Luke 12:57

Clear the Debts

12:57 “And ¹  why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?

Acts 17:11

17:11 These Jews ²  were more open-minded ³  than those in Thessalonica, ⁴  for they eagerly ⁵  received ⁶  the message, examining ⁷  the scriptures carefully every day ⁸  to see if these things were so.

Romans 16:19

16:19 Your obedience is known to all and thus I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.

Romans 16:1

Personal Greetings

16:1 Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant ⁹  of the church in Cenchrea,

Colossians 1:29

1:29 Toward this goal ¹⁰  I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully ¹¹  works in me.

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ¹²  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 1:21

Paul’s Goal in Ministry

1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your ¹³  minds ¹⁴  as expressed through ¹⁵  your evil deeds,

Revelation 2:2

2:2 ‘I know your works as well as your ¹⁶  labor and steadfast endurance, and that you cannot tolerate ¹⁷  evil. You have even put to the test ¹⁸  those who refer to themselves as apostles (but are not), and have discovered that they are false.

[12:57]  ¹ tn Jesus calls for some personal reflection. However, this unit probably does connect to the previous one – thus the translation of δέ (de) here as “And” – to make a good spiritual assessment, thus calling for application to the spiritual, rather than personal, realm.

[17:11]  ² tn Grk “These”; the referent (the Jews in the synagogue at Berea) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:11]  ³ tn Or “more willing to learn.” L&N 27.48 and BDAG 404 s.v. εὐγενής 2 both use the term “open-minded” here. The point is that they were more receptive to Paul’s message.

[17:11]  ⁴ sn Thessalonica was a city in Macedonia (modern Salonica).

[17:11]  ⁵ tn Or “willingly,” “readily”; Grk “with all eagerness.”

[17:11]  ⁶ tn Grk “who received.” Here the relative pronoun (“who”) has been translated as a pronoun (“they”) preceded by a semicolon, which is less awkward in contemporary English than a relative clause at this point.

[17:11]  ⁷ tn This verb (BDAG 66 s.v. ἀνακρίνω 1) refers to careful examination.

[17:11]  ⁸ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase in this verse.

[16:1]  ⁹ tn Or “deaconess.” It is debated whether διάκονος (diakonos) here refers to a specific office within the church. One contextual argument used to support this view is that Phoebe is associated with a particular church, Cenchrea, and as such would therefore be a deacon of that church. In the NT some who are called διάκονος are related to a particular church, yet the scholarly consensus is that such individuals are not deacons, but “servants” or “ministers” (other viable translations for διάκονος). For example, Epaphras is associated with the church in Colossians and is called a διάκονος in Col 1:7, but no contemporary translation regards him as a deacon. In 1 Tim 4:6 Paul calls Timothy a διάκονος; Timothy was associated with the church in Ephesus, but he obviously was not a deacon. In addition, the lexical evidence leans away from this view: Within the NT, the διακον- word group rarely functions with a technical nuance. In any case, the evidence is not compelling either way. The view accepted in the translation above is that Phoebe was a servant of the church, not a deaconess, although this conclusion should be regarded as tentative.

[1:29]  ¹⁰ tn The Greek phrase εἴς ὅ (eis Jo, “toward which”) implies “movement toward a goal” and has been rendered by the English phrase “Toward this goal.”

[1:29]  ¹¹ tn The prepositional phrase ἐν δυνάμει (en dunamei) seems to be functioning adverbially, related to the participle, and has therefore been translated “powerfully.”

[1:1]  ¹² tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:21]  ¹³ tn The article τῇ (th) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[1:21]  ¹⁴ tn Although διανοία (dianoia) is singular in Greek, the previous plural noun ἐχθρούς (ecqrous) indicates that all those from Colossae are in view here.

[1:21]  ¹⁵ tn The dative ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς (en toi" ergoi" toi" ponhroi") is taken as means, indicating the avenue through which hostility in the mind is revealed and made known.

[2:2]  ¹⁶ tn Although the first possessive pronoun σου (sou) is connected to τὰ ἔργα (ta erga) and the second σου is connected to ὑπομονήν (Jupomonhn), semantically κόπον (kopon) is also to be understood as belonging to the Ephesian church. The translation reflects this.

[2:2]  ¹⁷ tn The translation “tolerate” seems to capture the sense of βαστάσαι (bastasai) here. BDAG 171 s.v. βαστάζω 2.b.β says, “bear, endure…κακούς Rv 2:2.…bear patiently, put up with: weaknesses of the weak Ro 15:1; cf. IPol 1:2; evil Rv 2:3.”

[2:2]  ¹⁸ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the participle was broken off from the previous sentence and translated as an indicative verb beginning a new sentence here in the translation.