Luke 16:14

More Warnings about the Pharisees

16:14 The Pharisees ¹  (who loved money) heard all this and ridiculed ²  him.

John 8:52

8:52 Then ³  the Judeans ⁴  responded, ⁵  “Now we know you’re possessed by a demon! ⁶  Both Abraham and the prophets died, and yet ⁷  you say, ‘If anyone obeys ⁸  my teaching, ⁹  he will never experience ¹⁰  death.’ ¹¹ 

John 9:30-34

9:30 The man replied, ¹²  “This is a remarkable thing, ¹³  that you don’t know where he comes from, and yet he caused me to see! ¹⁴  9:31 We know that God doesn’t listen to ¹⁵  sinners, but if anyone is devout ¹⁶  and does his will, God ¹⁷  listens to ¹⁸  him. ¹⁹  9:32 Never before ²⁰  has anyone heard of someone causing a man born blind to see. ²¹  9:33 If this man ²²  were not from God, he could do nothing.” 9:34 They replied, ²³  “You were born completely in sinfulness, ²⁴  and yet you presume to teach us?” ²⁵  So they threw him out.

John 9:40

9:40 Some of the Pharisees ²⁶  who were with him heard this ²⁷  and asked him, ²⁸  “We are not blind too, are we?” ²⁹ 

John 10:20

10:20 Many of them were saying, “He is possessed by a demon and has lost his mind! ³⁰  Why do you listen to him?”

Acts 17:18

17:18 Also some of the Epicurean ³¹  and Stoic ³²  philosophers were conversing ³³  with him, and some were asking, ³⁴  “What does this foolish babbler ³⁵  want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” ³⁶  (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) ³⁷ 

Acts 17:32

17:32 Now when they heard about ³⁸  the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff, ³⁹  but others said, “We will hear you again about this.”

Acts 17:1

Paul and Silas at Thessalonica

17:1 After they traveled through ⁴⁰  Amphipolis ⁴¹  and Apollonia, ⁴²  they came to Thessalonica, ⁴³  where there was a Jewish synagogue. ⁴⁴ 

Colossians 1:21-24

Paul’s Goal in Ministry

1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your ⁴⁵  minds ⁴⁶  as expressed through ⁴⁷  your evil deeds, 1:22 but now he has reconciled you ⁴⁸  by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him – 1:23 if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, ⁴⁹  without shifting ⁵⁰  from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.

1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ⁵¹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 4:10-13

4:10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him). 4:11 And Jesus who is called Justus also sends greetings. In terms of Jewish converts, ⁵²  these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a slave ⁵³  of Christ, ⁵⁴  greets you. He is always struggling in prayer on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured ⁵⁵  in all the will of God. 4:13 For I can testify that he has worked hard ⁵⁶  for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

[16:14]  ¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[16:14]  ² tn A figurative extension of the literal meaning “to turn one’s nose up at someone”; here “ridicule, sneer at, show contempt for” (L&N 33.409).

[8:52]  ³ tc ‡ Important and early witnesses (Ì⁶⁶ א B C W Θ 579 it) lack the conjunction here, while other witnesses read οὖν (oun, “therefore”; Ì⁷⁵ D L Ψ 070 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat). This conjunction occurs in John some 200 times, far more than in any other NT book. Even though the most important Johannine papyrus (Ì⁷⁵) has the conjunction, the combination of Ì⁶⁶ א B for the omission is even stronger. Further, the reading seems to be a predictable scribal emendation. In particular, οὖν is frequently used with the plural of εἶπον (eipon, “they said”) in John (in this chapter alone, note vv. 13, 39, 48, 57, and possibly 41). On balance, it is probably best to consider the shorter reading as authentic, even though “Then” is virtually required in translation for English stylistic reasons. NA²⁷ has the conjunction in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.

[8:52]  ⁴ tn Grk “the Jews.” See the note on this term in v. 31. Here, as in vv. 31 and 48, the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem (“Judeans”; cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e) who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple courts (8:20) and had initially believed his claim to be the Messiah (cf. 8:31).

[8:52]  ⁵ tn Grk “said to him.”

[8:52]  ⁶ tn Grk “you have a demon.”

[8:52]  ⁷ tn “Yet” has been supplied to show the contrastive element present in the context.

