Acts 15:4

15:4 When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were received ¹  by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported ²  all the things God had done with them. ³ 

Acts 15:22-23

15:22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided ⁴  to send men chosen from among them, Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, ⁵  leaders among the brothers, to Antioch ⁶  with Paul and Barnabas. 15:23 They sent this letter with them: ⁷ 

From the apostles ⁸  and elders, your brothers, ⁹  to the Gentile brothers and sisters ¹⁰  in Antioch, ¹¹  Syria, ¹²  and Cilicia, greetings!

Acts 15:1

The Jerusalem Council

15:1 Now some men came down from Judea ¹³  and began to teach the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised ¹⁴  according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Acts 8:7

8:7 For unclean spirits, ¹⁵  crying with loud shrieks, were coming out of many who were possessed, ¹⁶  and many paralyzed and lame people were healed.

Acts 8:1

8:1 And Saul agreed completely with killing ¹⁷  him.

Saul Begins to Persecute the Church

Now on that day a great ¹⁸  persecution began ¹⁹  against the church in Jerusalem, ²⁰  and all ²¹  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ²²  of Judea and Samaria.

Colossians 1:19-23

1:19 For God ²³  was pleased to have all his ²⁴  fullness dwell ²⁵  in the Son ²⁶ 

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ²⁷  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Paul’s Goal in Ministry

1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your ²⁸  minds ²⁹  as expressed through ³⁰  your evil deeds, 1:22 but now he has reconciled you ³¹  by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him – 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.

Galatians 2:2

2:2 I went there ³⁴  because of ³⁵  a revelation and presented ³⁶  to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so ³⁷  only in a private meeting with the influential people, ³⁸  to make sure that I was not running – or had not run ³⁹  – in vain.

Philemon 1:8-9

Paul’s Request for Onesimus

1:8 So, although I have quite a lot of confidence in Christ and could command you to do what is proper, 1:9 I would rather appeal ⁴⁰  to you on the basis of love – I, Paul, an old man ⁴¹  and even now a prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus ⁴²  –

[15:4]  ¹ tn BDAG 761 s.v. παραδέχομαι 2 has “receive, accept” for the meaning here.

[15:4]  ² tn Or “announced.”

[15:4]  ³ tn “They reported all the things God had done with them” – an identical phrase occurs in Acts 14:27. God is always the agent.

[15:22]  ⁴ tn BDAG 255 s.v. δοκέω 2.b.β lists this verse under the meaning “it seems best to me, I decide, I resolve.”

[15:22]  ⁵ sn Silas. See 2 Cor 1:19; 1 Thess 1:1; 2 Thess 1:1 (= Silvanus).

[15:22]  ⁶ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia).

[15:23]  ⁷ tn Grk “writing by their hand” (an idiom for sending a letter).

[15:23]  ⁸ tn Grk “The apostles.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[15:23]  ⁹ tn Grk “brothers,” but “your” is supplied to specify the relationship, since without it “brothers” could be understood as vocative in English.

[15:23]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “to the brothers who are from the Gentiles.”

[15:23]  ¹¹ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia).

[15:23]  ¹² tn Grk “and Syria,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[15:1]  ¹³ sn That is, they came down from Judea to Antioch in Syria.

[15:1]  ¹⁴ tc Codex Bezae (D) and a few other witnesses have “and walk” here (i.e., instead of τῷ ἔθει τῷ Μωϋσέως [tw eqei tw Mwu>sew"] they read καὶ τῷ ἔθει τῷ Μωϋσέως περιπατῆτε [kai tw eqei tw Mwu>sew" peripathte]). This is a decidedly stronger focus on obedience to the Law. As well, D expands vv. 1-5 in various places with the overall effect of being “more sympathetic to the local tradition of the church at Jerusalem” while the Alexandrian witnesses are more sympathetic to Paul (TCGNT 377). Codex D is well known for having a significantly longer text in Acts, but modern scholarship is generally of the opinion that the text of D expands on the original wording of Acts, with a theological viewpoint that especially puts Peter in a more authoritarian light. The expansion in these five verses is in keeping with that motif even though Peter is not explicitly in view.

[8:7]  ¹⁵ sn The expression unclean spirits refers to evil supernatural spirits which were ceremonially unclean, and which caused the persons possessed by them to be ceremonially unclean.

[8:7]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “For [in the case of] many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out, crying in a loud voice.”

[8:1]  ¹⁷ tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).

[8:1]  ¹⁸ tn Or “severe.”

[8:1]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”

[8:1]  ²⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:1]  ²¹ sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.

[8:1]  ²² tn Or “countryside.”

