John 1:7-8

1:7 He came as a witness ¹  to testify ²  about the light, so that everyone ³  might believe through him. 1:8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify ⁴  about the light.

Matthew 11:11

11:11 “I tell you the truth, ⁵  among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least ⁶  in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.

Luke 1:15-17

1:15 for he will be great in the sight of ⁷  the Lord. He ⁸  must never drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. ⁹  1:16 He ¹⁰  will turn ¹¹  many of the people ¹²  of Israel to the Lord their God. 1:17 And he will go as forerunner before the Lord ¹³  in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, ¹⁴  to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.”

Luke 1:76-77

1:76 And you, child, ¹⁵  will be called the prophet ¹⁶  of the Most High. ¹⁷ 

For you will go before ¹⁸  the Lord to prepare his ways, ¹⁹ 

1:77 to give his people knowledge of salvation ²⁰  through the forgiveness ²¹  of their sins.

Luke 7:28

7:28 I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater ²²  than John. ²³  Yet the one who is least ²⁴  in the kingdom of God ²⁵  is greater than he is.”

Luke 7:2

7:2 A centurion ²⁶  there ²⁷  had a slave ²⁸  who was highly regarded, ²⁹  but who was sick and at the point of death.

Luke 1:19

1:19 The ³⁰  angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands ³¹  in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring ³²  you this good news.

[1:7]  ¹ tn Grk “came for a testimony.”

[1:7]  ² tn Or “to bear witness.”

[1:7]  ³ tn Grk “all.”

[1:8]  ⁴ tn Or “to bear witness.”

[11:11]  ⁵ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[11:11]  ⁶ sn After John comes a shift of eras. The new era is so great that the lowest member of it (the one who is least in the kingdom of God) is greater than the greatest one of the previous era.

[1:15]  ⁷ tn Grk “before.”

[1:15]  ⁸ tn Grk “and he”; because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun in the translation.

[1:15]  ⁹ tn Grk “even from his mother’s womb.” While this idiom may be understood to refer to the point of birth (“even from his birth”), Luke 1:41 suggests that here it should be understood to refer to a time before birth.

[1:16]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:16]  ¹¹ sn The word translated will turn is a good summary term for repentance and denotes John’s call to a change of direction (Luke 3:1-14).

[1:16]  ¹² tn Grk “sons”; but clearly this is a generic reference to people of both genders.

[1:17]  ¹³ tn Grk “before him”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:17]  ¹⁴ sn These two lines cover all relationships: Turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children points to horizontal relationships, while (turn) the disobedient to the wisdom of the just shows what God gives from above in a vertical manner.

[1:76]  ¹⁵ sn Now Zechariah describes his son John (you, child) through v. 77.

[1:76]  ¹⁶ tn Or “a prophet”; but since Greek nouns can be definite without the article, and since in context this is a reference to the eschatological forerunner of the Messiah (cf. John 1:17), the concept is better conveyed to the English reader by the use of the definite article “the.”

[1:76]  ¹⁷ sn In other words, John is a prophet of God; see 1:32 and 7:22-23, 28.

[1:76]  ¹⁸ tc Most mss, especially the later ones (A C D L Θ Ψ 0130 Ë^1,13 33 Ï sy), have πρὸ προσώπου κυρίου (pro proswpou kuriou, “before the face of the Lord”), but the translation follows the reading ἐνώπιον κυρίου (enwpion kuriou, “before the Lord”), which has earlier and better ms support (Ì⁴ א B W 0177 pc) and is thus more likely to be authentic.

[1:76]  ¹⁹ tn This term is often translated in the singular, looking specifically to the forerunner role, but the plural suggests the many elements in that salvation.

[1:77]  ²⁰ sn John’s role, to give his people knowledge of salvation, is similar to that of Jesus (Luke 3:1-14; 5:31-32).

[1:77]  ²¹ sn Forgiveness is another major Lukan theme (Luke 4:18; 24:47; Acts 10:37).

[7:28]  ²² sn In the Greek text greater is at the beginning of the clause in the emphatic position. John the Baptist was the greatest man of the old era.

[7:28]  ²³ tc The earliest and best mss read simply ᾿Ιωάννου (Iwannou, “John”) here (Ì⁷⁵ א B L W Ξ Ë¹ 579 pc). Others turn this into “John the Baptist” (K 33 565 al it), “the prophet John the Baptist” (A [D] Θ Ë¹³ Ï lat), or “the prophet John” (Ψ 700 [892 1241] pc). “It appears that προφήτης was inserted by pedantic copyists who wished thereby to exclude Christ from the comparison, while others added τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ, assimilating the text to Mt 11.11” (TCGNT 119).

[7:28]  ²⁴ sn After John comes a shift of eras. The new era is so great that the lowest member of it (the one who is least in the kingdom of God) is greater than the greatest one of the previous era.

[7:28]  ²⁵ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus’ proclamation. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21. It is not strictly future, though its full manifestation is yet to come. That is why membership in it starts right after John the Baptist.

[7:2]  ²⁶ sn A centurion was a noncommissioned officer in the Roman army or one of the auxiliary territorial armies, commanding a centuria of (nominally) 100 men. The responsibilities of centurions were broadly similar to modern junior officers, but there was a wide gap in social status between them and officers, and relatively few were promoted beyond the rank of senior centurion. The Roman troops stationed in Judea were auxiliaries, who would normally be rewarded with Roman citizenship after 25 years of service. Some of the centurions may have served originally in the Roman legions (regular army) and thus gained their citizenship at enlistment. Others may have inherited it, like Paul.

[7:2]  ²⁷ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[7:2]  ²⁸ tn Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times… in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v. 1). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος) in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force. In addition, the parallel passage in Matt 8:6 uses the Greek term παῖς (pais), to refer to the centurion’s slave. This was a term often used of a slave who was regarded with some degree of affection, possibly a personal servant.

[7:2]  ²⁹ tn The term ἔντιμος (entimos) could mean “highly valued,” but this sounds too much like the slave was seen as an asset, while the text suggests a genuine care for the person. More archaically, it could be said the centurion was fond of this slave.

[1:19]  ³⁰ tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:19]  ³¹ tn Grk “the one who is standing before God.”

[1:19]  ³² tn Grk “to announce these things of good news to you.”