Acts 11:23

11:23 When ¹  he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain true ²  to the Lord with devoted hearts, ³ 

Acts 13:43

13:43 When the meeting of the synagogue ⁴  had broken up, ⁵  many of the Jews and God-fearing proselytes ⁶  followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and were persuading ⁷  them ⁸  to continue ⁹  in the grace of God.

John 8:31-32

Abraham’s Children and the Devil’s Children

8:31 Then Jesus said to those Judeans ¹⁰  who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, ¹¹  you are really ¹²  my disciples 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ¹³ 

John 15:4-6

15:4 Remain ¹⁴  in me, and I will remain in you. ¹⁵  Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, ¹⁶  unless it remains ¹⁷  in ¹⁸  the vine, so neither can you unless you remain ¹⁹  in me.

15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains ²⁰  in me – and I in him – bears ²¹  much fruit, ²²  because apart from me you can accomplish ²³  nothing. 15:6 If anyone does not remain ²⁴  in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, ²⁵  and are burned up. ²⁶ 

John 15:9-10

15:9 “Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; remain ²⁷  in my love. 15:10 If you obey ²⁸  my commandments, you will remain ²⁹  in my love, just as I have obeyed ³⁰  my Father’s commandments and remain ³¹  in his love.

Colossians 1:23

1:23 if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, ³²  without shifting ³³  from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.

Jude 1:3

Condemnation of the False Teachers

1:3 Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you ³⁴  about our common salvation, I now feel compelled ³⁵  instead to write to encourage ³⁶  you to contend earnestly ³⁷  for the faith ³⁸  that was once for all ³⁹  entrusted to the saints. ⁴⁰ 

Jude 1:20-21

1:20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, ⁴¹  1:21 maintain ⁴²  yourselves in the love of God, while anticipating ⁴³  the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life. ⁴⁴ 

[11:23]  ¹ tn Grk “Antioch, who when.” The relative pronoun was omitted and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.

[11:23]  ² tn BDAG 883 s.v. προσμένω 1.a.β has “remain true to the Lord” for προσμένειν (prosmenein) in this verse.

[11:23]  ³ tn Grk “with purpose of heart”; BDAG 869 s.v. πρόθεσις 2.a translates this phrase “purpose of heart, i.e. devotion” here.

[13:43]  ⁴ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[13:43]  ⁵ tn BDAG 607 s.v. λύω 3 has “λυθείσης τ. συναγωγῆς when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up Ac 13:43.”

[13:43]  ⁶ tn Normally the phrase σεβόμενοι τὸν θεόν (sebomenoi ton qeon) refers to Gentiles (“God-fearers”) who believed in God, attended the synagogue, and followed the Mosaic law to some extent, but stopped short of undergoing circumcision. BDAG 918 s.v. σέβω 1.b lists in this category references in Acts 16:14; 18:7; with σεβόμενοι alone, Acts 13:50; 17:4, 17; the phrase is also found in Josephus, Ant. 14.7.2 (14.110). Unique to this particular verse is the combination σεβόμενοι προσηλύτων (sebomenoi proshlutwn). Later rabbinic discussion suggests that to be regarded as a proper proselyte, a Gentile male had to submit to circumcision. If that is the case here, these Gentiles in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch should be regarded as full proselytes who had converted completely to Judaism and undergone circumcision. It is probably more likely, however, that προσηλύτων is used here in a somewhat looser sense (note the use of σεβομένας [sebomena"] alone to refer to women in Acts 13:50) and that these Gentiles were still in the category commonly called “God-fearers” without being full, technical proselytes to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44. Regardless, the point is that many Gentiles, as well as Jews, came to faith.

[13:43]  ⁷ tn This is the meaning given for ἔπειθον (epeiqon) in this verse by BDAG 791 s.v. πείθω 1.b.

[13:43]  ⁸ tn Grk “who, as they were speaking with them, were persuading them.”

[13:43]  ⁹ tn The verb προμένειν (promenein) is similar in force to the use of μένω (menw, “to reside/remain”) in the Gospel and Epistles of John.

[8:31]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “to the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory (i.e., “Judeans”), the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9; also BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e.) Here the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple and had believed his claim to be the Messiah, hence, “those Judeans who had believed him.” The term “Judeans” is preferred here to the more general “people” because the debate concerns descent from Abraham (v. 33).

[8:31]  ¹¹ tn Grk “If you continue in my word.”

[8:31]  ¹² tn Or “truly.”

[8:32]  ¹³ tn Or “the truth will release you.” The translation “set you free” or “release you” (unlike the more traditional “make you free”) conveys more the idea that the hearers were currently in a state of slavery from which they needed to be freed. The following context supports precisely this idea.

[15:4]  ¹⁴ tn Or “Reside.”

[15:4]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and I in you.” The verb has been repeated for clarity and to conform to contemporary English style, which typically allows fewer ellipses (omitted or understood words) than Greek.

[15:4]  ¹⁶ sn The branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains connected to the vine, from which its life and sustenance flows. As far as the disciples were concerned, they would produce no fruit from themselves if they did not remain in their relationship to Jesus, because the eternal life which a disciple must possess in order to bear fruit originates with Jesus; he is the source of all life and productivity for the disciple.

