Ephesians 4:22

4:22 You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside ¹  the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires,

Job 24:13-17

24:13 There are those ²  who rebel against the light;

they do not know its ways

and they do not stay on its paths.

24:14 Before daybreak ³  the murderer rises up;

he kills the poor and the needy;

in the night he is ⁴  like a thief. ⁵ 

24:15 And the eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight,

thinking, ⁶  ‘No eye can see me,’

and covers his face with a mask.

24:16 In the dark the robber ⁷  breaks into houses, ⁸ 

but by day they shut themselves in; ⁹ 

they do not know the light. ¹⁰ 

24:17 For all of them, ¹¹  the morning is to them

like deep darkness;

they are friends with the terrors of darkness.

John 3:19-21

3:19 Now this is the basis for judging: ¹²  that the light has come into the world and people ¹³  loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 3:20 For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. 3:21 But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God. ¹⁴ 

Romans 1:22-32

1:22 Although they claimed ¹⁵  to be wise, they became fools 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings ¹⁶  or birds or four-footed animals ¹⁷  or reptiles.

1:24 Therefore God gave them over ¹⁸  in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor ¹⁹  their bodies among themselves. ²⁰  1:25 They ²¹  exchanged the truth of God for a lie ²²  and worshiped and served the creation ²³  rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, ²⁴  1:27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women ²⁵  and were inflamed in their passions ²⁶  for one another. Men ²⁷  committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, ²⁸  God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. ²⁹  1:29 They are filled ³⁰  with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with ³¹  envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 1:31 senseless, covenant-breakers, ³²  heartless, ruthless. 1:32 Although they fully know ³³  God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, ³⁴  they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them. ³⁵ 

Romans 13:12

13:12 The night has advanced toward dawn; the day is near. So then we must lay aside the works of darkness, and put on the weapons of light.

Romans 13:1

Submission to Civil Government

13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment, ³⁶  and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God.

Romans 5:7

5:7 (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.) ³⁷ 

[4:22]  ¹ tn An alternative rendering for the infinitives in vv. 22-24 (“to lay aside… to be renewed… to put on”) is “that you have laid aside… that you are being renewed… that you have put on.” The three infinitives of vv. 22 (ἀποθέσθαι, apoqesqai), 23 (ἀνανεοῦσθαι, ananeousqai), and 24 (ἐνδύσασθαι, endusasqai), form part of an indirect discourse clause; they constitute the teaching given to the believers addressed in the letter. The problem in translation is that one cannot be absolutely certain whether they go back to indicatives in the original statement (i.e., “you have put off”) or imperatives (i.e., “put off!”). Every other occurrence of an aorist infinitive in indirect discourse in the NT goes back to an imperative, but in all of these examples the indirect discourse is introduced by a verb that implies a command. The verb διδάσκω (didaskw) in the corpus Paulinum may be used to relate the indicatives of the faith as well as the imperatives. This translation implies that the infinitives go back to imperatives, though the alternate view that they refer back to indicatives is also a plausible interpretation. For further discussion, see ExSyn 605.

[24:13]  ² tn Heb “They are among those who.”

[24:14]  ³ tn The text simply has לָאוֹר (la’or, “at light” or “at daylight”), probably meaning just at the time of dawn.

[24:14]  ⁴ tn In a few cases the jussive is used without any real sense of the jussive being present (see GKC 323 §109.k).

[24:14]  ⁵ sn The point is that he is like a thief in that he works during the night, just before the daylight, when the advantage is all his and the victim is most vulnerable.

[24:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “saying.”

[24:16]  ⁷ tn The phrase “the robber” has been supplied in the English translation for clarification.

[24:16]  ⁸ tc This is not the idea of the adulterer, but of the thief. So some commentators reverse the order and put this verse after v. 14.

[24:16]  ⁹ tc The verb חִתְּמוּ (khittÿmu) is the Piel from the verb חָתַם (khatam, “to seal”). The verb is now in the plural, covering all the groups mentioned that work under the cover of darkness. The suggestion that they “seal,” i.e., “mark” the house they will rob, goes against the meaning of the word “seal.”

