John 9:40-41

9:40 Some of the Pharisees ¹  who were with him heard this ²  and asked him, ³  “We are not blind too, are we?” ⁴  9:41 Jesus replied, ⁵  “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, ⁶  but now because you claim that you can see, ⁷  your guilt ⁸  remains.” ⁹ 

John 9:2

9:2 His disciples asked him, ¹⁰  “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man ¹¹  or his parents?” ¹² 

Colossians 4:3-4

4:3 At the same time pray ¹³  for us too, that ¹⁴  God may open a door for the message ¹⁵  so that we may proclaim ¹⁶  the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ¹⁷  4:4 Pray that I may make it known as I should. ¹⁸ 

Colossians 4:1

4:1 Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

Colossians 2:9-11

2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives ¹⁹  in bodily form, 2:10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 2:11 In him you also were circumcised – not, however, ²⁰  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ²¹  of the fleshly body, ²²  that is, ²³  through the circumcision done by Christ.

Revelation 3:17

3:17 Because you say, “I am rich and have acquired great wealth, ²⁴  and need nothing,” but ²⁵  do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, ²⁶  poor, blind, and naked,

[9:40]  ¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[9:40]  ² tn Grk “heard these things.”

[9:40]  ³ tn Grk “and said to him.”

[9:40]  ⁴ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “are we?”).

[9:41]  ⁵ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[9:41]  ⁶ tn Grk “you would not have sin.”

[9:41]  ⁷ tn Grk “now because you say, ‘We see…’”

[9:41]  ⁸ tn Or “your sin.”

[9:41]  ⁹ sn Because you claim that you can see, your guilt remains. The blind man received sight physically, and this led him to see spiritually as well. But the Pharisees, who claimed to possess spiritual sight, were spiritually blinded. The reader might recall Jesus’ words to Nicodemus in 3:10, “Are you the teacher of Israel and don’t understand these things?” In other words, to receive Jesus was to receive the light of the world, to reject him was to reject the light, close one’s eyes, and become blind. This is the serious sin of which Jesus had warned before (8:21-24). The blindness of such people was incurable since they had rejected the only cure that exists (cf. 12:39-41).

[9:2]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “asked him, saying.”

[9:2]  ¹¹ tn Grk “this one.”

[9:2]  ¹² tn Grk “in order that he should be born blind.”

[4:3]  ¹³ tn Though προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi) is an adverbial participle related to the previous imperative, προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite), it is here translated as an independent clause due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[4:3]  ¹⁴ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been rendered as substantival here, indicating the content of the prayer rather than the purpose for it. These two ideas are very similar and difficult to differentiate in this passage, but the conjunction ἵνα following a verb of praying is generally regarded as giving the content of the prayer.

[4:3]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “that God may open for us a door of the word to speak the mystery of Christ.” The construction in Greek is somewhat awkward in this clause. The translation attempts to simplify this structure somewhat and yet communicate exactly what Paul is asking for.

[4:3]  ¹⁶ tn Or “so that we may speak.”

[4:3]  ¹⁷ tn Or “in prison.”

[4:4]  ¹⁸ tn The phrase begins with the ἵνα (Jina) clause and is subordinate to the imperative προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite) in v. 2. The reference to the idea that Paul must make it known indicates that this clause is probably best viewed as purpose and not content, like the ἵνα of v. 3. It is the second purpose stated in the context; the first is expressed through the infinitive λαλῆσαι (lalhsai) in v. 3. The term “pray” at the beginning of the sentence is intended to pick up the imperative of v. 3.

[2:9]  ¹⁹ 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.

[2:11]  ²⁰ tn The terms “however” and “but” in this sentence were supplied in order to emphasize the contrast.

[2:11]  ²¹ tn The articular noun τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (th apekdusei) is a noun which ends in -σις (-sis) and therefore denotes action, i.e., “removal.” Since the head noun is a verbal noun, the following genitive τοῦ σώματος (tou swmatos) is understood as an objective genitive, receiving the action of the head noun.

[2:11]  ²² tn Grk “in the removal of the body of flesh.” The genitive τῆς σαρκός (th" sarko") has been translated as an attributive genitive, “fleshly body.”

[2:11]  ²³ tn The second prepositional phrase beginning with ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ (en th peritomh) is parallel to the prepositional phrase ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (en th apekdusei) and gives a further explanation of it. The words “that is” were supplied to bring out this force in the translation.

[3:17]  ²⁴ tn Grk “and have become rich.” The semantic domains of the two terms for wealth here, πλούσιος (plousios, adjective) and πλουτέω (ploutew, verb) overlap considerably, but are given slightly different English translations for stylistic reasons.

[3:17]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[3:17]  ²⁶ tn All the terms in this series are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.