Ephesians 1:9

1:9 He did this when he revealed ¹  to us the secret ²  of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth ³  in Christ, ⁴ 

Ephesians 5:32

5:32 This mystery is great – but I am actually ⁵  speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

Ephesians 6:19

6:19 Pray ⁶  for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak ⁷  – that I may confidently make known ⁸  the mystery of the gospel,

Luke 2:10-11

2:10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! Listen carefully, ⁹  for I proclaim to you good news ¹⁰  that brings great joy to all the people: 2:11 Today ¹¹  your Savior is born in the city ¹²  of David. ¹³  He is Christ ¹⁴  the Lord.

Luke 8:10

8:10 He ¹⁵  said, “You have been given ¹⁶  the opportunity to know ¹⁷  the secrets ¹⁸  of the kingdom of God, ¹⁹  but for others they are in parables, so that although they see they may not see, and although they hear they may not understand. ²⁰ 

Luke 8:1

Jesus’ Ministry and the Help of Women

8:1 Some time ²¹  afterward ²²  he went on through towns ²³  and villages, preaching and proclaiming the good news ²⁴  of the kingdom of God. ²⁵  The ²⁶  twelve were with him,

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 2:2

2:2 My goal is that ²⁷  their hearts, having been knit together ²⁸  in love, may be encouraged, and that ²⁹  they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ³⁰ 

Colossians 4:3

4:3 At the same time pray ³¹  for us too, that ³²  God may open a door for the message ³³  so that we may proclaim ³⁴  the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ³⁵ 

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 3:9

3:9 Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices

Colossians 3:16

3:16 Let the word of Christ ³⁶  dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace ³⁷  in your hearts to God.

[1:9]  ¹ tn Or “He did this by revealing”; Grk “making known, revealing.” Verse 9 begins with a participle dependent on “lavished” in v. 8; the adverbial participle could be understood as temporal (“when he revealed”), which would be contemporaneous to the action of the finite verb “lavished,” or as means (“by revealing”). The participle has been translated here with the temporal nuance to allow for means to also be a possible interpretation. If the translation focused instead upon means, the temporal nuance would be lost as the time frame for the action of the participle would become indistinct.

[1:9]  ² tn Or “mystery.” In the NT μυστήριον (musthrion) refers to a divine secret previously undisclosed.

[1:9]  ³ tn Or “purposed,” “publicly displayed.” Cf. Rom 3:25.

[1:9]  ⁴ tn Grk “in him”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[5:32]  ⁵ tn The term “actually” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to bring out the heightened sense of the statement.

[6:19]  ⁶ tn To avoid a lengthy, convoluted sentence in English, the Greek sentence was broken up at this point and the verb “pray” was inserted in the English translation to pick up the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseuxomenoi, “praying”) in v. 18.

[6:19]  ⁷ tn Grk “that a word may be given to me in the opening of my mouth.” Here “word” (λόγος, logo") is used in the sense of “message.”

[6:19]  ⁸ tn The infinitive γνωρίσαι (gnwrisai, “to make known”) is functioning epexegetically to further explain what the author means by the preceding phrase “that I may be given the message when I begin to speak.”

[2:10]  ⁹ tn Grk “behold.”

[2:10]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “I evangelize to you great joy.”

[2:11]  ¹¹ sn The Greek word for today (σήμερον, shmeron) occurs eleven times in the Gospel of Luke (2:11; 4:21; 5:26; 12:28; 13:32-33; 19:5, 9; 22:34, 61; 23:43) and nine times in Acts. Its use, especially in passages such as 2:11, 4:21, 5:26; 19:5, 9, signifies the dawning of the era of messianic salvation and the fulfillment of the plan of God. Not only does it underscore the idea of present fulfillment in Jesus’ ministry, but it also indicates salvific fulfillment present in the church (cf. Acts 1:6; 3:18; D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:412; I. H. Marshall, Luke, [NIGTC], 873).