[15:4]  ¹⁷ tn Or “resides.”

[15:4]  ¹⁸ tn While it would be more natural to say “on the vine” (so NAB), the English preposition “in” has been retained here to emphasize the parallelism with the following clause “unless you remain in me.” To speak of remaining “in” a person is not natural English either, but is nevertheless a biblical concept (cf. “in Christ” in Eph 1:3, 4, 6, 7, 11).

[15:4]  ¹⁹ tn Or “you reside.”

[15:5]  ²⁰ tn Or “resides.”

[15:5]  ²¹ tn Or “yields.”

[15:5]  ²² tn Grk “in him, this one bears much fruit.” The pronoun “this one” has been omitted from the translation because it is redundant according to contemporary English style.

[15:5]  ²³ tn Or “do.”

[15:6]  ²⁴ tn Or “reside.”

[15:6]  ²⁵ sn Such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire. The author does not tell who it is who does the gathering and throwing into the fire. Although some claim that realized eschatology is so prevalent in the Fourth Gospel that no references to final eschatology appear at all, the fate of these branches seems to point to the opposite. The imagery is almost certainly that of eschatological judgment, and recalls some of the OT vine imagery which involves divine rejection and judgment of disobedient Israel (Ezek 15:4-6, 19:12).

[15:6]  ²⁶ tn Grk “they gather them up and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

[15:9]  ²⁷ tn Or “reside.”

[15:10]  ²⁸ tn Or “keep.”

[15:10]  ²⁹ tn Or “reside.”

[15:10]  ³⁰ tn Or “kept.”

[15:10]  ³¹ tn Or “reside.”

[1:23]  ³² tn BDAG 276 s.v. ἑδραῖος suggests “firm, steadfast.”

[1:23]  ³³ tn BDAG 639 s.v. μετακινέω suggests “without shifting from the hope” here.

[1:3]  ³⁴ tn Grk “while being quite diligent to write to you,” or “while making all haste to write to you.” Two issues are at stake: (1) whether σπουδή (spoudh) here means diligence, eagerness, or haste; (2) whether ποιούμενος γράφειν (poioumeno" grafein) is to be taken conatively (“I was about to write”) or progressively (“I was writing”). Without knowing more of the background, it is difficult to tell which option is to be preferred.

[1:3]  ³⁵ tn Grk “I had the necessity.” The term ἀνάγκη (anankh, “necessity”) often connotes urgency or distress. In this context, Jude is indicating that the more comprehensive treatment about the faith shared between himself and his readers was not nearly as urgent as the letter he found it now necessary to write.

[1:3]  ³⁶ tn Grk “encouraging.” Παρακαλῶν (parakalwn) is most likely a telic participle. In keeping with other participles of purpose, it is present tense and occurs after the main verb.

[1:3]  ³⁷ tn the verb ἐπαγωνίζομαι (epagwnizomai) is an intensive form of ἀγωνίζομαι (agwnizomai). As such, the notion of struggling, fighting, contending, etc. is heightened.

[1:3]  ³⁸ tn Τῇ πίστει (th pistei) here is taken as a dative of advantage (“on behalf of the faith”). Though rare (see BDAG 820 s.v. 3), it is not unexampled and must have this meaning here.

[1:3]  ³⁹ sn The adverb once for all (ἅπαξ, Japax) seems to indicate that the doctrinal convictions of the early church had been substantially codified. That is to say, Jude could appeal to written documents of the Christian faith in his arguments with the false teachers. Most likely, these documents were the letters of Paul and perhaps one or more gospels. First and Second Peter may also have been among the documents Jude has in mind (see also the note on the phrase entrusted to the saints in this verse).

[1:3]  ⁴⁰ sn I now feel compelled instead…saints. Apparently news of some crisis has reached Jude, prompting him to write a different letter than what he had originally planned. A plausible scenario (assuming authenticity of 2 Peter or at least that there are authentic Petrine snippets in it) is that after Peter’s death, Jude intended to write to the same Gentile readers that Peter had written to (essentially, Paul’s churches). Jude starts by affirming that the gospel the Gentiles had received from Paul was the same as the one the Jewish Christians had received from the other apostles (our common salvation). But in the midst of writing this letter, Jude felt that the present crisis deserved another, shorter piece. The crisis, as the letter reveals, is that the false teachers whom Peter prophesied have now infiltrated the church. The letter of Jude is thus an ad hoc letter, intended to confirm the truth of Peter’s letter and encourage the saints to ground their faith in the written documents of the nascent church, rather than listen to the twisted gospel of the false teachers. In large measure, the letter of Jude illustrates the necessity of clinging to the authority of scripture as opposed to those who claim to be prophets.

[1:20]  ⁴¹ tn The participles in v. 20 have been variously interpreted. Some treat them imperativally or as attendant circumstance to the imperative in v. 21 (“maintain”): “build yourselves up…pray.” But they do not follow the normal contours of either the imperatival or attendant circumstance participles, rendering this unlikely. A better option is to treat them as the means by which the readers are to maintain themselves in the love of God. This both makes eminently good sense and fits the structural patterns of instrumental participles elsewhere.

[1:21]  ⁴² tn Or “keep.”

[1:21]  ⁴³ tn Or “waiting for.”

[1:21]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “unto eternal life.”