Luke 22:27

22:27 For who is greater, the one who is seated at the table, ¹  or the one who serves? Is it not ²  the one who is seated at the table? But I am among you as one ³  who serves.

John 13:4-17

13:4 he got up from the meal, removed ⁴  his outer clothes, ⁵  took a towel and tied it around himself. ⁶  13:5 He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel he had wrapped around himself. ⁷ 

13:6 Then he came to Simon Peter. Peter ⁸  said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash ⁹  my feet?” 13:7 Jesus replied, ¹⁰  “You do not understand ¹¹  what I am doing now, but you will understand ¹²  after these things.” 13:8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” ¹³  Jesus replied, ¹⁴  “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” ¹⁵  13:9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, wash ¹⁶  not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!” 13:10 Jesus replied, ¹⁷  “The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, ¹⁸  but is completely ¹⁹  clean. ²⁰  And you disciples ²¹  are clean, but not every one of you.” 13:11 (For Jesus ²²  knew the one who was going to betray him. For this reason he said, “Not every one of you is ²³  clean.”) ²⁴ 

13:12 So when Jesus ²⁵  had washed their feet and put his outer clothing back on, he took his place at the table ²⁶  again and said to them, “Do you understand ²⁷  what I have done for you? 13:13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and do so correctly, ²⁸  for that is what I am. ²⁹  13:14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet. 13:15 For I have given you an example ³⁰  – you should do just as I have done for you. 13:16 I tell you the solemn truth, ³¹  the slave ³²  is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger ³³  greater than the one who sent him. 13:17 If you understand ³⁴  these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Philippians 2:4-8

2:4 Each of you should be concerned ³⁵  not only ³⁶  about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. ³⁷  2:5 You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, ³⁸ 

2:6 ³⁹ who though he existed in the form of God ⁴⁰ 

did not regard equality with God

as something to be grasped,

2:7 but emptied himself

by taking on the form of a slave, ⁴¹ 

by looking like other men, ⁴² 

and by sharing in human nature. ⁴³ 

2:8 He humbled himself,

by becoming obedient to the point of death

– even death on a cross!

Hebrews 5:8

5:8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered. ⁴⁴ 

[22:27]  ¹ tn Grk “who reclines at table,” as 1st century middle eastern meals were not eaten while sitting at a table, but while reclining on one’s side on the floor with the head closest to the low table and the feet farthest away.

[22:27]  ² tn The interrogative particle used here in the Greek text (οὐχί, ouci) expects a positive reply.

[22:27]  ³ sn Jesus’ example of humble service, as one who serves, shows that the standard for a disciple is different from that of the world. For an example see John 13:1-17.

[13:4]  ⁴ tn Grk “and removed”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.

[13:4]  ⁵ tn The plural τὰ ἱμάτια (ta Jimatia) is probably a reference to more than one garment (cf. John 19:23-24). If so, this would indicate that Jesus stripped to a loincloth, like a slave. The translation “outer clothes” is used to indicate that Jesus was not completely naked, since complete nudity would have been extremely offensive to Jewish sensibilities in this historical context.

[13:4]  ⁶ tn Grk “taking a towel he girded himself.” Jesus would have wrapped the towel (λέντιον, lention) around his waist (διέζωσεν ἑαυτόν, diezwsen Jeauton) for use in wiping the disciples’ feet. The term λέντιον is a Latin loanword (linteum) which is also found in the rabbinic literature (see BDAG 592 s.v.). It would have been a long piece of linen cloth, long enough for Jesus to have wrapped it about his waist and still used the free end to wipe the disciples’ feet.

[13:5]  ⁷ tn Grk “with the towel with which he was girded.”

[13:6]  ⁸ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Peter) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:6]  ⁹ tn Grk “do you wash” or “are you washing.”

[13:7]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[13:7]  ¹¹ tn Grk “You do not know.”

[13:7]  ¹² tn Grk “you will know.”

[13:8]  ¹³ tn Grk “You will never wash my feet forever.” The negation is emphatic in Greek but somewhat awkward in English. Emphasis is conveyed in the translation by the use of an exclamation point.

[13:8]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Jesus answered him.”

[13:8]  ¹⁵ tn Or “you have no part in me.”

