Joshua 1:7

1:7 Make sure you are ¹  very strong and brave! Carefully obey ²  all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! ³  Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful ⁴  in all you do. ⁵ 

Malachi 2:8-9

2:8 You, however, have turned from the way. You have caused many to violate the law; ⁶  you have corrupted the covenant with Levi,” ⁷  says the Lord who rules over all. 2:9 “Therefore, I have caused you to be ignored and belittled before all people to the extent to which you are not following after me and are showing partiality in your ⁸  instruction.”

Romans 13:1-6

Submission to Civil Government

13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment, ⁹  and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 13:2 So the person who resists such authority ¹⁰  resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will incur judgment 13:3 (for rulers cause no fear for good conduct but for bad). Do you desire not to fear authority? Do good and you will receive its commendation, 13:4 for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be in fear, for it does not bear the sword in vain. It is God’s servant to administer retribution on the wrongdoer. 13:5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath of the authorities ¹¹  but also because of your conscience. ¹²  13:6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities ¹³  are God’s servants devoted to governing. ¹⁴ 

Titus 3:1

Conduct Toward Those Outside the Church

3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and ¹⁵  authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.

Titus 3:1

Conduct Toward Those Outside the Church

3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and ¹⁶  authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.

Titus 2:13-15

2:13 as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing ¹⁷  of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. ¹⁸  2:14 He ¹⁹  gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, ²⁰  who are eager to do good. ²¹  2:15 So communicate these things with the sort of exhortation or rebuke ²²  that carries full authority. ²³  Don’t let anyone look down ²⁴  on you.

Titus 2:2

2:2 Older men are to be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, ²⁵  sound in faith, in love, and in endurance. ²⁶ 

Titus 2:10

2:10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, ²⁷  in order to bring credit to ²⁸  the teaching of God our Savior in everything.

Jude 1:8

1:8 Yet these men, ²⁹  as a result of their dreams, ³⁰  defile the flesh, reject authority, ³¹  and insult ³²  the glorious ones. ³³ 

[1:7]  ¹ tn Or “Only be.”

[1:7]  ² tn Heb “so you can be careful to do.” The use of the infinitive לִשְׁמֹר (lishmor, “to keep”) after the imperatives suggests that strength and bravery will be necessary for obedience. Another option is to take the form לִשְׁמֹר as a vocative lamed (ל) with imperative (see Isa 38:20 for an example of this construction), which could be translated, “Indeed, be careful!”

[1:7]  ³ tn Heb “commanded you.”

[1:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “be wise,” but the word can mean “be successful” by metonymy.

[1:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “in all which you go.”

[2:8]  ⁶ tn The definite article embedded within בַּתּוֹרָה (battorah) may suggest that the Torah is in mind and not just “ordinary” priestly instruction, though it might refer to the instruction previously mentioned (v. 7).

[2:8]  ⁷ tn Or “the Levitical covenant.”

[2:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the instruction” (so NASB). The Hebrew article is used here as a possessive pronoun (cf. NRSV, NLT).

[13:1]  ⁹ tn Grk “by God.”

[13:2]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the authority,” referring to the authority just described.

[13:5]  ¹¹ tn Grk “its wrath”; the referent (the governing authorities) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:5]  ¹² tn Grk “because of (the) conscience,” but the English possessive “your” helps to show whose conscience the context implies.

[13:6]  ¹³ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the governing authorities) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:6]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “devoted to this very thing.”

[3:1]  ¹⁵ tc Most later witnesses (D² 0278 Ï lat sy) have καί (kai, “and”) after ἀρχαῖς (arcai", “rulers”), though the earliest and best witnesses (א A C D* F G Ψ 33 104 1739 1881) lack the conjunction. Although the καί is most likely not authentic, it has been added in translation due to the requirements of English style. For more discussion, see TCGNT 586.

[3:1]  ¹⁶ tc Most later witnesses (D² 0278 Ï lat sy) have καί (kai, “and”) after ἀρχαῖς (arcai", “rulers”), though the earliest and best witnesses (א A C D* F G Ψ 33 104 1739 1881) lack the conjunction. Although the καί is most likely not authentic, it has been added in translation due to the requirements of English style. For more discussion, see TCGNT 586.

[2:13]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “the blessed hope and glorious appearing.”

