John 10:30

10:30 The Father and I ¹  are one.” ² 

John 16:14-15

16:14 He ³  will glorify me, ⁴  because he will receive ⁵  from me what is mine ⁶  and will tell it to you. ⁷  16:15 Everything that the Father has is mine; that is why I said the Spirit ⁸  will receive from me what is mine ⁹  and will tell it to you. ¹⁰ 

John 16:1

16:1 “I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away. ¹¹ 

Colossians 3:21-23

3:21 Fathers, ¹²  do not provoke ¹³  your children, so they will not become disheartened. 3:22 Slaves, ¹⁴  obey your earthly ¹⁵  masters in every respect, not only when they are watching – like those who are strictly people-pleasers – but with a sincere heart, fearing the Lord. 3:23 Whatever you are doing, ¹⁶  work at it with enthusiasm, ¹⁷  as to the Lord and not for people, ¹⁸ 

Colossians 1:15-19

The Supremacy of Christ

1:15 ¹⁹ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn ²⁰  over all creation, ²¹ 

1:16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, ²²  whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together ²³  in him.

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ²⁴  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ²⁵ 

1:19 For God ²⁶  was pleased to have all his ²⁷  fullness dwell ²⁸  in the Son ²⁹ 

Colossians 2:9

2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives ³⁰  in bodily form,

[10:30]  ¹ tn Grk “I and the Father.” The order has been reversed to reflect English style.

[10:30]  ² tn The phrase ἕν ἐσμεν ({en esmen) is a significant assertion with trinitarian implications. ἕν is neuter, not masculine, so the assertion is not that Jesus and the Father are one person, but one “thing.” Identity of the two persons is not what is asserted, but essential unity (unity of essence).

[16:14]  ³ tn Grk “That one.”

[16:14]  ⁴ tn Or “will honor me.”

[16:14]  ⁵ tn Or “he will take.”

[16:14]  ⁶ tn The words “what is mine” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[16:14]  ⁷ tn Or “will announce it to you.”

[16:15]  ⁸ tn Grk “I said he”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:15]  ⁹ tn The words “what is mine” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[16:15]  ¹⁰ tn Or “will announce it to you.”

[16:1]  ¹¹ tn Grk “so that you will not be caused to stumble.”

[3:21]  ¹² tn Or perhaps “Parents.” The plural οἱ πατέρες (Joi patere", “fathers”) can be used to refer to both the male and female parent (BDAG 786 s.v. πατήρ 1.a).

[3:21]  ¹³ tn Or “do not cause your children to become resentful” (L&N 88.168). BDAG 391 s.v. ἐρεθίζω states, “to cause someone to react in a way that suggests acceptance of a challenge, arouse, provoke mostly in bad sense irritate, embitter.”

[3:22]  ¹⁴ tn On this word here and in 4:1, see the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[3:22]  ¹⁵ tn The prepositional phrase κατὰ σάρκα (kata sarka) does not necessarily qualify the masters as earthly or human (as opposed to the Master in heaven, the Lord), but could also refer to the sphere in which “the service-relation holds true.” See BDAG 577 s.v. κύριος 1.b.

[3:23]  ¹⁶ tn The present progressive “are doing” was used in the translation of ποιῆτε (poihte) to bring out the idea that Paul is probably referring to what they already do for work.

[3:23]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “from the soul.”

[3:23]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “men”; here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") is used in a generic sense and refers to people in general.

[1:15]  ¹⁹ sn This passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

[1:15]  ²⁰ tn The Greek term πρωτότοκος (prwtotokos) could refer either to first in order of time, such as a first born child, or it could refer to one who is preeminent in rank. M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 43, expresses the meaning of the word well: “The ‘firstborn’ was either the eldest child in a family or a person of preeminent rank. The use of this term to describe the Davidic king in Ps 88:28 LXX (=Ps 89:27 EVV), ‘I will also appoint him my firstborn (πρωτότοκον), the most exalted of the kings of the earth,’ indicates that it can denote supremacy in rank as well as priority in time. But whether the πρωτό- element in the word denotes time, rank, or both, the significance of the -τοκος element as indicating birth or origin (from τίκτω, give birth to) has been virtually lost except in ref. to lit. birth.” In Col 1:15 the emphasis is on the priority of Jesus’ rank as over and above creation (cf. 1:16 and the “for” clause referring to Jesus as Creator).

[1:15]  ²¹ tn The genitive construction πάσης κτίσεως (pash" ktisew") is a genitive of subordination and is therefore translated as “over all creation.” See ExSyn 103-4.

[1:16]  ²² tn BDAG 579 s.v. κυριότης 3 suggests “bearers of the ruling powers, dominions” here.

[1:17]  ²³ tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.

[1:18]  ²⁴ tn See the note on the term “firstborn” in 1:15. Here the reference to Jesus as the “firstborn from among the dead” seems to be arguing for a chronological priority, i.e., Jesus was the first to rise from the dead.

[1:18]  ²⁵ tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”

[1:19]  ²⁶ tn The noun “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but since God is the one who reconciles the world to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:19), he is clearly the subject of εὐδόκησεν (eudokhsen).

[1:19]  ²⁷ tn The Greek article τό (to), insofar as it relates to God, may be translated as a possessive pronoun, i.e., “his.” BDAG 404 s.v. εὐδοκέω 1 translates the phrase as “all the fullness willed to dwell in him” thus leaving the referent as impersonal. Insofar as Paul is alluding to the so-called emanations from God this is acceptable. But the fact that “the fullness” dwells in a person (i.e., “in him”) seems to argue for the translation “his fullness” where “his” refers to God.

[1:19]  ²⁸ tn The aorist verb κατοικῆσαι (katoikhsai) could be taken as an ingressive, in which case it refers to the incarnation and may be translated as “begin to dwell, to take up residence.” It is perhaps better, though, to take it as a constative aorist and simply a reference to the fact that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. This is a permanent dwelling, though, not a temporary one, as the present tense in 2:9 makes clear.

[1:19]  ²⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the Son; see v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:9]  ³⁰ sn In him all the fullness of deity lives. The present tense in this verse (“lives”) is significant. Again, as was stated in the note on 1:19, this is not a temporary dwelling, but a permanent one. Paul’s point is polemical against the idea that the fullness of God dwells anywhere else, as the Gnostics believed, except in Christ alone. At the incarnation, the second person of the Trinity assumed humanity, and is forever the God-man.