Galatians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ¹  an apostle (not from men, nor by human agency, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead)

Galatians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²  an apostle (not from men, nor by human agency, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead)

Colossians 2:9-10

2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives ³  in bodily form, 2:10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

Colossians 1:23

1:23 if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, ⁴  without shifting ⁵  from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.

Colossians 1:1-3

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ⁶  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 1:2 to the saints, the faithful ⁷  brothers and sisters ⁸  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ⁹  from God our Father! ¹⁰ 

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church

1:3 We always ¹¹  give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

Ephesians 3:3-8

3:3 that ¹²  by revelation the divine secret ¹³  was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly. ¹⁴  3:4 When reading this, ¹⁵  you will be able to ¹⁶  understand my insight into this secret ¹⁷  of Christ. 3:5 Now this secret ¹⁸  was not disclosed to people ¹⁹  in former ²⁰  generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by ²¹  the Spirit, 3:6 namely, that through the gospel ²²  the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members ²³  of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. 3:7 I became a servant of this gospel ²⁴  according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by ²⁵  the exercise of his power. ²⁶  3:8 To me – less than the least of all the saints ²⁷  – this grace was given, ²⁸  to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ

[1:1]  ¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ² tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[2:9]  ³ sn In him all the fullness of deity lives. The present tense in this verse (“lives”) is significant. Again, as was stated in the note on 1:19, this is not a temporary dwelling, but a permanent one. Paul’s point is polemical against the idea that the fullness of God dwells anywhere else, as the Gnostics believed, except in Christ alone. At the incarnation, the second person of the Trinity assumed humanity, and is forever the God-man.

[1:23]  ⁴ tn BDAG 276 s.v. ἑδραῖος suggests “firm, steadfast.”

[1:23]  ⁵ tn BDAG 639 s.v. μετακινέω suggests “without shifting from the hope” here.

[1:1]  ⁶ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:2]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ¹⁰ 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.

[1:3]  ¹¹ tn The adverb πάντοτε (pantote) is understood to modify the indicative εὐχαριστοῦμεν (eucaristoumen) because it precedes περὶ ὑμῶν (peri Jumwn) which probably modifies the indicative and not the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi). But see 1:9 where the same expression occurs and περὶ ὑμῶν modifies the participle “praying” (προσευχόμενοι).

[3:3]  ¹² tn Or “namely, that is.”

[3:3]  ¹³ tn Or “mystery.”

[3:3]  ¹⁴ tn Or “as I wrote above briefly.”

[3:4]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “which, when reading.”

[3:4]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “you are able to.”

[3:4]  ¹⁷ tn Or “mystery.”

[3:5]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “which.” Verse 5 is technically a relative clause, subordinate to the thought of v. 4.

[3:5]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “the sons of men” (a Semitic idiom referring to human beings, hence, “people”).

[3:5]  ²⁰ tn Grk “other.”

[3:5]  ²¹ tn Or “in.”

[3:6]  ²² sn The phrase through the gospel is placed last in the sentence in Greek for emphasis. It has been moved forward for clarity.

[3:6]  ²³ tn Grk “and fellow members.”

[3:7]  ²⁴ tn Grk “of which I was made a minister,” “of which I became a servant.”

[3:7]  ²⁵ tn Grk “according to.”

[3:7]  ²⁶ sn On the exercise of his power see 1:19-20.

[3:8]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ 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).