[2:13]  ¹⁸ tn The terms “God and Savior” both refer to the same person, Jesus Christ. This is one of the clearest statements in the NT concerning the deity of Christ. The construction in Greek is known as the Granville Sharp rule, named after the English philanthropist-linguist who first clearly articulated the rule in 1798. Sharp pointed out that in the construction article-noun-καί-noun (where καί [kai] = “and”), when two nouns are singular, personal, and common (i.e., not proper names), they always had the same referent. Illustrations such as “the friend and brother,” “the God and Father,” etc. abound in the NT to prove Sharp’s point. The only issue is whether terms such as “God” and “Savior” could be considered common nouns as opposed to proper names. Sharp and others who followed (such as T. F. Middleton in his masterful The Doctrine of the Greek Article) demonstrated that a proper name in Greek was one that could not be pluralized. Since both “God” (θεός, qeos) and “savior” (σωτήρ, swthr) were occasionally found in the plural, they did not constitute proper names, and hence, do fit Sharp’s rule. Although there have been 200 years of attempts to dislodge Sharp’s rule, all attempts have been futile. Sharp’s rule stands vindicated after all the dust has settled. For more information on Sharp’s rule see ExSyn 270-78, esp. 276. See also 2 Pet 1:1 and Jude 4.

[2:14]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “who” (as a continuation of the previous clause).

[2:14]  ²⁰ tn Or “a people who are his very own.”

[2:14]  ²¹ tn Grk “for good works.”

[2:15]  ²² tn Or “reproof,” “censure.” The Greek word ἐλέγχω (elencw) implies exposing someone’s sin in order to bring correction.

[2:15]  ²³ tn Grk “speak these things and exhort and rebuke with all authority.”

[2:15]  ²⁴ tn Or “let anyone despise you”; or “let anyone disregard you.”

[2:2]  ²⁵ tn Or “sensible.”

[2:2]  ²⁶ sn Temperate…in endurance. See the same cluster of virtues in 1 Thess 1:3 and 1 Cor 13:13.

[2:10]  ²⁷ tn Or “showing that genuine faith is productive.” At issue between these two translations is the force of ἀγαθήν (agaqhn): Is it attributive (as the text has it) or predicate (as in this note)? A number of considerations point in the direction of a predicate ἀγαθήν (e.g., separation from the noun πίστιν (pistin) by the verb, the possibility that the construction is an object-complement, etc.), though is not usually seen as an option in either translations or commentaries. Cf. ExSyn 188-89, 312-13, for a discussion. Contextually, it makes an intriguing statement, for it suggests a synthetic or synonymous parallel: “‘Slaves should be wholly subject to their masters…demonstrating that all [genuine] faith is productive, with the result [ecbatic ἵνα] that they will completely adorn the doctrine of God.’ The point of the text, then, if this understanding is correct, is an exhortation to slaves to demonstrate that their faith is sincere and results in holy behavior. If taken this way, the text seems to support the idea that saving faith does not fail, but even results in good works” (ExSyn 312-13). The translation of ἀγαθήν as an attributive adjective, however, also makes good sense.

[2:10]  ²⁸ tn Or “adorn,” “show the beauty of.”

[1:8]  ²⁹ tn The reference is now to the false teachers.

[1:8]  ³⁰ tn Grk “dreaming.” The participle ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι (enupniazomenoi, “dreaming”) is adverbial to the pronoun οὗτοι (|outoi, “these”), though the particular relationship is not clear. It could mean, “while dreaming,” “by dreaming,” or “because of dreaming.” This translation has adopted the last option as Jude’s meaning, partially for syntactical reasons (the causal participle usually precedes the main verb) and partially for contextual reasons (these false teachers must derive their authority from some source, and the dreams provide the most obvious base). The participle ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι was sometimes used of apocalyptic visions, both of true and false prophets. This seems to be the meaning here.

[1:8]  ³¹ tn Most likely, the authority of the Lord is in view. This verse, then, echoes the indictment of v. 4: “they deny our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

[1:8]  ³² tn The construction with the three verbs (“defile, “reject,” and “insult”) involves the particles μέν, δέ, δέ (men, de, de). A more literal (and pedantic) translation would be: “on the one hand, they defile the flesh, on the other hand, they reject authority, and on another hand, they insult the glorious ones.”

[1:8]  ³³ sn The glorious ones refers to angelic beings rather than mere human beings, just as in 2 Pet 2:10 (on which this passage apparently depends). Whether the angelic beings are good or evil, however, is difficult to tell (hence, the translation is left ambiguous). However, both in 2 Pet 2:11 and here, in Jude 9, the wicked angels seem to be in view (for not even Michael insults them).