adverb πάντοτε (pantote) is understood to modify the indicative εὐχαριστοῦμεν (eucaristoumen) because it precedes περὶ ὑμῶν (peri Jumwn) which probably modifies the indicative and not the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi). But see 1:9 where the same expression occurs and περὶ ὑμῶν modifies the participle “praying” (προσευχόμενοι).
[1:4] 33 tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).
[1:5] 34 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] 35 tn BDAG 113 s.v. ἀπόκειμαι 2 renders ἀποκειμένην (apokeimenhn) with the expression “reserved” in this verse.
[1:5] 36 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] 37 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] 38 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] 39 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] 40 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] 41 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] 42 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.
[3:13] 43 tn Grk “I ask.” No direct object is given in Greek, leaving room for the possibility that either “God” (since the verb is often associated with prayer) or “you” is in view.
[3:13] 44 tn Grk “my trials on your behalf.”
[3:13] 45 sn Which. The antecedent (i.e., the word or concept to which this clause refers back) may be either “what I am suffering for you” or the larger concept of the recipients not losing heart over Paul’s suffering for them. The relative pronoun “which” is attracted to the predicate nominative “glory” in its gender and number (feminine singular), making the antecedent ambiguous. Paul’s suffering for them could be viewed as their glory (cf. Col 1:24 for a parallel) in that his suffering has brought about their salvation, but if so his suffering must be viewed as more than his present imprisonment in Rome; it would be a general description of his ministry overall (cf. 2 Cor 11:23-27). The other option is that the author is implicitly arguing that the believers have continued to have courage in the midst of his trials (as not to lose heart suggests) and that this is their glory. Philippians 1:27-28 offers an interesting parallel: The believers’ courage in the face of adversity is a sign of their salvation.
[3:13] 46 tn Or “Or who is your glory?” The relative pronoun ἥτις (Jhti"), if divided differently, would become ἤ τίς (h ti"). Since there were no word breaks in the original
[6:19] 47 tn To avoid a lengthy, convoluted sentence in English, the Greek sentence was broken up at this point and the verb “pray” was inserted in the English translation to pick up the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseuxomenoi, “praying”) in v. 18.
[6:19] 48 tn Grk “that a word may be given to me in the opening of my mouth.” Here “word” (λόγος, logo") is used in the sense of “message.”
[6:19] 49 tn The infinitive γνωρίσαι (gnwrisai, “to make known”) is functioning epexegetically to further explain what the author means by the preceding phrase “that I may be given the message when I begin to speak.”
[4:4] 50 tn The phrase begins with the ἵνα (Jina) clause and is subordinate to the imperative προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite) in v. 2. The reference to the idea that Paul must make it known indicates that this clause is probably best viewed as purpose and not content, like the ἵνα of v. 3. It is the second purpose stated in the context; the first is expressed through the infinitive λαλῆσαι (lalhsai) in v. 3. The term “pray” at the beginning of the sentence is intended to pick up the imperative of v. 3.
[2:2] 51 tn Verse two begins a subordinate ἵνα (Jina) clause which was divided up into two sentences for the sake of clarity in English. Thus the phrase “My goal is that” is an attempt to reflect in the translation the purpose expressed through the ἵνα clauses.
[2:2] 52 tn BDAG 956 s.v. συμβιβάζω 1.b reads “unite, knit together.” Some commentators take the verb as a reference to instruction, “instructed in love.” See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 93.
[2:2] 53 tn The phrase “and that” translates the first εἰς (eis) clause of v. 2 and reflects the second goal of Paul’s striving and struggle for the Colossians – the first is “encouragement” and the second is “full assurance.”
[2:2] 54 tc There are at least a dozen variants here, almost surely generated by the unusual wording τοῦ θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ (tou qeou, Cristou, “of God, Christ”; so Ì46 B Hil). Scribes would be prone to conform this to more common Pauline expressions such as “of God, who is in Christ” (33), “of God, the Father of Christ” (א* A C 048vid 1175 bo), and “of the God and Father of Christ” (א2 Ψ 075 0278 365 1505 pc). Even though the external support for the wording τοῦ θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ is hardly overwhelming, it clearly best explains the rise of the other readings and should thus be regarded as authentic.
