Luke 8:32-34

8:32 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, ¹  and the demonic spirits ²  begged Jesus ³  to let them go into them. He gave them permission. ⁴  8:33 So ⁵  the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs, and the herd of pigs ⁶  rushed down the steep slope into the lake and drowned. 8:34 When ⁷  the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran off and spread the news ⁸  in the town ⁹  and countryside.

Ezekiel 16:52

16:52 So now, bear your disgrace, because you have given your sisters reason to justify their behavior. ¹⁰  Because the sins you have committed were more abominable than those of your sisters; they have become more righteous than you. So now, be ashamed and bear the disgrace of making your sisters appear righteous.

Ezekiel 16:63

16:63 Then you will remember, be ashamed, and remain silent ¹¹  when I make atonement for all you have done, ¹²  declares the sovereign Lord.’”

Nahum 3:6

3:6 I will pelt you with filth; ¹³ 

I will treat you with contempt;

I will make you a public spectacle.

Malachi 2:9

2:9 “Therefore, I have caused you to be ignored and belittled before all people to the extent to which you are not following after me and are showing partiality in your ¹⁴  instruction.”

Romans 1:24-26

1:24 Therefore God gave them over ¹⁵  in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor ¹⁶  their bodies among themselves. ¹⁷  1:25 They ¹⁸  exchanged the truth of God for a lie ¹⁹  and worshiped and served the creation ²⁰  rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, ²¹ 

Romans 6:22

6:22 But now, freed ²²  from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit ²³  leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life.

Romans 6:1

The Believer’s Freedom from Sin’s Domination

6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase?

Colossians 1:9-11

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ²⁴  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ²⁵  to fill ²⁶  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live ²⁷  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ²⁸  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, 1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ²⁹  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully

Ephesians 2:2-3

2:2 in which ³⁰  you formerly lived ³¹  according to this world’s present path, ³²  according to the ruler of the kingdom ³³  of the air, the ruler of ³⁴  the spirit ³⁵  that is now energizing ³⁶  the sons of disobedience, ³⁷  2:3 among whom ³⁸  all of us ³⁹  also ⁴⁰  formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath ⁴¹  even as the rest… ⁴² 

Ephesians 4:17-19

Live in Holiness

4:17 So I say this, and insist ⁴³  in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility ⁴⁴  of their thinking. ⁴⁵  4:18 They are darkened in their understanding, ⁴⁶  being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. 4:19 Because they are callous, they have given themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. ⁴⁷ 

Ephesians 5:11-12

5:11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather ⁴⁸  expose them. ⁴⁹  5:12 For the things they do ⁵⁰  in secret are shameful even to mention.

Colossians 3:5-7

3:5 So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: ⁵¹  sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, ⁵²  evil desire, and greed which is idolatry. 3:6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. ⁵³  3:7 You also lived your lives ⁵⁴  in this way at one time, when you used to live among them.

Titus 3:3

3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.

[8:32]  ¹ tn Grk “mountain,” but this might give the English reader the impression of a far higher summit.

[8:32]  ² tn Grk “they”; the referent (the demonic spirits) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:32]  ³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:32]  ⁴ sn Many have discussed why Jesus gave them permission, since the animals were destroyed. However, this is another example of a miracle that is a visual lesson. The demons are destructive: They were destroying the man. They destroyed the pigs. They destroy whatever they touch. The point was to take demonic influence seriously, as well as Jesus’ power over it as a picture of the larger battle for human souls. There would be no doubt how the man’s transformation had taken place.

[8:33]  ⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate a conclusion and transition in the narrative.

[8:33]  ⁶ tn The words “of pigs” are supplied because of the following verb in English, “were drowned,” which is plural.

[8:34]  ⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[8:34]  ⁸ tn Or “reported it.” This verb is used three times in the next few verses (vv. 36, 37), showing how the healing became a major topic of conversation in the district.

[8:34]  ⁹ tn Or “city.”

[16:52]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “because you have interceded for your sisters with your sins.”

[16:63]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and your mouth will not be open any longer.”

[16:63]  ¹² tn Heb “when I make atonement for you for all which you have done.”

[3:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “detestable things”; KJV, ASV “abominable filth”; NCV “filthy garbage.”

[2:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in the instruction” (so NASB). The Hebrew article is used here as a possessive pronoun (cf. NRSV, NLT).

[1:24]  ¹⁵ sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 81:12.

[1:24]  ¹⁶ tn The genitive articular infinitive τοῦ ἀτιμάζεσθαι (tou atimazesqai, “to dishonor”) has been taken as (1) an infinitive of purpose; (2) an infinitive of result; or (3) an epexegetical (i.e., explanatory) infinitive, expanding the previous clause.

