Genesis 3:19

3:19 By the sweat of your brow ¹  you will eat food

until you return to the ground, ² 

for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” ³ 

Jude 1:16

1:16 These people are grumblers and ⁴  fault-finders who go ⁵  wherever their desires lead them, ⁶  and they give bombastic speeches, ⁷  enchanting folks ⁸  for their own gain. ⁹ 

Ecclesiastes 5:12

5:12 The sleep of the laborer is pleasant – whether he eats little or much –

but the wealth of the rich will not allow him to sleep.

Ephesians 4:28

4:28 The one who steals must steal no longer; rather he must labor, doing good with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with the one who has need.

Ephesians 4:2

4:2 with all humility and gentleness, ¹⁰  with patience, bearing with ¹¹  one another in love,

Ephesians 3:8-12

3:8 To me – less than the least of all the saints ¹²  – this grace was given, ¹³  to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ 3:9 and to enlighten ¹⁴  everyone about God’s secret plan ¹⁵  – a secret that has been hidden for ages ¹⁶  in God ¹⁷  who has created all things. 3:10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that ¹⁸  through the church the multifaceted wisdom ¹⁹  of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms. 3:11 This was according to ²⁰  the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 3:12 in whom we have boldness and confident access ²¹  to God ²²  because of ²³  Christ’s ²⁴  faithfulness. ²⁵ 

[3:19]  ¹ tn The expression “the sweat of your brow” is a metonymy, the sweat being the result of painful toil in the fields.

[3:19]  ² sn Until you return to the ground. The theme of humankind’s mortality is critical here in view of the temptation to be like God. Man will labor painfully to provide food, obviously not enjoying the bounty that creation promised. In place of the abundance of the orchard’s fruit trees, thorns and thistles will grow. Man will have to work the soil so that it will produce the grain to make bread. This will continue until he returns to the soil from which he was taken (recalling the creation in 2:7 with the wordplay on Adam and ground). In spite of the dreams of immortality and divinity, man is but dust (2:7), and will return to dust. So much for his pride.

[3:19]  ³ sn In general, the themes of the curse oracles are important in the NT teaching that Jesus became the cursed one hanging on the tree. In his suffering and death, all the motifs are drawn together: the tree, the sweat, the thorns, and the dust of death (see Ps 22:15). Jesus experienced it all, to have victory over it through the resurrection.

[1:16]  ⁴ tn “And” is not in Greek, but is supplied for the sake of English style.

[1:16]  ⁵ tn Or “going.” Though the participle is anarthrous, so also is the subject. Thus, the participle could be either adverbial or adjectival.

[1:16]  ⁶ tn Grk “(who go/going) according to their own lusts.”

[1:16]  ⁷ tn Grk “and their mouth speaks bombastic things.”

[1:16]  ⁸ sn Enchanting folks (Grk “awing faces”) refers to the fact that the speeches of these false teachers are powerful and seductive.

[1:16]  ⁹ tn Or “to their own advantage.”

[4:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “meekness.” The word is often used in Hellenistic Greek of the merciful execution of justice on behalf of those who have no voice by those who are in a position of authority (Matt 11:29; 21:5).

[4:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “putting up with”; or “forbearing.”

[3:8]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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).

[3:9]  ¹⁴ tn There is a possible causative nuance in the Greek verb, but this is difficult to convey in the translation.

[3:9]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “what is the plan of the divine secret.” Earlier the author had used οἰκονομία (oikonomia; here “plan”) to refer to his own “stewardship” (v. 2). But now he is speaking about the content of this secret, not his own activity in relation to it.

[3:9]  ¹⁶ tn Or “for eternity,” or perhaps “from the Aeons.” Cf. 2:2, 7.

[3:9]  ¹⁷ tn Or “by God.” It is possible that ἐν (en) plus the dative here indicates agency, that is, that God has performed the action of hiding the secret. However, this usage of the preposition ἐν is quite rare in the NT, and even though here it does follow a perfect passive verb as in the Classical idiom, it is more likely that a different nuance is intended.

[3:10]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “that.” Verse 10 is a subordinate clause to the verb “enlighten” in v. 9.

[3:10]  ¹⁹ tn Or “manifold wisdom,” “wisdom in its rich variety.”

[3:11]  ²⁰ tn Grk “according to.” The verse is a prepositional phrase subordinate to v. 10.

[3:12]  ²¹ tn Grk “access in confidence.”

[3:12]  ²² tn The phrase “to God” is not in the text, but is clearly implied by the preceding, “access.”

[3:12]  ²³ tn Grk “through,” “by way of.”

[3:12]  ²⁴ tn Grk “his.”

[3:12]  ²⁵ tn Or “faith in him.” A decision is difficult here. Though traditionally translated “faith in Jesus Christ,” an increasing number of NT scholars are arguing that πίστις Χριστοῦ (pisti" Cristou) and similar phrases in Paul (here and in Rom 3:22, 26; Gal 2:16, 20; 3:22; Phil 3:9) involve a subjective genitive and mean “Christ’s faith” or “Christ’s faithfulness” (cf., e.g., G. Howard, “The ‘Faith of Christ’,” ExpTim 85 [1974]: 212-15; R. B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ [SBLDS]; Morna D. Hooker, “Πίστις Χριστοῦ,” NTS 35 [1989]: 321-42). Noteworthy among the arguments for the subjective genitive view is that when πίστις takes a personal genitive it is almost never an objective genitive (cf. Matt 9:2, 22, 29; Mark 2:5; 5:34; 10:52; Luke 5:20; 7:50; 8:25, 48; 17:19; 18:42; 22:32; Rom 1:8; 12; 3:3; 4:5, 12, 16; 1 Cor 2:5; 15:14, 17; 2 Cor 10:15; Phil 2:17; Col 1:4; 2:5; 1 Thess 1:8; 3:2, 5, 10; 2 Thess 1:3; Titus 1:1; Phlm 6; 1 Pet 1:9, 21; 2 Pet 1:5). On the other hand, the objective genitive view has its adherents: A. Hultgren, “The Pistis Christou Formulations in Paul,” NovT 22 (1980): 248-63; J. D. G. Dunn, “Once More, ΠΙΣΤΙΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ,” SBL Seminar Papers, 1991, 730-44. Most commentaries on Romans and Galatians usually side with the objective view.