Ephesians 2:10

2:10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. ¹ 

Ephesians 3:7

3:7 I became a servant of this gospel ²  according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by ³  the exercise of his power. ⁴ 

Ephesians 3:20

3:20 Now to him who by the power that is working within us ⁵  is able to do far beyond ⁶  all that we ask or think,

Psalms 110:2-3

110:2 The Lord ⁷  extends ⁸  your dominion ⁹  from Zion.

Rule in the midst of your enemies!

110:3 Your people willingly follow you ¹⁰  when you go into battle. ¹¹ 

On the holy hills ¹²  at sunrise ¹³  the dew of your youth ¹⁴  belongs to you. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 53:1

53:1 Who would have believed ¹⁶  what we ¹⁷  just heard? ¹⁸ 

When ¹⁹  was the Lord’s power ²⁰  revealed through him?

John 3:6

3:6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, ²¹  and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Acts 26:18

26:18 to open their eyes so that they turn ²²  from darkness to light and from the power ²³  of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share ²⁴  among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Romans 1:16

The Power of the Gospel

1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ²⁵ 

Romans 1:2

1:2 This gospel ²⁶  he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,

Colossians 4:7

Personal Greetings and Instructions

4:7 Tychicus, a dear brother, faithful minister, and fellow slave ²⁷  in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me. ²⁸ 

Colossians 1:17

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together ²⁹  in him.

Philippians 2:13

2:13 for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God.

Colossians 1:29

1:29 Toward this goal ³⁰  I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully ³¹  works in me.

Colossians 2:12

2:12 Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your ³²  faith in the power ³³  of God who raised him from the dead.

Colossians 2:1

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, ³⁴  and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. ³⁵ 

Colossians 1:5

1:5 Your faith and love have arisen ³⁶  from the hope laid up ³⁷  for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel ³⁸ 

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ³⁹  brothers and sisters ⁴⁰  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ⁴¹  from God our Father! ⁴² 

Colossians 1:11

1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ⁴³  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully

James 1:18

1:18 By his sovereign plan he gave us birth ⁴⁴  through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

[2:10]  ¹ tn Grk “so that we might walk in them” (or “by them”).

[3:7]  ² tn Grk “of which I was made a minister,” “of which I became a servant.”

[3:7]  ³ tn Grk “according to.”

[3:7]  ⁴ sn On the exercise of his power see 1:19-20.

[3:20]  ⁵ sn On the power that is working within us see 1:19-20.

[3:20]  ⁶ tn Or “infinitely beyond,” “far more abundantly than.”

[110:2]  ⁷ tn Since the Lord is mentioned in the third person (note the use of the first person in v. 1), it is likely that these are the psalmist’s words to the king, not a continuation of the oracle per se.

[110:2]  ⁸ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though it could be taken as future.

[110:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “your strong scepter,” symbolic of the king’s royal authority and dominion.

[110:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your people, free will offerings.” Perhaps the people, in their willingness to volunteer, are compared metaphorically to freewill offerings. Following the LXX, some revocalize the text and read “with you is nobility.”

[110:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in the day of your power.”

[110:3]  ¹² tc Heb “in splendor of holiness.” The plural construct form הַדְרֵי (hadrey, from הָדַר, hadar, “splendor”) occurs only here; it may indicate degree or perhaps refer by metonymy to garments (see Pss 29:2 and 96:9, where the phrase הַדְרַת קֹדֶשׁ [hadrat qodesh] refers to “holy attire”). If one retains the reading of the MT, this phrase should probably be taken with the preceding line. However, because of the subsequent references to “dawn” and to “dew,” it is better to emend the text to הַרְרֵי קֹדֶשׁ (harrey qodesh, “mountains of holiness”), a reading found in many medieval Hebrew mss and in some other ancient witnesses (see Joel 2:2; Ps 133:3, as well as L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 80). The “mountains of holiness” are probably the hills surrounding Zion (see Ps 87:1; 125:2; 133:3).

[110:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “from the womb of dawn.” The Hebrew noun רֶחֶם (rekhem, “womb”) is probably used here metonymically for “birth.” The form מִשְׁחָר (mishkhar) occurs only here and should be emended to שַׁחַר (shakhar, “dawn”) with the mem (מ) being understood as dittographic (note the final mem [ם] on the preceding word). The phrase “womb [i.e., “birth”] of dawn” refers to sunrise.

[110:3]  ¹⁴ sn The point of the metaphor is not entirely clear. The dew may symbolize the king’s youthful vitality or, more likely (note the parallelism), may refer to his army of strong, youthful warriors.

[110:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to you [is].”

[53:1]  ¹⁶ tn The perfect has a hypothetical force in this rhetorical question. For another example, see Gen 21:7.

