Acts 2:42

The Fellowship of the Early Believers

2:42 They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, ¹  to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ² 

Acts 20:19-31

20:19 serving the Lord with all humility ³  and with tears, and with the trials that happened to me because of the plots ⁴  of the Jews. 20:20 You know that I did not hold back from proclaiming ⁵  to you anything that would be helpful, ⁶  and from teaching you publicly ⁷  and from house to house, 20:21 testifying ⁸  to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus. ⁹  20:22 And now, ¹⁰  compelled ¹¹  by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem ¹²  without knowing what will happen to me there, ¹³  20:23 except ¹⁴  that the Holy Spirit warns ¹⁵  me in town after town ¹⁶  that ¹⁷  imprisonment ¹⁸  and persecutions ¹⁹  are waiting for me. 20:24 But I do not consider my life ²⁰  worth anything ²¹  to myself, so that ²²  I may finish my task ²³  and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news ²⁴  of God’s grace.

20:25 “And now ²⁵  I know that none ²⁶  of you among whom I went around proclaiming the kingdom ²⁷  will see me ²⁸  again. 20:26 Therefore I declare ²⁹  to you today that I am innocent ³⁰  of the blood of you all. ³¹  20:27 For I did not hold back from ³²  announcing ³³  to you the whole purpose ³⁴  of God. 20:28 Watch out for ³⁵  yourselves and for all the flock of which ³⁶  the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, ³⁷  to shepherd the church of God ³⁸  that he obtained ³⁹  with the blood of his own Son. ⁴⁰  20:29 I know that after I am gone ⁴¹  fierce wolves ⁴²  will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 20:30 Even from among your own group ⁴³  men ⁴⁴  will arise, teaching perversions of the truth ⁴⁵  to draw the disciples away after them. 20:31 Therefore be alert, ⁴⁶  remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning ⁴⁷  each one of you with tears.

Romans 12:6-8

12:6 And we have different gifts ⁴⁸  according to the grace given to us. If the gift is prophecy, that individual must use it in proportion to his faith. 12:7 If it is service, he must serve; if it is teaching, he must teach; 12:8 if it is exhortation, he must exhort; if it is contributing, he must do so with sincerity; if it is leadership, he must do so with diligence; if it is showing mercy, he must do so with cheerfulness.

Romans 12:1

Consecration of the Believer’s Life

12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, ⁴⁹  by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God ⁵⁰  – which is your reasonable service.

Colossians 1:16

1:16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, ⁵¹  whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.

Colossians 4:17

4:17 And tell Archippus, “See to it that you complete the ministry you received in the Lord.”

Colossians 4:1

4:1 Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

Colossians 4:13-16

4:13 For I can testify that he has worked hard ⁵²  for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis. 4:14 Our dear friend Luke the physician and Demas greet you. 4:15 Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters ⁵³  who are in Laodicea and to Nympha and the church that meets in her ⁵⁴  house. ⁵⁵  4:16 And after ⁵⁶  you have read this letter, have it read ⁵⁷  to the church of Laodicea. In turn, read the letter from Laodicea ⁵⁸  as well.

Colossians 4:2

Exhortation to Pray for the Success of Paul’s Mission

4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

Colossians 4:2

Exhortation to Pray for the Success of Paul’s Mission

4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

[2:42]  ¹ sn Fellowship refers here to close association involving mutual involvement and relationships.

[2:42]  ² tn Grk “prayers.” This word was translated as a collective singular in keeping with English style.

[20:19]  ³ 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]  ⁴ sn These plots are mentioned in Acts 9:24; 20:13.

[20:20]  ⁵ tn Or “declaring.”

[20:20]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Or “openly.”

[20:21]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “And now, behold.” Here ἰδού (idou) has not been translated.

[20:22]  ¹¹ tn Grk “bound.”

[20:22]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn BDAG 826 s.v. πλήν 1.d has “πλὴν ὅτι except that…Ac 20:23.”