[1:24]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “among them.”

[1:25]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:25]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “the lie.”

[1:25]  ²⁰ tn Or “creature, created things.”

[1:26]  ²¹ tn Grk “for their females exchanged the natural function for that which is contrary to nature.” The term χρῆσις (crhsi") has the force of “sexual relations” here (L&N 23.65).

[6:22]  ²² tn The two aorist participles translated “freed” and “enslaved” are causal in force; their full force is something like “But now, since you have become freed from sin and since you have become enslaved to God….”

[6:22]  ²³ tn Grk “fruit.”

[1:9]  ²⁴ tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ²⁵ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ²⁶ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.

[1:10]  ²⁷ tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

[1:10]  ²⁸ tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”

[1:11]  ²⁹ tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.

[2:2]  ³⁰ sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ³¹ tn Grk “walked.”

[2:2]  ³² tn Or possibly “Aeon.”

[2:2]  ³³ tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ³⁴ tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ³⁵ sn The ruler of the kingdom of the air is also the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. Although several translations regard the ruler to be the same as the spirit, this is unlikely since the cases in Greek are different (ruler is accusative and spirit is genitive). To get around this, some have suggested that the genitive for spirit is a genitive of apposition. However, the semantics of the genitive of apposition are against such an interpretation (cf. ExSyn 100).

[2:2]  ³⁶ tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ³⁷ sn Sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” However, it also contains a subtle allusion to vv. 4-10: Some of those sons of disobedience have become sons of God.

[2:3]  ³⁸ sn Among whom. The relative pronoun phrase that begins v. 3 is identical, except for gender, to the one that begins v. 2 (ἐν αἵς [en Jais], ἐν οἵς [en Jois]). By the structure, the author is building an argument for our hopeless condition: We lived in sin and we lived among sinful people. Our doom looked to be sealed as well in v. 2: Both the external environment (kingdom of the air) and our internal motivation and attitude (the spirit that is now energizing) were under the devil’s thumb (cf. 2 Cor 4:4).

[2:3]  ³⁹ tn Grk “we all.”

[2:3]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “even.”

[2:3]  ⁴¹ sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”

[2:3]  ⁴² sn Eph 2:1-3. The translation of vv. 1-3 is very literal, even to the point of retaining the awkward syntax of the original. See note on the word dead in 2:1.

[4:17]  ⁴³ tn On the translation of μαρτύρομαι (marturomai) as “insist” see BDAG 619 s.v. 2.

[4:17]  ⁴⁴ tn On the translation of ματαιότης (mataioth") as “futility” see BDAG 621 s.v.

[4:17]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “thoughts,” “mind.”

[4:18]  ⁴⁶ tn In the Greek text this clause is actually subordinate to περιπατεῖ (peripatei) in v. 17. It was broken up in the English translation so as to avoid an unnecessarily long and cumbersome statement.

[4:19]  ⁴⁷ sn Greediness refers to an increasing desire for more and more. The point is that sinful passions and desires are never satisfied.

[5:11]  ⁴⁸ tn The Greek conjunction καὶ (kai) seems to be functioning here ascensively, (i.e., “even”), but is difficult to render in this context using good English. It may read something like: “but rather even expose them!”

[5:11]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “rather even expose.”

[5:12]  ⁵⁰ tn The participle τὰ…γινόμενα (ta…ginomena) usually refers to “things happening” or “things which are,” but with the following genitive phrase ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν (Jup’ autwn), which indicates agency, the idea seems to be “things being done.” This passive construction was translated as an active one to simplify the English style.

[3:5]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “the members which are on the earth.” See BDAG 628 s.v. μέλος 1, “put to death whatever in you is worldly.”

[3:5]  ⁵² tn Or “lust.”

[3:6]  ⁵³ tc The words ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας (epi tou" Juiou" th" apeiqeia", “on the sons of disobedience”) are lacking in Ì⁴⁶ B b sa, but are found in א A C D F G H I Ψ 075 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy bo. The words are omitted by several English translations (NASB, NIV, ESV, TNIV). This textual problem is quite difficult to resolve. On the one hand, the parallel account in Eph 5:6 has these words, thus providing scribes a motive for adding them here. On the other hand, the reading without the words may be too hard: The ἐν οἷς (en |oi") of v. 7 seems to have no antecedent without υἱούς already in the text, although it could possibly be construed as neuter referring to the vice list in v. 5. Further, although the witness of B is especially important, there are other places in which B and Ì⁴⁶ share errant readings of omission. Nevertheless, the strength of the internal evidence against the longer reading is at least sufficient to cause doubt here. The decision to retain the words in the text is less than certain.

[3:7]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “you also walked.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is commonly used in the NT to refer to behavior or conduct of one’s life (L&N 41.11).