Isaiah 46:13

46:13 I am bringing my deliverance near, it is not far away;

I am bringing my salvation near, ¹  it does not wait.

I will save Zion; ² 

I will adorn Israel with my splendor.” ³ 

Isaiah 51:5

51:5 I am ready to vindicate, ⁴ 

I am ready to deliver, ⁵ 

I will establish justice among the nations. ⁶ 

The coastlands ⁷  wait patiently for me;

they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power. ⁸ 

Psalms 85:9

85:9 Certainly his loyal followers will soon experience his deliverance; ⁹ 

then his splendor will again appear in our land. ¹⁰ 

Matthew 3:2

3:2 “Repent, ¹¹  for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Matthew 4:17

4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach this message: ¹²  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Mark 1:15

1:15 He ¹³  said, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God ¹⁴  is near. Repent and believe the gospel!”

Luke 3:3-9

3:3 He ¹⁵  went into all the region around the Jordan River, ¹⁶  preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ¹⁷ 

3:4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice ¹⁸  of one shouting in the wilderness: ¹⁹ 

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make ²⁰  his paths straight.

3:5 Every valley will be filled, ²¹ 

and every mountain and hill will be brought low,

and the crooked will be made straight,

and the rough ways will be made smooth,

3:6 and all humanity ²²  will see the salvation of God.’” ²³ 

3:7 So John ²⁴  said to the crowds ²⁵  that came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers! ²⁶  Who warned you to flee ²⁷  from the coming wrath? 3:8 Therefore produce ²⁸  fruit ²⁹  that proves your repentance, and don’t begin to say ³⁰  to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ ³¹  For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ³²  3:9 Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees, ³³  and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be ³⁴  cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Romans 1:17

1:17 For the righteousness ³⁵  of God is revealed in the gospel ³⁶  from faith to faith, ³⁷  just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.” ³⁸ 

Romans 10:6-10

10:6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ³⁹  ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” ⁴⁰  (that is, to bring Christ down) 10:7 or “Who will descend into the abyss?” ⁴¹  (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 10:8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” ⁴²  (that is, the word of faith that we preach), 10:9 because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord ⁴³  and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10:10 For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness ⁴⁴  and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. ⁴⁵ 

Romans 13:11-14

Motivation to Godly Conduct

13:11 And do this ⁴⁶  because we know ⁴⁷  the time, that it is already the hour for us to awake from sleep, for our salvation is now nearer than when we became believers. 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. 13:13 Let us live decently as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in discord and jealousy. 13:14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to arouse its desires. ⁴⁸ 

[46:13]  ¹ tn Heb “my salvation.” The verb “I am bringing near” is understood by ellipsis (note the previous line).

[46:13]  ² tn Heb “I will place in Zion salvation”; NASB “I will grant salvation in Zion.”

[46:13]  ³ tn Heb “to Israel my splendor”; KJV, ASV “for Israel my glory.”

[51:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”] is near.”

[51:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “my deliverance goes forth.”

[51:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “and my arms will judge [on behalf of] nations.”

[51:5]  ⁷ tn Or “islands” (NIV); TEV “Distant lands.”

[51:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “for my arm” (so NIV, NRSV).

[85:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “certainly his deliverance [is] near to those who fear him.”

[85:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to dwell, glory, in our land.” “Glory” is the subject of the infinitive. The infinitive with -לְ (lÿ), “to dwell,” probably indicates result here (“then”). When God delivers his people and renews his relationship with them, he will once more reveal his royal splendor in the land.

[3:2]  ¹¹ tn Grk “and saying, ‘Repent.’” The participle λέγων (legwn) at the beginning of v. 2 is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[4:17]  ¹² tn Grk “and to say.”

[1:15]  ¹³ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:15]  ¹⁴ sn The kingdom of God is a reference to the sovereign activity of God as he rules over his creation and brings his plans to realization.

[3:3]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:3]  ¹⁶ tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

[3:3]  ¹⁷ sn A baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was a call for preparation for the arrival of the Lord’s salvation. To participate in this baptism was a recognition of the need for God’s forgiveness with a sense that one needed to live differently as a response to it (Luke 3:10-14).

[3:4]  ¹⁸ tn Or “A voice.”

[3:4]  ¹⁹ tn Or “desert.” The syntactic position of the phrase “in the wilderness” is unclear in both Luke and the LXX. The MT favors taking it with “Prepare a way,” while the LXX takes it with “a voice shouting.” If the former, the meaning would be that such preparation should be done “in the wilderness.” If the latter, the meaning would be that the place from where John’s ministry went forth was “in the wilderness.” There are Jewish materials that support both renderings: 1QS 8:14 and 9.19-20 support the MT while certain rabbinic texts favor the LXX (see D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:290-91). While it is not absolutely necessary that a call in the wilderness led to a response in the wilderness, it is not unlikely that such would be the case. Thus, in the final analysis, the net effect between the two choices may be minimal. In any case, a majority of commentators and translations take “in the wilderness” with “The voice of one shouting” (D. L. Bock; R. H. Stein, Luke [NAC], 129; I. H. Marshall, Luke [NIGTC], 136; NIV, NRSV, NKJV, NLT, NASB, REB).