[20:23]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn The Greek text here reads κατὰ πόλιν (kata polin).

[20:23]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “saying that,” but the participle λέγον (legon) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[20:23]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “bonds.”

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

[20:24]  ²⁰ tn Grk “soul.”

[20:24]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Or “to the gospel.”

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

[20:25]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ tn Grk “will see my face” (an idiom for seeing someone in person).

[20:26]  ²⁹ tn Or “testify.”

[20:26]  ³⁰ tn Grk “clean, pure,” thus “guiltless” (BDAG 489 s.v. καθαρός 3.a).

[20:26]  ³¹ 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]  ³² 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]  ³³ tn Or “proclaiming,” “declaring.”

[20:27]  ³⁴ tn Or “plan.”

[20:28]  ³⁵ tn Or “Be on your guard for” (cf. v. 29). Paul completed his responsibility to the Ephesians with this warning.

[20:28]  ³⁶ tn Grk “in which.”

[20:28]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ 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]  ³⁹ tn Or “acquired.”

[20:28]  ⁴⁰ 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]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “after my departure.”

[20:29]  ⁴² 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]  ⁴³ tn Grk “from among yourselves.”

[20:30]  ⁴⁴ 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]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “speaking crooked things”; BDAG 237 s.v. διαστρέφω 2 has “λαλεῖν διεστραμμένα teach perversions (of the truth) Ac 20:30.”

[20:31]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “be watchful.”

[20:31]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “admonishing.”

[12:6]  ⁴⁸ tn This word comes from the same root as “grace” in the following clause; it means “things graciously given,” “grace-gifts.”

[12:1]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[12:1]  ⁵⁰ tn The participle and two adjectives “alive, holy, and pleasing to God” are taken as predicates in relation to “sacrifice,” making the exhortation more emphatic. See ExSyn 618-19.

[1:16]  ⁵¹ tn BDAG 579 s.v. κυριότης 3 suggests “bearers of the ruling powers, dominions” here.

[4:13]  ⁵² tn Grk “pain.” This word appears only three times in the NT outside of this verse (Rev 16:10, 11; 21:4) where the translation “pain” makes sense. For the present verse it has been translated “worked hard.” See BDAG 852 s.v. πόνος 1.

[4:15]  ⁵³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[4:15]  ⁵⁴ tc If the name Nympha is accented with a circumflex on the ultima (Νυμφᾶν, Numfan), then it refers to a man; if it receives an acute accent on the penult (Νύμφαν), the reference is to a woman. Scribes that considered Nympha to be a man’s name had the corresponding masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ here (autou, “his”; so D [F G] Ψ Ï), while those who saw Nympha as a woman read the feminine αὐτῆς here (auth", “her”; B 0278 6 1739^[*^] 1881 sa). Several mss (א A C P 075 33 81 104 326 1175 2464 bo) have αὐτῶν (autwn, “their”), perhaps because of indecisiveness on the gender of Nympha, perhaps because they included ἀδελφούς (adelfou", here translated “brothers and sisters”) as part of the referent. (Perhaps because accents were not part of the original text, scribes were particularly confused here.) The harder reading is certainly αὐτῆς, and thus Nympha should be considered a woman.

[4:15]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “the church in her house.” The meaning is that Paul sends greetings to the church that meets at Nympha’s house.

[4:16]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “when.”

[4:16]  ⁵⁷ tn The construction beginning with the imperative ποιήσατε ἵνα…ἀναγνωσθῇ (poihsate Jina…anagnwsqh) should be translated as “have it read” where the conjunction ἵνα functions to mark off its clause as the direct object of the imperative ποιήσατε. The content of the clause (“reading the letter”) is what Paul commands with the imperative ποιήσατε. Thus the translation “have it read” has been used here.

[4:16]  ⁵⁸ sn This letter is otherwise unknown, but some have suggested that it is the letter known today as Ephesians.