[2:11]  ¹² tn Or “town.” See the note on “city” in v. 4.

[2:11]  ¹³ tn This is another indication of a royal, messianic connection.

[2:11]  ¹⁴ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[8:10]  ¹⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[8:10]  ¹⁶ tn This is an example of a so-called “divine passive,” with God understood to be the source of the revelation (see ExSyn 437-38).

[8:10]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “it has been given to you to know.” The dative pronoun occurs first, in emphatic position in the Greek text, although this position is awkward in contemporary English.

[8:10]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the mysteries.”

[8:10]  ¹⁹ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[8:10]  ²⁰ sn A quotation from Isa 6:9. Thus parables both conceal or reveal depending on whether one is open to hearing what they teach.

[8:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “And it happened that some time.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[8:1]  ²² tn Καθεξῆς (Kaqexh") is a general temporal term and need not mean “soon afterward”; see Luke 1:3; Acts 3:24; 11:4; 18:23 and L&N 61.1.

[8:1]  ²³ tn Or “cities.”

[8:1]  ²⁴ sn The combination of preaching and proclaiming the good news is a bit emphatic, stressing Jesus’ teaching ministry on the rule of God.

[8:1]  ²⁵ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[8:1]  ²⁶ tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[2:2]  ²⁷ tn Verse two begins a subordinate ἵνα (Jina) clause which was divided up into two sentences for the sake of clarity in English. Thus the phrase “My goal is that” is an attempt to reflect in the translation the purpose expressed through the ἵνα clauses.

[2:2]  ²⁸ tn BDAG 956 s.v. συμβιβάζω 1.b reads “unite, knit together.” Some commentators take the verb as a reference to instruction, “instructed in love.” See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 93.

[2:2]  ²⁹ tn The phrase “and that” translates the first εἰς (eis) clause of v. 2 and reflects the second goal of Paul’s striving and struggle for the Colossians – the first is “encouragement” and the second is “full assurance.”

[2:2]  ³⁰ tc There are at least a dozen variants here, almost surely generated by the unusual wording τοῦ θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ (tou qeou, Cristou, “of God, Christ”; so Ì⁴⁶ B Hil). Scribes would be prone to conform this to more common Pauline expressions such as “of God, who is in Christ” (33), “of God, the Father of Christ” (א* A C 048^vid 1175 bo), and “of the God and Father of Christ” (א² Ψ 075 0278 365 1505 pc). Even though the external support for the wording τοῦ θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ is hardly overwhelming, it clearly best explains the rise of the other readings and should thus be regarded as authentic.

[4:3]  ³¹ tn Though προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi) is an adverbial participle related to the previous imperative, προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite), it is here translated as an independent clause due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[4:3]  ³² tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been rendered as substantival here, indicating the content of the prayer rather than the purpose for it. These two ideas are very similar and difficult to differentiate in this passage, but the conjunction ἵνα following a verb of praying is generally regarded as giving the content of the prayer.

[4:3]  ³³ tn Grk “that God may open for us a door of the word to speak the mystery of Christ.” The construction in Greek is somewhat awkward in this clause. The translation attempts to simplify this structure somewhat and yet communicate exactly what Paul is asking for.

[4:3]  ³⁴ tn Or “so that we may speak.”

[4:3]  ³⁵ tn Or “in prison.”

[3:16]  ³⁶ tc Since “the word of Christ” occurs nowhere else in the NT, two predictable variants arose: “word of God” and “word of the Lord.” Even though some of the witnesses for these variants are impressive (κυρίου [kuriou, “of the Lord”] in א* I 1175 pc bo; θεοῦ [qeou, “of God”] in A C* 33 104 323 945 al), the reading Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “of Christ”) is read by an excellent cross-section of witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א² B C² D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï lat sa). On both internal and external grounds, Χριστοῦ is strongly preferred.

[3:16]  ³⁷ tn Grk “with grace”; “all” is supplied as it is implicitly related to all the previous instructions in the verse.