John 15:16

15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you ¹  and appointed you to go and bear ²  fruit, fruit that remains, ³  so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.

John 17:17

17:17 Set them apart ⁴  in the truth; your word is truth.

John 17:19

17:19 And I set myself apart ⁵  on their behalf, ⁶  so that they too may be truly set apart. ⁷ 

Acts 20:32

20:32 And now I entrust ⁸  you to God and to the message ⁹  of his grace. This message ¹⁰  is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Acts 20:1

Paul Travels Through Macedonia and Greece

20:1 After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging ¹¹  them and saying farewell, ¹²  he left to go to Macedonia. ¹³ 

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ¹⁴  brothers and sisters ¹⁵  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ¹⁶  from God our Father! ¹⁷ 

Colossians 1:11

1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ¹⁸  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully

Ephesians 5:26

5:26 to sanctify her by cleansing her ¹⁹  with the washing of the water by the word,

Ephesians 5:1

Live in Love

5:1 Therefore, be ²⁰  imitators of God as dearly loved children

Ephesians 5:23

5:23 because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church – he himself being the savior of the body.

Ephesians 5:1

Live in Love

5:1 Therefore, be ²¹  imitators of God as dearly loved children

Ephesians 1:2

1:2 Grace and peace to you ²²  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

[15:16]  ¹ sn You did not choose me, but I chose you. If the disciples are now elevated in status from slaves to friends, they are friends who have been chosen by Jesus, rather than the opposite way round. Again this is true of all Christians, not just the twelve, and the theme that Christians are “chosen” by God appears frequently in other NT texts (e.g., Rom 8:33; Eph 1:4ff.; Col 3:12; and 1 Pet 2:4). Putting this together with the comments on 15:14 one may ask whether the author sees any special significance at all for the twelve. Jesus said in John 6:70 and 13:18 that he chose them, and 15:27 makes clear that Jesus in the immediate context is addressing those who have been with him from the beginning. In the Fourth Gospel the twelve, as the most intimate and most committed followers of Jesus, are presented as the models for all Christians, both in terms of their election and in terms of their mission.

[15:16]  ² tn Or “and yield.”

[15:16]  ³ sn The purpose for which the disciples were appointed (“commissioned”) is to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains. The introduction of the idea of “going” at this point suggests that the fruit is something more than just character qualities in the disciples’ own lives, but rather involves fruit in the lives of others, i.e., Christian converts. There is a mission involved (cf. John 4:36). The idea that their fruit is permanent, however, relates back to vv. 7-8, as does the reference to asking the Father in Jesus’ name. It appears that as the imagery of the vine and the branches develops, the “fruit” which the branches produce shifts in emphasis from qualities in the disciples’ own lives in John 15:2, 4, 5 to the idea of a mission which affects the lives of others in John 15:16. The point of transition would be the reference to fruit in 15:8.

[17:17]  ⁴ tn Or “Consecrate them” or “Sanctify them.”

[17:19]  ⁵ tn Or “I sanctify.”

[17:19]  ⁶ tn Or “for their sake.”

[17:19]  ⁷ tn Or “they may be truly consecrated,” or “they may be truly sanctified.”

[20:32]  ⁸ tn Or “commend.” BDAG 772 s.v. παρατίθημι 3.b has “τινά τινι entrust someone to the care or protection of someone…Of divine protection παρέθεντο αὐτοὺς τῷ κυρίῳ Ac 14:23; cp. 20:32.”

[20:32]  ⁹ tn Grk “word.”

[20:32]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the message of his grace, which.” The phrase τῷ δυναμένῳ οἰκοδομῆσαι… (tw dunamenw oikodomhsai…) refers to τῷ λόγω (tw logw), not τῆς χάριτος (ths caritos); in English it could refer to either “the message” or “grace,” but in Greek, because of agreement in gender, the referent can only be “the message.” To make this clear, a new sentence was begun in the translation and the referent “the message” was repeated at the beginning of this new sentence.

[20:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “exhorting.”

[20:1]  ¹² tn Or “and taking leave of them.”

[20:1]  ¹³ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[1:2]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ¹⁷ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[1:11]  ¹⁸ tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.

[5:26]  ¹⁹ tn The direct object “her” is implied, but not found in the Greek text. It has been supplied in the English translation to clarify the sense of the passage.

[5:1]  ²⁰ tn Or “become.”

[5:1]  ²¹ tn Or “become.”

[1:2]  ²² tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”