Galatians 3:23-26

Sons of God Are Heirs of Promise

3:23 Now before faith ¹  came we were held in custody under the law, being kept as prisoners ²  until the coming faith would be revealed. 3:24 Thus the law had become our guardian ³  until Christ, so that we could be declared righteous ⁴  by faith. 3:25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. ⁵  3:26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. ⁶ 

Galatians 5:1

Freedom of the Believer

5:1 For freedom ⁷  Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke ⁸  of slavery.

Galatians 5:13

Practice Love

5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; ⁹  only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, ¹⁰  but through love serve one another. ¹¹ 

Psalms 51:12

51:12 Let me again experience the joy of your deliverance!

Sustain me by giving me the desire to obey! ¹² 

Psalms 119:45

119:45 I will be secure, ¹³ 

for I seek your precepts.

John 8:31-36

Abraham’s Children and the Devil’s Children

8:31 Then Jesus said to those Judeans ¹⁴  who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, ¹⁵  you are really ¹⁶  my disciples 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ¹⁷  8:33 “We are descendants ¹⁸  of Abraham,” they replied, ¹⁹  “and have never been anyone’s slaves! How can you say, ²⁰  ‘You will become free’?” 8:34 Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, ²¹  everyone who practices ²²  sin is a slave ²³  of sin. 8:35 The slave does not remain in the family ²⁴  forever, but the son remains forever. ²⁵  8:36 So if the son ²⁶  sets you free, you will be really free.

John 8:2

8:2 Early in the morning he came to the temple courts again. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach ²⁷  them.

Colossians 3:17

3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:1

Exhortations to Seek the Things Above

3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 2:16

2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days –

Colossians 2:2

2:2 My goal is that ²⁸  their hearts, having been knit together ²⁹  in love, may be encouraged, and that ³⁰  they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ³¹ 

Colossians 2:19

2:19 He has not held fast ³²  to the head from whom the whole body, supported ³³  and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. ³⁴ 

[3:23]  ¹ tn Or “the faithfulness [of Christ] came.”

[3:23]  ² tc Instead of the present participle συγκλειόμενοι (sunkleiomenoi; found in Ì⁴⁶ א A B D* F G P Ψ 33 1739 al), C D¹ 0176 0278 Ï have the perfect συγκεκλεισμένοι (sunkekleismenoi). The syntactical implication of the perfect is that the cause or the means of being held in custody was confinement (“we were held in custody [by/because of] being confined”). The present participle of course allows for such options, but also allows for contemporaneous time (“while being confined”) and result (“with the result that we were confined”). Externally, the perfect participle has little to commend it, being restricted for the most part to later and Byzantine witnesses.

[3:24]  ³ tn Or “disciplinarian,” “custodian,” or “guide.” According to BDAG 748 s.v. παιδαγωγός, “the man, usu. a slave…whose duty it was to conduct a boy or youth…to and from school and to superintend his conduct gener.; he was not a ‘teacher’ (despite the present mng. of the derivative ‘pedagogue’…When the young man became of age, the π. was no longer needed.” L&N 36.5 gives “guardian, leader, guide” here.

[3:24]  ⁴ tn Or “be justified.”

[3:25]  ⁵ tn See the note on the word “guardian” in v. 24. The punctuation of vv. 25, 26, and 27 is difficult to represent because of the causal connections between each verse. English style would normally require a comma either at the end of v. 25 or v. 26, but in so doing the translation would then link v. 26 almost exclusively with either v. 25 or v. 27; this would be problematic as scholars debate which two verses are to be linked. Because of this, the translation instead places a period at the end of each verse. This preserves some of the ambiguity inherent in the Greek and does not exclude any particular causal connection.

[3:26]  ⁶ tn Or “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

[5:1]  ⁷ tn Translating the dative as “For freedom” shows the purpose for Christ setting us free; however, it is also possible to take the phrase in the sense of means or instrument (“with [or by] freedom”), referring to the freedom mentioned in 4:31 and implied throughout the letter.

