Luke 1:75

1:75 in holiness and righteousness ¹  before him for as long as we live. ² 

Luke 1:2

1:2 like the accounts ³  passed on ⁴  to us by those who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word ⁵  from the beginning. ⁶ 

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ⁷  brothers and sisters ⁸  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ⁹  from God our Father! ¹⁰ 

Ephesians 1:4

1:4 For ¹¹  he chose us in Christ ¹²  before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished ¹³  in his sight ¹⁴  in love. ¹⁵ 

Ephesians 5:27

5:27 so that he ¹⁶  may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. ¹⁷ 

Ephesians 5:1

Live in Love

5:1 Therefore, be ¹⁸  imitators of God as dearly loved children

Ephesians 4:7

4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Titus 2:14

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 

Titus 2:2

2:2 Older men are to be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, ²²  sound in faith, in love, and in endurance. ²³ 

Titus 3:14

3:14 Here is another way that our people ²⁴  can learn ²⁵  to engage in good works to meet pressing needs and so not be unfruitful.

Jude 1:24

Final Blessing

1:24 Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, ²⁶  and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, ²⁷  without blemish ²⁸  before his glorious presence, ²⁹ 

[1:75]  ¹ sn The phrases that we…might serve him…in holiness and righteousness from Luke 1:74-75 well summarize a basic goal for a believer in the eyes of Luke. Salvation frees us up to serve God without fear through a life full of ethical integrity.

[1:75]  ² tn Grk “all our days.”

[1:2]  ³ tn Grk “even as”; this compares the recorded tradition of 1:1 with the original eyewitness tradition of 1:2.

[1:2]  ⁴ tn Or “delivered.”

[1:2]  ⁵ sn The phrase eyewitnesses and servants of the word refers to a single group of people who faithfully passed on the accounts about Jesus. The language about delivery (passed on) points to accounts faithfully passed on to the early church.

[1:2]  ⁶ tn Grk “like the accounts those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word passed on to us.” The location of “in the beginning” in the Greek shows that the tradition is rooted in those who were with Jesus from the start.

[1:2]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ¹⁰ 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.

[1:4]  ¹¹ tn Grk “just as.” Eph 1:3-14 are one long sentence in Greek that must be broken up in English translation. Verse 4 expresses the reason why God the Father is blessed (cf. BDAG 494 s.v. καθώς 3).

[1:4]  ¹² tn Grk “in him.”

[1:4]  ¹³ sn The Greek word translated unblemished (ἀμώμους, amwmous) is often used of an acceptable paschal lamb. Christ, as our paschal lamb, is also said to be unblemished (Heb 9:14; 1 Pet 1:19). Since believers are in Christ, God views them positionally and will make them ultimately without blemish as well (Jude 24; Eph 5:27; Col 1:22).

[1:4]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “before him.”

[1:4]  ¹⁵ tn The prepositional phrase ἐν ἀγάπῃ (en agaph, “in love”) may modify one of three words or phrases: (1) “chose,” (2) “holy and unblemished,” both in v. 4, or (3) “by predestining” in v. 5. If it modifies “chose,” it refers to God’s motivation in that election, but this option is unlikely because of the placement of the prepositional phrase far away from the verb. The other two options are more likely. If it modifies “holy and unblemished,” it specifies that our holiness cannot be divorced from love. This view is in keeping with the author’s use of ἀγάπη to refer often to human love in Ephesians, but the placement of the prepositional phrase not immediately following the words it modifies would be slightly awkward. If it modifies “by predestining” (v. 5), again the motivation of God’s choice is love. This would fit the focus of the passage on God’s gracious actions toward believers, but it could be considered slightly redundant in that God’s predestination itself proves his love.

[5:27]  ¹⁶ tn The use of the pronoun αὐτός (autos) is intensive and focuses attention on Christ as the one who has made the church glorious.

[5:27]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “but in order that it may be holy and blameless.”

[5:1]  ¹⁸ tn Or “become.”

[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.”

[2:2]  ²² tn Or “sensible.”

[2:2]  ²³ sn Temperate…in endurance. See the same cluster of virtues in 1 Thess 1:3 and 1 Cor 13:13.

[3:14]  ²⁴ tn Grk “that those who are ours” (referring to the Christians).

[3:14]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and also let our people learn.”

[1:24]  ²⁶ tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “free from falling” is the adjectival complement.

[1:24]  ²⁷ tn Grk “with rejoicing.” The prepositional clause is placed after “his glorious presence” in Greek, but most likely goes with “cause you to stand.”

[1:24]  ²⁸ tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “without blemish” is the adjectival complement.

[1:24]  ²⁹ tn Or “in the presence of his glory,” “before his glory.”