[8:52]  ⁸ tn Grk “If anyone keeps.”

[8:52]  ⁹ tn Grk “my word.”

[8:52]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “will never taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

[8:52]  ¹¹ tn Grk “he will never taste of death forever.” The Greek negative here is emphatic.

[9:30]  ¹² tn Grk “The man answered and said to them.” This has been simplified in the translation to “The man replied.”

[9:30]  ¹³ tn Grk “For in this is a remarkable thing.”

[9:30]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “and he opened my eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

[9:31]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “God does not hear.”

[9:31]  ¹⁶ tn Or “godly.”

[9:31]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:31]  ¹⁸ tn Or “hears.”

[9:31]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “this one.”

[9:32]  ²⁰ tn Or “Never from the beginning of time,” Grk “From eternity.”

[9:32]  ²¹ tn Grk “someone opening the eyes of a man born blind” (“opening the eyes” is an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

[9:33]  ²² tn Grk “this one.”

[9:34]  ²³ tn Grk “They answered and said to him.” This has been simplified in the translation to “They replied.”

[9:34]  ²⁴ tn Or “From birth you have been evil.” The implication of this insult, in the context of John 9, is that the man whom Jesus caused to see had not previously adhered rigorously to all the conventional requirements of the OT law as interpreted by the Pharisees. Thus he had no right to instruct them about who Jesus was.

[9:34]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and are you teaching us?”

[9:40]  ²⁶ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[9:40]  ²⁷ tn Grk “heard these things.”

[9:40]  ²⁸ tn Grk “and said to him.”

[9:40]  ²⁹ 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?”).

[10:20]  ³⁰ tn Or “is insane.” To translate simply “he is mad” (so KJV, ASV, RSV; “raving mad” NIV) could give the impression that Jesus was angry, while the actual charge was madness or insanity.

[17:18]  ³¹ sn An Epicurean was a follower of the philosophy of Epicurus, who founded a school in Athens about 300 b.c. Although the Epicureans saw the aim of life as pleasure, they were not strictly hedonists, because they defined pleasure as the absence of pain. Along with this, they desired the avoidance of trouble and freedom from annoyances. They saw organized religion as evil, especially the belief that the gods punished evildoers in an afterlife. In keeping with this, they were unable to accept Paul’s teaching about the resurrection.

[17:18]  ³² sn A Stoic was a follower of the philosophy founded by Zeno (342-270 b.c.), a Phoenician who came to Athens and modified the philosophical system of the Cynics he found there. The Stoics rejected the Epicurean ideal of pleasure, stressing virtue instead. The Stoics emphasized responsibility for voluntary actions and believed risks were worth taking, but thought the actual attainment of virtue was difficult. They also believed in providence.

[17:18]  ³³ tn BDAG 956 s.v. συμβάλλω 1 has “converse, confer” here.

[17:18]  ³⁴ tn Grk “saying.”

[17:18]  ³⁵ tn Or “ignorant show-off.” The traditional English translation of σπερμολόγος (spermologo") is given in L&N 33.381 as “foolish babbler.” However, an alternate view is presented in L&N 27.19, “(a figurative extension of meaning of a term based on the practice of birds in picking up seeds) one who acquires bits and pieces of relatively extraneous information and proceeds to pass them off with pretense and show – ‘ignorant show-off, charlatan.’” A similar view is given in BDAG 937 s.v. σπερμολόγος: “in pejorative imagery of persons whose communication lacks sophistication and seems to pick up scraps of information here and there scrapmonger, scavenger…Engl. synonyms include ‘gossip’, ‘babbler’, chatterer’; but these terms miss the imagery of unsystematic gathering.”

[17:18]  ³⁶ tn The meaning of this phrase is not clear. Literally it reads “strange deities” (see BDAG 210 s.v. δαιμόνιον 1). The note of not being customary is important. In the ancient world what was new was suspicious. The plural δαιμονίων (daimoniwn, “deities”) shows the audience grappling with Paul’s teaching that God was working through Jesus.

[17:18]  ³⁷ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[17:32]  ³⁸ tn The participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") has been taken temporally.