[3:4]  ²⁰ tn This call to “make paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance as the verb ποιέω (poiew) reappears in vv. 8, 10, 11, 12, 14.

[3:5]  ²¹ sn The figurative language of this verse speaks of the whole creation preparing for the arrival of a major figure, so all obstacles to his approach are removed.

[3:6]  ²² tn Grk “all flesh.”

[3:6]  ²³ sn A quotation from Isa 40:3-5. Though all the synoptic gospels use this citation from Isaiah, only Luke cites the material of vv. 5-6. His goal may well be to get to the declaration of v. 6, where all humanity (i.e., all nations) see God’s salvation (see also Luke 24:47).

[3:7]  ²⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:7]  ²⁵ sn The crowds. It is interesting to trace references to “the crowd” in Luke. It is sometimes noted favorably, other times less so. The singular appears 25 times in Luke while the plural occurs 16 times. Matt 3:7 singles out the Sadducees and Pharisees here.

[3:7]  ²⁶ tn Or “snakes.”

[3:7]  ²⁷ sn The rebuke “Who warned you to flee…?” compares the crowd to snakes who flee their desert holes when the heat of a fire drives them out.

[3:8]  ²⁸ tn The verb here is ποιέω (poiew; see v. 4).

[3:8]  ²⁹ tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit” (so NIV; cf. Matt 3:8 where the singular καρπός is found). Some other translations render the plural καρπούς as “fruits” (e.g., NRSV, NASB, NAB, NKJV).

[3:8]  ³⁰ tn In other words, “do not even begin to think this.”

[3:8]  ³¹ sn We have Abraham as our father. John’s warning to the crowds really assumes two things: (1) A number of John’s listeners apparently believed that simply by their physical descent from Abraham, they were certain heirs of the promises made to the patriarch, and (2) God would never judge his covenant people lest he inadvertently place the fulfillment of his promises in jeopardy. In light of this, John tells these people two things: (1) they need to repent and produce fruit in keeping with repentance, for only that saves from the coming wrath, and (2) God will raise up “children for Abraham from these stones” if he wants to. Their disobedience will not threaten the realization of God’s sovereign purposes.

[3:8]  ³² sn The point of the statement God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham is that ancestry or association with a tradition tied to the great founder of the Jewish nation is not an automatic source of salvation.

[3:9]  ³³ sn Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees. The imagery of an “ax already laid at the root of the trees” is vivid, connoting sudden and catastrophic judgment for the unrepentant and unfruitful. The image of “fire” serves to further heighten the intensity of the judgment referred to. It is John’s way of summoning all people to return to God with all their heart and avoid his unquenchable wrath soon to be poured out. John’s language and imagery is probably ultimately drawn from the OT where Israel is referred to as a fruitless vine (Hos 10:1-2; Jer 2:21-22) and the image of an “ax” is used to indicate God’s judgment (Ps 74:5-6; Jer 46:22).

[3:9]  ³⁴ tn Grk “is”; the present tense (ἐκκόπτεται, ekkoptetai) has futuristic force here.

[1:17]  ³⁵ tn The nature of the “righteousness” described here and the force of the genitive θεοῦ (“of God”) which follows have been much debated. (1) Some (e.g. C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:98) understand “righteousness” to refer to the righteous status given to believers as a result of God’s justifying activity, and see the genitive “of God” as a genitive of source (= “from God”). (2) Others see the “righteousness” as God’s act or declaration that makes righteous (i.e., justifies) those who turn to him in faith, taking the genitive “of God” as a subjective genitive (see E. Käsemann, Romans, 25-30). (3) Still others see the “righteousness of God” mentioned here as the attribute of God himself, understanding the genitive “of God” as a possessive genitive (“God’s righteousness”).

[1:17]  ³⁶ tn Grk “in it”; the referent (the gospel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:17]  ³⁷ tn Or “by faith for faith,” or “by faith to faith.” There are many interpretations of the phrase ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν (ek pistew" ei" pistin). It may have the idea that this righteousness is obtained by faith (ἐκ πίστεως) because it was designed for faith (εἰς πίστιν). For a summary see J. Murray, Romans (NICNT), 1:363-74.

[1:17]  ³⁸ sn A quotation from Hab 2:4.

[10:6]  ³⁹ sn A quotation from Deut 9:4.

[10:6]  ⁴⁰ sn A quotation from Deut 30:12.

[10:7]  ⁴¹ sn A quotation from Deut 30:13.

[10:8]  ⁴² sn A quotation from Deut 30:14.

[10:9]  ⁴³ tn Or “the Lord.” The Greek construction, along with the quotation from Joel 2:32 in v. 13 (in which the same “Lord” seems to be in view) suggests that κύριον (kurion) is to be taken as “the Lord,” that is, Yahweh. Cf. D. B. Wallace, “The Semantics and Exegetical Significance of the Object-Complement Construction in the New Testament,” GTJ 6 (1985): 91-112.

[10:10]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “believes to righteousness.”

[10:10]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “confesses to salvation.”

[13:11]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “and this,” probably referring to the command to love (13:8-10); hence, “do” is implied from the previous verses.

[13:11]  ⁴⁷ tn The participle εἰδότες (eidotes) has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.

[13:14]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “make no provision for the flesh unto desires.”