Luke 12:47-48

12:47 That ¹  servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or do what his master asked ²  will receive a severe beating. 12:48 But the one who did not know his master’s will ³  and did things worthy of punishment ⁴  will receive a light beating. ⁵  From everyone who has been given much, much will be required, ⁶  and from the one who has been entrusted with much, ⁷  even more will be asked. ⁸ 

John 3:19-20

3:19 Now this is the basis for judging: ⁹  that the light has come into the world and people ¹⁰  loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 3:20 For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed.

John 9:39-41

9:39 Jesus ¹¹  said,] ¹²  “For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may gain their sight, ¹³  and the ones who see may become blind.”

9:40 Some of the Pharisees ¹⁴  who were with him heard this ¹⁵  and asked him, ¹⁶  “We are not blind too, are we?” ¹⁷  9:41 Jesus replied, ¹⁸  “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, ¹⁹  but now because you claim that you can see, ²⁰  your guilt ²¹  remains.” ²² 

John 15:22-24

15:22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. ²³  But they no longer have any excuse for their sin. 15:23 The one who hates me hates my Father too. 15:24 If I had not performed ²⁴  among them the miraculous deeds ²⁵  that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. ²⁶  But now they have seen the deeds ²⁷  and have hated both me and my Father. ²⁸ 

Romans 1:32

1:32 Although they fully know ²⁹  God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, ³⁰  they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them. ³¹ 

Romans 2:17-24

The Condemnation of the Jew

2:17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law ³²  and boast of your relationship to God ³³  2:18 and know his will ³⁴  and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, ³⁵  2:19 and if you are convinced ³⁶  that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 2:20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth – 2:21 therefore ³⁷  you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 2:22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor ³⁸  idols, do you rob temples? 2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 2:24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” ³⁹ 

James 4:17

4:17 So whoever knows what is good to do ⁴⁰  and does not do it is guilty of sin. ⁴¹ 

[12:47]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[12:47]  ² tn Grk “or do according to his will”; the referent (the master) has been specified in the translation for clarity. This example deals with the slave who knew what the command was and yet failed to complete it.

[12:48]  ³ tn Grk “did not know”; the phrase “his master’s will” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the contemporary English reader.

[12:48]  ⁴ tn Grk “blows.”

[12:48]  ⁵ tn Grk “will receive few (blows).”

[12:48]  ⁶ tn Grk “required from him”; but the words “from him” are redundant in English and have not been translated.

[12:48]  ⁷ sn Entrusted with much. To be gifted with precious responsibility is something that requires faithfulness.

[12:48]  ⁸ tn Grk “they will ask even more.”

[3:19]  ⁹ tn Or “this is the reason for God judging,” or “this is how judgment works.”

[3:19]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and men,” but in a generic sense, referring to people of both genders (as “everyone” in v. 20 makes clear).

[9:39]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And Jesus.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[9:39]  ¹² tc ‡ Some early and important witnesses (Ì⁷⁵ א* W b sa^ms ac² mf) lack the words, “He said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped him. Jesus said,” (vv. 38-39a). This is weighty evidence for the omission of these words. It is difficult to overstate the value of Ì⁷⁵ here, since it is the only currently available papyrus ms extant for the text of John 9:38-39. Further, א is an important and early Alexandrian witness for the omission. The versional testimony and codex W also give strong support to the omission. Nearly all other mss, however, include these words. The omission may have been occasioned by parablepsis (both vv. 37 and 39 begin with “Jesus said to him”), though it is difficult to account for such an error across such a wide variety of witnesses. On the other hand, the longer reading appears to be motivated by liturgical concerns (so R. E. Brown, John [AB], 1:375), since the verb προσκυνέω (proskunew, “I worship”) is used in John 4:20-25 of worshiping God, and again with the same sense in 12:20. If these words were authentic here, this would be the only place in John’s Gospel where Jesus is the explicit object of προσκυνέω. Even if these words are not authentic, such an omission would nevertheless hardly diminish John’s high Christology (cf. 1:1; 5:18-23; 14:6-10; 20:28), nor the implicit worship of him by Thomas (20:28). Nevertheless, a decision is difficult, and the included words may reflect a very early tradition about the blind man’s response to Jesus.

[9:39]  ¹³ tn Or “that those who do not see may see.”

[9:40]  ¹⁴ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[9:40]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “heard these things.”

[9:40]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “and said to him.”

[9:40]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[9:41]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “you would not have sin.”

[9:41]  ²⁰ tn Grk “now because you say, ‘We see…’”

[9:41]  ²¹ tn Or “your sin.”

[9:41]  ²² 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).

[15:22]  ²³ tn Grk “they would not have sin” (an idiom).

[15:24]  ²⁴ tn Or “If I had not done.”

[15:24]  ²⁵ tn Grk “the works.”

[15:24]  ²⁶ tn Grk “they would not have sin” (an idiom).

[15:24]  ²⁷ tn The words “the deeds” are supplied to clarify from context what was seen. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[15:24]  ²⁸ tn Or “But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.” It is possible to understand both the “seeing” and the “hating” to refer to both Jesus and the Father, but this has the world “seeing” the Father, which seems alien to the Johannine Jesus. (Some point out John 14:9 as an example, but this is addressed to the disciples, not to the world.) It is more likely that the “seeing” refers to the miraculous deeds mentioned in the first half of the verse. Such an understanding of the first “both – and” construction is apparently supported by BDF §444.3.

[1:32]  ²⁹ tn Grk “who, knowing…, not only do them but also approve…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:32]  ³⁰ tn Grk “are worthy of death.”

[1:32]  ³¹ sn “Vice lists” like vv. 28-32 can be found elsewhere in the NT in Matt 15:19; Gal 5:19-21; 1 Tim 1:9-10; and 1 Pet 4:3. An example from the intertestamental period can be found in Wis 14:25-26.

[2:17]  ³² sn The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

[2:17]  ³³ tn Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.

[2:18]  ³⁴ tn Grk “the will.”

[2:18]  ³⁵ tn Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”

[2:19]  ³⁶ tn This verb is parallel to the verbs in vv. 17-18a, so it shares the conditional meaning even though the word “if” is not repeated.

[2:21]  ³⁷ tn The structure of vv. 21-24 is difficult. Some take these verses as the apodosis of the conditional clauses (protases) in vv. 17-20; others see vv. 17-20 as an instance of anacoluthon (a broken off or incomplete construction).

[2:22]  ³⁸ tn Or “detest.”

[2:24]  ³⁹ sn A quotation from Isa 52:5.

[4:17]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “knows how to do what is good.”

[4:17]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “to him it is sin.”