[17:32]  ³⁹ tn L&N 33.408 has “some scoffed (at him) Ac 17:32” for ἐχλεύαζον (ecleuazon) here; the imperfect verb has been translated as an ingressive imperfect (“began to scoff”).

[17:1]  ⁴⁰ tn BDAG 250 s.v. διοδεύω 1 has “go, travel through” for this verse.

[17:1]  ⁴¹ sn Amphipolis. The capital city of the southeastern district of Macedonia (BDAG 55 s.v. ᾿Αμφίπολις). It was a military post. From Philippi this was about 33 mi (53 km).

[17:1]  ⁴² sn Apollonia was a city in Macedonia about 27 mi (43 km) west southwest of Amphipolis.

[17:1]  ⁴³ sn Thessalonica (modern Salonica) was a city in Macedonia about 33 mi (53 km) west of Apollonia. It was the capital of Macedonia. The road they traveled over was called the Via Egnatia. It is likely they rode horses, given their condition in Philippi. The implication of v. 1 is that the two previously mentioned cities lacked a synagogue.

[17:1]  ⁴⁴ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[1:21]  ⁴⁵ tn The article τῇ (th) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[1:21]  ⁴⁶ 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]  ⁴⁷ 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.

[1:22]  ⁴⁸ tc Some of the better representatives of the Alexandrian and Western texts have a passive verb here instead of the active ἀποκατήλλαξεν (apokathllaxen, “he has reconciled”): ἀποκατηλλάγητε (apokathllaghte) in (Ì⁴⁶) B, ἀποκατήλλακται [sic] (apokathllaktai) in 33, and ἀποκαταλλαγέντες (apokatallagente") in D* F G. Yet the active verb is strongly supported by א A C D² Ψ 048 075 [0278] 1739 1881 Ï lat sy. Internally, the passive creates an anacoluthon in that it looks back to the accusative ὑμᾶς (Juma", “you”) of v. 21 and leaves the following παραστῆσαι (parasthsai) dangling (“you were reconciled…to present you”). The passive reading is certainly the harder reading. As such, it may well explain the rise of the other readings. At the same time, it is possible that the passive was produced by scribes who wanted some symmetry between the ποτε (pote, “at one time”) of v. 21 and the νυνὶ δέ (nuni de, “but now”) of v. 22: Since a passive periphrastic participle is used in v. 21, there may have a temptation to produce a corresponding passive form in v. 22, handling the ὑμᾶς of v. 21 by way of constructio ad sensum. Since παραστῆσαι occurs ten words later, it may not have been considered in this scribal modification. Further, the Western reading (ἀποκαταλλαγέντες) hardly seems to have arisen from ἀποκατηλλάγητε (contra TCGNT 555). As difficult as this decision is, the preferred reading is the active form because it is superior externally and seems to explain the rise of all forms of the passive readings.

[1:23]  ⁴⁹ tn BDAG 276 s.v. ἑδραῖος suggests “firm, steadfast.”

[1:23]  ⁵⁰ tn BDAG 639 s.v. μετακινέω suggests “without shifting from the hope” here.

[1:1]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[4:11]  ⁵² tn Grk “those of the circumcision.” The verse as a whole is difficult to translate because it is unclear whether Paul is saying (1) that the only people working with him are Jewish converts at the time the letter is being written or previously, or (2) that Aristarchus, Mark, and Jesus Justus were the only Jewish Christians who ever worked with him. Verses 12-14 appear to indicate that Luke and Demas, who were Gentiles, were also working currently with Paul. This is the view adopted in the translation. See M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 207-8.

[4:12]  ⁵³ tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[4:12]  ⁵⁴ tc ‡ Strong Alexandrian testimony, along with some other witnesses, suggests that ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) follows Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “Christ”; so א A B C I L 0278 33 81 365 629 1175 2464 al lat), but the evidence for the shorter reading is diverse (Ì⁴⁶ D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï it sy Hier), cutting across all major texttypes. There can be little motivation for omitting the name of Jesus; hence, the shorter reading is judged to be original. NA²⁷ has ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[4:12]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “filled.”

[4:13]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “pain.” This word appears only three times in the NT outside of this verse (Rev 16:10, 11; 21:4) where the translation “pain” makes sense. For the present verse it has been translated “worked hard.” See BDAG 852 s.v. πόνος 1.