[24:16]  ¹⁰ tc Some commentators join this very short colon to the beginning of v. 17: “they do not know the light. For together…” becomes “for together they have not known the light.”

[24:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “together.”

[3:19]  ¹² tn Or “this is the reason for God judging,” or “this is how judgment works.”

[3:19]  ¹³ tn Grk “and men,” but in a generic sense, referring to people of both genders (as “everyone” in v. 20 makes clear).

[3:21]  ¹⁴ sn John 3:16-21 provides an introduction to the (so-called) “realized” eschatology of the Fourth Gospel: Judgment has come; eternal life may be possessed now, in the present life, as well as in the future. The terminology “realized eschatology” was originally coined by E. Haenchen and used by J. Jeremias in discussion with C. H. Dodd, but is now characteristically used to describe Dodd’s own formulation. See L. Goppelt, Theology of the New Testament, 1:54, note 10, and R. E. Brown (John [AB], 1:cxvii-cxviii) for further discussion. Especially important to note is the element of choice portrayed in John’s Gospel. If there is a twofold reaction to Jesus in John’s Gospel, it should be emphasized that that reaction is very much dependent on a person’s choice, a choice that is influenced by his way of life, whether his deeds are wicked or are done in God (John 3:20-21). For John there is virtually no trace of determinism at the surface. Only when one looks beneath the surface does one find statements like “no one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44).

[1:22]  ¹⁵ tn The participle φάσκοντες (faskonte") is used concessively here.

[1:23]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God in likeness of an image of corruptible man.” Here there is a wordplay on the Greek terms ἄφθαρτος (afqarto", “immortal, imperishable, incorruptible”) and φθαρτός (fqarto", “mortal, corruptible, subject to decay”).

[1:23]  ¹⁷ sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 106:19-20.

[1:24]  ¹⁸ sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 81:12.

[1:24]  ¹⁹ tn The genitive articular infinitive τοῦ ἀτιμάζεσθαι (tou atimazesqai, “to dishonor”) has been taken as (1) an infinitive of purpose; (2) an infinitive of result; or (3) an epexegetical (i.e., explanatory) infinitive, expanding the previous clause.

[1:24]  ²⁰ tn Grk “among them.”

[1:25]  ²¹ tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:25]  ²² tn Grk “the lie.”

[1:25]  ²³ tn Or “creature, created things.”

[1:26]  ²⁴ tn Grk “for their females exchanged the natural function for that which is contrary to nature.” The term χρῆσις (crhsi") has the force of “sexual relations” here (L&N 23.65).

[1:27]  ²⁵ tn Grk “likewise so also the males abandoning the natural function of the female.”

[1:27]  ²⁶ tn Grk “burned with intense desire” (L&N 25.16).

[1:27]  ²⁷ tn Grk “another, men committing…and receiving,” continuing the description of their deeds. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:28]  ²⁸ tn Grk “and just as they did not approve to have God in knowledge.”

[1:28]  ²⁹ tn Grk “the things that are improper.”

[1:29]  ³⁰ tn Grk “being filled” or “having been filled,” referring to those described in v. 28. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:29]  ³¹ tn Grk “malice, full of,” continuing the description. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:31]  ³² tn Or “promise-breakers.”

[1:32]  ³³ tn Grk “who, knowing…, not only do them but also approve…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:32]  ³⁴ tn Grk “are worthy of death.”

[1:32]  ³⁵ sn “Vice lists” like vv. 28-32 can be found elsewhere in the NT in Matt 15:19; Gal 5:19-21; 1 Tim 1:9-10; and 1 Pet 4:3. An example from the intertestamental period can be found in Wis 14:25-26.

[13:1]  ³⁶ tn Grk “by God.”

[5:7]  ³⁷ sn Verse 7 forms something of a parenthetical comment in Paul’s argument.