[53:1]  ¹⁷ sn The speaker shifts here from God to an unidentified group (note the first person plural pronouns throughout vv. 1-6). The content of the speech suggests that the prophet speaks here as representative of the sinful nation Israel. The group acknowledges its sin and recognizes that the servant suffered on their behalf.

[53:1]  ¹⁸ tn The first half of v. 1 is traditionally translated, “Who has believed our report?” or “Who has believed our message?” as if the group speaking is lamenting that no one will believe what they have to say. But that doesn’t seem to be the point in this context. Here the group speaking does not cast itself in the role of a preacher or evangelist. No, they are repentant sinners, who finally see the light. The phrase “our report” can mean (1) the report which we deliver, or (2) the report which was delivered to us. The latter fits better here, where the report is most naturally taken as the announcement that has just been made in 52:13-15.

[53:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to whom” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[53:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the arm of the Lord.” The “arm of the Lord” is a metaphor of military power; it pictures the Lord as a warrior who bares his arm, takes up his weapon, and crushes his enemies (cf. 51:9-10; 63:5-6). But Israel had not seen the Lord’s military power at work in the servant.

[3:6]  ²¹ sn What is born of the flesh is flesh, i.e., what is born of physical heritage is physical. (It is interesting to compare this terminology with that of the dialogue in John 4, especially 4:23, 24.) For John the “flesh” (σάρξ, sarx) emphasizes merely the weakness and mortality of the creature – a neutral term, not necessarily sinful as in Paul. This is confirmed by the reference in John 1:14 to the Logos becoming “flesh.” The author avoids associating sinfulness with the incarnate Christ.

[26:18]  ²² sn To open their eyes so that they turn… Here is Luke’s most comprehensive report of Paul’s divine calling. His role was to call humanity to change their position before God and experience God’s forgiveness as a part of God’s family. The image of turning is a key one in the NT: Luke 1:79; Rom 2:19; 13:12; 2 Cor 4:6; 6:14; Eph 5:8; Col 1:12; 1 Thess 5:5. See also Luke 1:77-79; 3:3; 24:47.

[26:18]  ²³ tn BDAG 352-53 s.v. ἐξουσία 2 states, “Also of Satan’s power Ac 26:18.” It is also possible to translate this “the domain of Satan” (cf. BDAG 353 s.v. 6)

[26:18]  ²⁴ tn Or “and an inheritance.”

[1:16]  ²⁵ sn Here the Greek refers to anyone who is not Jewish.

[1:2]  ²⁶ tn Grk “the gospel of God, which he promised.” Because of the length and complexity of this sentence in Greek, it was divided into shorter English sentences in keeping with contemporary English style. To indicate the referent of the relative pronoun (“which”), the word “gospel” was repeated at the beginning of v. 2.

[4:7]  ²⁷ tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[4:7]  ²⁸ tn Grk “all things according to me.”

[1:17]  ²⁹ tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.

[1:29]  ³⁰ tn The Greek phrase εἴς ὅ (eis Jo, “toward which”) implies “movement toward a goal” and has been rendered by the English phrase “Toward this goal.”

[1:29]  ³¹ tn The prepositional phrase ἐν δυνάμει (en dunamei) seems to be functioning adverbially, related to the participle, and has therefore been translated “powerfully.”

[2:12]  ³² tn The article with the genitive modifier τῆς πίστεως (th" pistew") is functioning as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[2:12]  ³³ tn The genitive τῆς ἐνεργείας (th" energeia") has been translated as an objective genitive, “faith in the power.”

[2:1]  ³⁴ tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”

[2:1]  ³⁵ tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”

[1:5]  ³⁶ tn Col 1:3-8 form one long sentence in the Greek text and have been divided at the end of v. 4 and v. 6 and within v. 6 for clarity, in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English toward shorter sentences. Thus the phrase “Your faith and love have arisen from the hope” is literally “because of the hope.” The perfect tense “have arisen” was chosen in the English to reflect the fact that the recipients of the letter had acquired this hope at conversion in the past, but that it still remains and motivates them to trust in Christ and to love one another.

[1:5]  ³⁷ tn BDAG 113 s.v. ἀπόκειμαι 2 renders ἀποκειμένην (apokeimenhn) with the expression “reserved” in this verse.

[1:5]  ³⁸ tn The term “the gospel” (τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, tou euangeliou) is in apposition to “the word of truth” (τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας, tw logw th" alhqeia") as indicated in the translation.

[1:2]  ³⁹ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ⁴¹ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ⁴² tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[1:11]  ⁴³ tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.

[1:18]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “Having willed, he gave us birth.”