Discovery BoxLuke 2:21
Context2:21 At 1 the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given by the angel 2 before he was conceived in the womb.
Luke 2:2
Context2:2 This was the first registration, taken when Quirinius was governor 3 of Syria.
Colossians 1:17
Context1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together 4 in him.
Galatians 2:20
Context2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, 5 and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So 6 the life I now live in the body, 7 I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, 8 who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 4:4-5
Context4:4 But when the appropriate time 9 had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 4:5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights. 10
Ephesians 2:10-18
Context2:10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. 11
2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh – who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body 12 by human hands – 2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, 13 alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, 14 having no hope and without God in the world. 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 15 2:14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one 16 and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, 2:15 when he nullified 17 in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man 18 out of two, 19 thus making peace, 2:16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. 20 2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, 2:18 so that 21 through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
[2:21] 1 tn Grk “And when eight days were completed.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
[2:21] 2 sn Jesus’ parents obeyed the angel as Zechariah and Elizabeth had (1:57-66). These events are taking place very much under God’s direction.
[2:2] 3 tn Or “was a minister of Syria.” This term could simply refer to an administrative role Quirinius held as opposed to being governor (Josephus, Ant. 18.4.2 [18.88]). See also Luke 2:1.
[1:17] 4 tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.
[2:20] 5 tn Both the NA27/UBS4 Greek text and the NRSV place the phrase “I have been crucified with Christ” at the end of v. 19, but most English translations place these words at the beginning of v. 20.
[2:20] 6 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “So” to bring out the connection of the following clauses with the preceding ones. What Paul says here amounts to a result or inference drawn from his co-crucifixion with Christ and the fact that Christ now lives in him. In Greek this is a continuation of the preceding sentence, but the construction is too long and complex for contemporary English style, so a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[2:20] 8 tc A number of important witnesses (Ì46 B D* F G) have θεοῦ καὶ Χριστοῦ (qeou kai Cristou, “of God and Christ”) instead of υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ (Juiou tou qeou, “the Son of God”), found in the majority of
[4:4] 9 tn Grk “the fullness of time” (an idiom for the totality of a period of time, with the implication of proper completion; see L&N 67.69).
[4:5] 10 tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).” Although some modern translations remove the filial sense completely and render the term merely “adoption” (cf. NAB), the retention of this component of meaning was accomplished in the present translation by the phrase “as sons.”
[2:10] 11 tn Grk “so that we might walk in them” (or “by them”).
[2:11] 12 tn Grk “in the flesh.”
[2:12] 13 tn Or “without Christ.” Both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.” Because the context refers to ancient Israel’s messianic expectation, “Messiah” was employed in the translation at this point rather than “Christ.”
[2:12] 14 tn Or “covenants of the promise.”
[2:13] 15 tn Or “have come near in the blood of Christ.”
[2:14] 16 tn Grk “who made the both one.”
[2:15] 17 tn Or “rendered inoperative.” This is a difficult text to translate because it is not easy to find an English term which communicates well the essence of the author’s meaning, especially since legal terminology is involved. Many other translations use the term “abolish” (so NRSV, NASB, NIV), but this term implies complete destruction which is not the author’s meaning here. The verb καταργέω (katargew) can readily have the meaning “to cause someth. to lose its power or effectiveness” (BDAG 525 s.v. 2, where this passage is listed), and this meaning fits quite naturally here within the author’s legal mindset. A proper English term which communicates this well is “nullify” since this word carries the denotation of “making something legally null and void.” This is not, however, a common English word. An alternate term like “rendered inoperative [or ineffective]” is also accurate but fairly inelegant. For this reason, the translation retains the term “nullify”; it is the best choice of the available options, despite its problems.
[2:15] 18 tn In this context the author is not referring to a new individual, but instead to a new corporate entity united in Christ (cf. BDAG 497 s.v. καινός 3.b: “All the Christians together appear as κ. ἄνθρωπος Eph 2:15”). This is clear from the comparison made between the Gentiles and Israel in the immediately preceding verses and the assertion in v. 14 that Christ “made both groups into one.” This is a different metaphor than the “new man” of Eph 4:24; in that passage the “new man” refers to the new life a believer has through a relationship to Christ.
[2:15] 19 tn Grk “in order to create the two into one new man.” Eph 2:14-16 is one sentence in Greek. A new sentence was started here in the translation for clarity since contemporary English is less tolerant of extended sentences.
[2:16] 20 tn Grk “by killing the hostility in himself.”
[2:18] 21 tn Or “for.” BDAG gives the consecutive ὅτι (Joti) as a possible category of NT usage (BDAG 732 s.v. 5.c).
