Acts 26:28

26:28 Agrippa ¹  said to Paul, “In such a short time are you persuading me to become a Christian?” ² 

Isaiah 65:15

65:15 Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones. ³ 

The sovereign Lord will kill you,

but he will give his servants another name.

Isaiah 65:1

The Lord Will Distinguish Between Sinners and the Godly

65:1 “I made myself available to those who did not ask for me; ⁴ 

I appeared to those who did not look for me. ⁵ 

I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’

to a nation that did not invoke ⁶  my name.

Colossians 1:12

1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ⁷  in the saints’ ⁸  inheritance in the light.

Ephesians 3:15

3:15 from ⁹  whom every family ¹⁰  in heaven and on the earth is named.

Ephesians 3:1

Paul's Relationship to the Divine Mystery

3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus ¹¹  for the sake of you Gentiles –

Ephesians 4:14

4:14 So ¹²  we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. ¹³ 

Ephesians 4:1

Live in Unity

4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, ¹⁴  urge you to live ¹⁵  worthily of the calling with which you have been called, ¹⁶ 

Ephesians 2:1

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ¹⁷  dead ¹⁸  in your transgressions and sins,

Revelation 3:18

3:18 take my advice ¹⁹  and buy gold from me refined by fire so you can become rich! Buy from me ²⁰  white clothing so you can be clothed and your shameful nakedness ²¹  will not be exposed, and buy eye salve ²²  to put on your eyes so you can see!

[26:28]  ¹ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[26:28]  ² tn Or “In a short time you will make me a Christian.” On the difficulty of the precise nuances of Agrippa’s reply in this passage, see BDAG 791 s.v. πείθω 1.b. The idiom is like 1 Kgs 21:7 LXX. The point is that Paul was trying to persuade Agrippa to accept his message. If Agrippa had let Paul persuade him, he would have converted to Christianity.

[65:15]  ³ tn Heb “you will leave your name for an oath to my chosen ones.”

[65:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “I allowed myself to be sought by those who did not ask.”

[65:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “I allowed myself to be found by those who did not seek.”

[65:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “call out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “call on.”

[1:12]  ⁷ tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

[1:12]  ⁸ tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”

[3:15]  ⁹ tn Or “by.”

[3:15]  ¹⁰ tn Or “the whole family.”

[3:1]  ¹¹ tc Several early and important witnesses, chiefly of the Western text (א* D* F G [365]), lack ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) here, while most Alexandrian and Byzantine mss (Ì⁴⁶ א¹ A B [C] D¹ Ψ 33 1739 [1881] Ï lat sy bo) have the word. However, because of the Western text’s proclivities to add or delete to the text, seemingly at whim, serious doubts should be attached to the shorter reading. It is strengthened, however, by א’s support. Nevertheless, since both א and D were corrected with the addition of ᾿Ιησοῦ, their testimony might be questioned. Further, in uncial script the nomina sacra here could have led to missing a word by way of homoioteleuton (cMuiMu). At the same time, in light of the rarity of scribal omission of nomina sacra (see TCGNT 582, n. 1), a decision for inclusion of the word here must be tentative. NA²⁷ rightly places ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets.

[4:14]  ¹² tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:14]  ¹³ tn While the sense of the passage is clear enough, translation in English is somewhat difficult. The Greek says: “by the trickery of men, by craftiness with the scheme of deceit.” The point is that the author is concerned about Christians growing into maturity. He is fearful that certain kinds of very cunning people, who are skilled at deceitful scheming, should come in and teach false doctrines which would in turn stunt the growth of the believers.

[4:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “prisoner in the Lord.”

[4:1]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “walk.” The verb “walk” in the NT letters refers to the conduct of one’s life, not to physical walking.

[4:1]  ¹⁶ sn With which you have been called. The calling refers to the Holy Spirit’s prompting that caused them to believe. The author is thus urging his readers to live a life that conforms to their saved status before God.

[2:1]  ¹⁷ tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

[2:1]  ¹⁸ sn Chapter 2 starts off with a participle, although you were dead, that is left dangling. The syntax in Greek for vv. 1-3 constitutes one incomplete sentence, though it seems to have been done intentionally. The dangling participle leaves the readers in suspense while they wait for the solution (in v. 4) to their spiritual dilemma.

[3:18]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “I counsel you to buy.”

[3:18]  ²⁰ tn Grk “rich, and.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation, repeating the words “Buy from me” to make the connection clear for the English reader.

[3:18]  ²¹ tn Grk “the shame of the nakedness of you,” which has been translated as an attributed genitive like καινότητι ζωῆς (kainothti zwh") in Rom 6:4 (ExSyn 89-90).

[3:18]  ²² sn The city of Laodicea had a famous medical school and exported a powder (called a “Phrygian powder”) that was widely used as an eye salve. It was applied to the eyes in the form of a paste the consistency of dough (the Greek term for the salve here, κολλούριον, kollourion [Latin collyrium], is a diminutive form of the word for a long roll of bread).