Galatians 5:2-6

5:2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all! 5:3 And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey ¹  the whole law. 5:4 You who are trying to be declared righteous ²  by the law have been alienated ³  from Christ; you have fallen away from grace! 5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness. 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight – the only thing that matters is faith working through love. ⁴ 

Acts 15:24

15:24 Since we have heard that some have gone out from among us with no orders from us and have confused ⁵  you, upsetting ⁶  your minds ⁷  by what they said, ⁸ 

Acts 16:3

16:3 Paul wanted Timothy ⁹  to accompany him, and he took ¹⁰  him and circumcised ¹¹  him because of the Jews who were in those places, ¹²  for they all knew that his father was Greek. ¹³ 

Acts 16:1

Timothy Joins Paul and Silas

16:1 He also came to Derbe ¹⁴  and to Lystra. ¹⁵  A disciple ¹⁶  named Timothy was there, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, ¹⁷  but whose father was a Greek. ¹⁸ 

Colossians 1:20-21

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ¹⁹  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Paul’s Goal in Ministry

1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your ²⁰  minds ²¹  as expressed through ²²  your evil deeds,

[5:3]  ¹ tn Or “keep”; or “carry out”; Grk “do.”

[5:4]  ² tn Or “trying to be justified.” The verb δικαιοῦσθε (dikaiousqe) has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534).

[5:4]  ³ tn Or “estranged”; BDAG 526 s.v. καταργέω 4 states, “Of those who aspire to righteousness through the law κ. ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ be estranged from Christ Gal 5:4.”

[5:6]  ⁴ tn Grk “but faith working through love.”

[15:24]  ⁵ tn Here BDAG 990-91 s.v. ταράσσω 2 states, “Of mental confusion caused by false teachings ταρ. τινά Ac 15:24 (w. λόγοις foll.).”

[15:24]  ⁶ tn BDAG 71 s.v. ἀνασκευάζω describes this verb with a figurative meaning: “to cause inward distress, upset, unsettle.”

[15:24]  ⁷ tn Grk “souls.”

[15:24]  ⁸ tn Grk “by words”; L&N 25.231 translates the phrase “they troubled and upset you by what they said.”

[16:3]  ⁹ tn Grk “this one”; the referent (Timothy) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:3]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and taking him he circumcised him.” The participle λαβών (labwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. Paul’s cultural sensitivity showed in his action here. He did not want Timothy’s lack of circumcision to become an issue (1 Cor 9:15-23).

[16:3]  ¹¹ tn The verb περιέτεμεν (perietemen) here may be understood as causative (cf. ExSyn 411-12) if Paul did not personally perform the circumcision.

[16:3]  ¹² tn Or “who lived in the area.”

[16:3]  ¹³ tn The anarthrous predicate nominative has been translated as qualitative (“Greek”) rather than indefinite (“a Greek”).

[16:1]  ¹⁴ sn Derbe was a city in Lycaonia about 35 mi (60 km) southeast of Lystra. It was about 90 mi (145 km) from Tarsus.

[16:1]  ¹⁵ sn Lystra was a city in Lycaonia about 25 mi (40 km) south of Iconium.

[16:1]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “And behold, a disciple.” Here ἰδού (idou) has not been translated.

[16:1]  ¹⁷ tn L&N 31.103 translates this phrase “the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer.”

[16:1]  ¹⁸ sn His father was a Greek. Timothy was the offspring of a mixed marriage between a Jewish woman (see 2 Tim 1:5) and a Gentile man. On mixed marriages in Judaism, see Neh 13:23-27; Ezra 9:1-10:44; Mal 2:10-16; Jub. 30:7-17; m. Qiddushin 3.12; m. Yevamot 7.5.

[1:20]  ¹⁹ tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.

[1:21]  ²⁰ tn The article τῇ (th) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[1:21]  ²¹ tn Although διανοία (dianoia) is singular in Greek, the previous plural noun ἐχθρούς (ecqrous) indicates that all those from Colossae are in view here.

[1:21]  ²² tn The dative ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς (en toi" ergoi" toi" ponhroi") is taken as means, indicating the avenue through which hostility in the mind is revealed and made known.