[1:19]  ²³ tn The noun “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but since God is the one who reconciles the world to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:19), he is clearly the subject of εὐδόκησεν (eudokhsen).

[1:19]  ²⁴ tn The Greek article τό (to), insofar as it relates to God, may be translated as a possessive pronoun, i.e., “his.” BDAG 404 s.v. εὐδοκέω 1 translates the phrase as “all the fullness willed to dwell in him” thus leaving the referent as impersonal. Insofar as Paul is alluding to the so-called emanations from God this is acceptable. But the fact that “the fullness” dwells in a person (i.e., “in him”) seems to argue for the translation “his fullness” where “his” refers to God.

[1:19]  ²⁵ tn The aorist verb κατοικῆσαι (katoikhsai) could be taken as an ingressive, in which case it refers to the incarnation and may be translated as “begin to dwell, to take up residence.” It is perhaps better, though, to take it as a constative aorist and simply a reference to the fact that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. This is a permanent dwelling, though, not a temporary one, as the present tense in 2:9 makes clear.

[1:19]  ²⁶ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the Son; see v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:20]  ²⁷ tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.

[1:21]  ²⁸ tn The article τῇ (th) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[1:21]  ²⁹ tn Although διανοία (dianoia) is singular in Greek, the previous plural noun ἐχθρούς (ecqrous) indicates that all those from Colossae are in view here.

[1:21]  ³⁰ tn The dative ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς (en toi" ergoi" toi" ponhroi") is taken as means, indicating the avenue through which hostility in the mind is revealed and made known.

[1:22]  ³¹ tc Some of the better representatives of the Alexandrian and Western texts have a passive verb here instead of the active ἀποκατήλλαξεν (apokathllaxen, “he has reconciled”): ἀποκατηλλάγητε (apokathllaghte) in (Ì⁴⁶) B, ἀποκατήλλακται [sic] (apokathllaktai) in 33, and ἀποκαταλλαγέντες (apokatallagente") in D* F G. Yet the active verb is strongly supported by א A C D² Ψ 048 075 [0278] 1739 1881 Ï lat sy. Internally, the passive creates an anacoluthon in that it looks back to the accusative ὑμᾶς (Juma", “you”) of v. 21 and leaves the following παραστῆσαι (parasthsai) dangling (“you were reconciled…to present you”). The passive reading is certainly the harder reading. As such, it may well explain the rise of the other readings. At the same time, it is possible that the passive was produced by scribes who wanted some symmetry between the ποτε (pote, “at one time”) of v. 21 and the νυνὶ δέ (nuni de, “but now”) of v. 22: Since a passive periphrastic participle is used in v. 21, there may have a temptation to produce a corresponding passive form in v. 22, handling the ὑμᾶς of v. 21 by way of constructio ad sensum. Since παραστῆσαι occurs ten words later, it may not have been considered in this scribal modification. Further, the Western reading (ἀποκαταλλαγέντες) hardly seems to have arisen from ἀποκατηλλάγητε (contra TCGNT 555). As difficult as this decision is, the preferred reading is the active form because it is superior externally and seems to explain the rise of all forms of the passive readings.

[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.

[2:2]  ³⁴ tn Grk “I went up”; one always spoke idiomatically of going “up” to Jerusalem.

[2:2]  ³⁵ tn Or “in accordance with.” According to BDAG 512 s.v. κατά B.5.a.δ, “Oft. the norm is at the same time the reason, so that in accordance with and because of are merged…Instead of ‘in accordance w.’ κ. can mean simply because of, as a result of, on the basis of…κ. ἀποκάλυψιν Gal 2:2.”

[2:2]  ³⁶ tn Or “set before them.”

[2:2]  ³⁷ tn Grk “Gentiles, but only privately…to make sure.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started with “But” and the words “I did so,” an implied repetition from the previous clause, were supplied to make a complete English sentence.

[2:2]  ³⁸ tn L&N 87.42 has “important persons, influential persons, prominent persons” for οἱ δοκοῦντες and translates this phrase in Gal 2:2 as “in a private meeting with the prominent persons.” The “prominent people” referred to here are the leaders of the Jerusalem church.

[2:2]  ³⁹ tn Here the first verb (τρέχω, trecw, “was not running”) is present subjunctive, while the second (ἔδραμον, edramon, “had not run”) is aorist indicative.

[1:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “encourage.”

[1:9]  ⁴¹ tn Or perhaps “an ambassador” (so RSV, TEV), reading πρεσβευτής for πρεσβύτης (a conjecture proposed by Bentley, cf. BDAG 863 s.v. πρεσβύτης). NRSV reads “old man” and places “ambassador” in a note.

[1:9]  ⁴² tn Grk “a prisoner of Christ Jesus.”