[5:1]  ⁸ sn Here the yoke figuratively represents the burdensome nature of slavery.

[5:13]  ⁹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.

[5:13]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “as an opportunity for the flesh”; BDAG 915 s.v. σάρξ 2.c.α states: “In Paul’s thought esp., all parts of the body constitute a totality known as σ. or flesh, which is dominated by sin to such a degree that wherever flesh is, all forms of sin are likew. present, and no good thing can live in the σάρξ…Gal 5:13, 24;…Opp. τὸ πνεῦμα…Gal 3:3; 5:16, 17ab; 6:8ab.”

[5:13]  ¹¹ tn It is possible that the verb δουλεύετε (douleuete) should be translated “serve one another in a humble manner” here, referring to the way in which slaves serve their masters (see L&N 35.27).

[51:12]  ¹² tn Heb “and [with] a willing spirit sustain me.” The psalmist asks that God make him the kind of person who willingly obeys the divine commandments. The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[119:45]  ¹³ tn Heb “and I will walk about in a wide place.” The cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive gives a further consequence of the anticipated positive divine response (see vv. 43-44). Another option is to take the cohortative as expressing the psalmist’s request. In this case one could translate, “and please give me security.”

[8:31]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “to the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory (i.e., “Judeans”), the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9; also BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e.) Here the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple and had believed his claim to be the Messiah, hence, “those Judeans who had believed him.” The term “Judeans” is preferred here to the more general “people” because the debate concerns descent from Abraham (v. 33).

[8:31]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “If you continue in my word.”

[8:31]  ¹⁶ tn Or “truly.”

[8:32]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the truth will release you.” The translation “set you free” or “release you” (unlike the more traditional “make you free”) conveys more the idea that the hearers were currently in a state of slavery from which they needed to be freed. The following context supports precisely this idea.

[8:33]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “We are the seed” (an idiom).

[8:33]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “They answered to him.”

[8:33]  ²⁰ tn Or “How is it that you say.”

[8:34]  ²¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[8:34]  ²² tn Or “who commits.” This could simply be translated, “everyone who sins,” but the Greek is more emphatic, using the participle ποιῶν (poiwn) in a construction with πᾶς (pas), a typical Johannine construction. Here repeated, continuous action is in view. The one whose lifestyle is characterized by repeated, continuous sin is a slave to sin. That one is not free; sin has enslaved him. To break free from this bondage requires outside (divine) intervention. Although the statement is true at the general level (the person who continually practices a lifestyle of sin is enslaved to sin) the particular sin of the Jewish authorities, repeatedly emphasized in the Fourth Gospel, is the sin of unbelief. The present tense in this instance looks at the continuing refusal on the part of the Jewish leaders to acknowledge who Jesus is, in spite of mounting evidence.

[8:34]  ²³ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

[8:35]  ²⁴ tn Or “household.” The Greek work οἰκία (oikia) can denote the family as consisting of relatives by both descent and marriage, as well as slaves and servants, living in the same house (more the concept of an “extended family”).

[8:35]  ²⁵ sn Jesus’ point is that while a slave may be part of a family or household, the slave is not guaranteed a permanent place there, while a son, as a descendant or blood relative, will always be guaranteed a place in the family (remains forever).

[8:36]  ²⁶ tn Or “Son.” The question is whether “son” is to be understood as a direct reference to Jesus himself, or as an indirect reference (a continuation of the generic illustration begun in the previous verse).

[8:2]  ²⁷ tn An ingressive sense for the imperfect fits well here following the aorist participle.

[2:2]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ 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.

[2:19]  ³² tn The Greek participle κρατῶν (kratwn) was translated as a finite verb to avoid an unusually long and pedantic sentence structure in English.

[2:19]  ³³ tn See BDAG 387 s.v. ἐπιχορηγέω 3.

[2:19]  ³⁴ tn The genitive τοῦ θεοῦ (tou qeou) has been translated as a genitive of source, “from God.”