[13:9]  ¹⁶ tn The word “wash” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Here it is supplied to improve the English style by making Peter’s utterance a complete sentence.

[13:10]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”

[13:10]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “has no need except to wash his feet.”

[13:10]  ¹⁹ tn Or “entirely.”

[13:10]  ²⁰ sn The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet. A common understanding is that the “bath” Jesus referred to is the initial cleansing from sin, which necessitates only “lesser, partial” cleansings from sins after conversion. This makes a fine illustration from a homiletic standpoint, but is it the meaning of the passage? This seems highly doubtful. Jesus stated that the disciples were completely clean except for Judas (vv. 10b, 11). What they needed was to have their feet washed by Jesus. In the broader context of the Fourth Gospel, the significance of the foot-washing seems to point not just to an example of humble service (as most understand it), but something more – Jesus’ self-sacrificial death on the cross. If this is correct, then the foot-washing which they needed to undergo represented their acceptance of this act of self-sacrifice on the part of their master. This makes Peter’s initial abhorrence of the act of humiliation by his master all the more significant in context; it also explains Jesus’ seemingly harsh reply to Peter (above, v. 8; compare Matt 16:21-23 where Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan”).

[13:10]  ²¹ tn The word “disciples” is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb. Peter is not the only one Jesus is addressing here.

[13:11]  ²² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:11]  ²³ tn Grk “Not all of you are.”

[13:11]  ²⁴ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[13:12]  ²⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:12]  ²⁶ tn Grk “he reclined at the table.” The phrase reflects the normal 1st century Near Eastern practice of eating a meal in a semi-reclining position.

[13:12]  ²⁷ tn Grk “Do you know.”

[13:13]  ²⁸ tn Or “rightly.”

[13:13]  ²⁹ tn Grk “and I am these things.”

[13:15]  ³⁰ sn I have given you an example. Jesus tells his disciples after he has finished washing their feet that what he has done is to set an example for them. In the previous verse he told them they were to wash one another’s feet. What is the point of the example? If it is simply an act of humble service, as most interpret the significance, then Jesus is really telling his disciples to serve one another in humility rather than seeking preeminence over one another. If, however, the example is one of self-sacrifice up to the point of death, then Jesus is telling them to lay down their lives for one another (cf. 15:13).

[13:16]  ³¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[13:16]  ³² tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

[13:16]  ³³ tn Or “nor is the apostle” (“apostle” means “one who is sent” in Greek).

[13:17]  ³⁴ tn Grk “If you know.”

[2:4]  ³⁵ tn On the meaning “be concerned about” for σκοπέω (skopew), see L&N 27.36.

[2:4]  ³⁶ tn The word “only” is not in the Greek text, but is implied by the ἀλλὰ καί (alla kai) in the second clause (“but…as well”). The bulk of the Western text dropped the καί, motivated most likely by ascetic concerns.

[2:4]  ³⁷ tc The bulk of the Western text (D*^,c F G K it) dropped καί (kai) here, most likely due to ascetic concerns. Strong external attestation for its inclusion from excellent witnesses as well as the majority (Ì⁴⁶ א A B C D² 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï) also marks it as original.

[2:5]  ³⁸ tn Grk “Have this attitude in/among yourselves which also [was] in Christ Jesus,” or “Have this attitude in/among yourselves which [you] also [have] in Christ Jesus.”

[2:6]  ³⁹ sn This passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

[2:6]  ⁴⁰ sn The Greek term translated form indicates a correspondence with reality. Thus the meaning of this phrase is that Christ was truly God.

[2:7]  ⁴¹ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 1:1.

[2:7]  ⁴² tn Grk “by coming in the likeness of people.”

[2:7]  ⁴³ tn Grk “and by being found in form as a man.” The versification of vv. 7 and 8 (so also NRSV) is according to the versification in the NA²⁷ and UBS⁴ editions of the Greek text. Some translations, however, break the verses in front of this phrase (NKJV, NASB, NIV, NLT). The same material has been translated in each case; the only difference is the versification of that material.

[5:8]  ⁴⁴ sn There is a wordplay in the Greek text between the verbs “learned” (ἔμαθεν, emaqen) and “suffered” (ἔπαθεν, epaqen).