Acts 9:15

9:15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, because this man is my chosen instrument ¹  to carry my name before Gentiles and kings and the people of Israel. ² 

Acts 22:21

22:21 Then ³  he said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

Acts 28:28

28:28 “Therefore be advised ⁴  that this salvation from God ⁵  has been sent to the Gentiles; ⁶  they ⁷  will listen!”

Romans 11:13

11:13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,

Romans 15:16

15:16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. I serve ⁸  the gospel of God ⁹  like a priest, so that the Gentiles may become an acceptable offering, ¹⁰  sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 2:9

2:9 and when James, Cephas, ¹¹  and John, who had a reputation as ¹²  pillars, ¹³  recognized ¹⁴  the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me ¹⁵  the right hand of fellowship, agreeing ¹⁶  that we would go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁷ 

Ephesians 3:7-8

3:7 I became a servant of this gospel ¹⁸  according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by ¹⁹  the exercise of his power. ²⁰  3:8 To me – less than the least of all the saints ²¹  – this grace was given, ²²  to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ

Ephesians 3:1

Paul's Relationship to the Divine Mystery

3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus ²³  for the sake of you Gentiles –

Ephesians 2:7

2:7 to demonstrate in the coming ages ²⁴  the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward ²⁵  us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:2

2:2 in which ²⁶  you formerly lived ²⁷  according to this world’s present path, ²⁸  according to the ruler of the kingdom ²⁹  of the air, the ruler of ³⁰  the spirit ³¹  that is now energizing ³²  the sons of disobedience, ³³ 

Ephesians 1:11

1:11 In Christ ³⁴  we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, ³⁵  since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will

Ephesians 4:17

Live in Holiness

4:17 So I say this, and insist ³⁶  in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility ³⁷  of their thinking. ³⁸ 

[9:15]  ¹ tn Or “tool.”

[9:15]  ² tn Grk “the sons of Israel.” In Acts, Paul is a minister to all nations, including Israel (Rom 1:16-17).

[22:21]  ³ tn Grk “And.” Since this represents a response to Paul’s reply in v. 19, καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the logical sequence.

[28:28]  ⁴ tn Grk “Therefore let it be known to you.”

[28:28]  ⁵ tn Or “of God.”

[28:28]  ⁶ sn The term Gentiles is in emphatic position in the Greek text of this clause. Once again there is the pattern: Jewish rejection of the gospel leads to an emphasis on Gentile inclusion (Acts 13:44-47).

[28:28]  ⁷ tn Grk “they also.”

[15:16]  ⁸ tn Grk “serving.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text, but in keeping with contemporary English style, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[15:16]  ⁹ tn The genitive in the phrase τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ (to euangelion tou qeou, “the gospel of God”) could be translated as either a subjective genitive (“the gospel which God brings”) or an objective genitive (“the gospel about God”). Either is grammatically possible. This is possibly an instance of a plenary genitive (see ExSyn 119-21; M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek, §§36-39). If so, an interplay between the two concepts is intended: The gospel which God brings is in fact the gospel about himself.

[15:16]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “so that the offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable.” This could be understood to refer to an offering belonging to the Gentiles (a possessive genitive) or made by the Gentiles (subjective genitive), but more likely the phrase should be understood as an appositive genitive, with the Gentiles themselves consisting of the offering (so J. D. G. Dunn, Romans [WBC 38], 2:860). The latter view is reflected in the translation “so that the Gentiles may become an acceptable offering.”

[2:9]  ¹¹ sn Cephas. This individual is generally identified with the Apostle Peter (L&N 93.211).

[2:9]  ¹² tn Or “who were influential as,” or “who were reputed to be.” See also the note on the word “influential” in 2:6.

[2:9]  ¹³ sn Pillars is figurative here for those like James, Peter, and John who were leaders in the Jerusalem church.

[2:9]  ¹⁴ tn The participle γνόντες (gnontes) has been taken temporally. It is structurally parallel to the participle translated “when they saw” in v. 7.

[2:9]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “me and Barnabas.”

[2:9]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “so,” with the ἵνα (Jina) indicating the result of the “pillars” extending the “right hand of fellowship,” but the translation “they gave…the right hand of fellowship so that we would go” could be misunderstood as purpose here. The implication of the scene is that an agreement, outlined at the end of v. 10, was reached between Paul and Barnabas on the one hand and the “pillars” of the Jerusalem church on the other.

[2:9]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “to the circumcision,” a collective reference to the Jewish people.

[3:7]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “of which I was made a minister,” “of which I became a servant.”

[3:7]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “according to.”

[3:7]  ²⁰ sn On the exercise of his power see 1:19-20.

[3:8]  ²¹ sn In Pauline writings saints means any true believer. Thus for Paul to view himself as less than the least of all the saints is to view himself as the most unworthy object of Christ’s redemption.

[3:8]  ²² sn The parallel phrases to proclaim and to enlighten which follow indicate why God’s grace was manifested to Paul. Grace was not something just to be received, but to be shared with others (cf. Acts 13:47).

[3:1]  ²³ 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.

[2:7]  ²⁴ tn Or possibly “to the Aeons who are about to come.”

[2:7]  ²⁵ tn Or “upon.”

[2:2]  ²⁶ sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ²⁷ tn Grk “walked.”

[2:2]  ²⁸ tn Or possibly “Aeon.”

[2:2]  ²⁹ tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ³⁰ tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ³¹ sn The ruler of the kingdom of the air is also the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. Although several translations regard the ruler to be the same as the spirit, this is unlikely since the cases in Greek are different (ruler is accusative and spirit is genitive). To get around this, some have suggested that the genitive for spirit is a genitive of apposition. However, the semantics of the genitive of apposition are against such an interpretation (cf. ExSyn 100).

[2:2]  ³² tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ³³ sn Sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” However, it also contains a subtle allusion to vv. 4-10: Some of those sons of disobedience have become sons of God.

[1:11]  ³⁴ tn Grk “in whom,” as a continuation of the previous verse.

[1:11]  ³⁵ tn Grk “we were appointed by lot.” The notion of the verb κληρόω (klhrow) in the OT was to “appoint a portion by lot” (the more frequent cognate verb κληρονομέω [klhronomew] meant “obtain a portion by lot”). In the passive, as here, the idea is that “we were appointed [as a portion] by lot” (BDAG 548 s.v. κληρόω 1). The words “God’s own” have been supplied in the translation to clarify this sense of the verb. An alternative interpretation is that believers receive a portion as an inheritance: “In Christ we too have been appointed a portion of the inheritance.” See H. W. Hoehner, Ephesians, 226-27, for discussion on this interpretive issue.

[4:17]  ³⁶ tn On the translation of μαρτύρομαι (marturomai) as “insist” see BDAG 619 s.v. 2.

[4:17]  ³⁷ tn On the translation of ματαιότης (mataioth") as “futility” see BDAG 621 s.v.

[4:17]  ³⁸ tn Or “thoughts,” “mind.”