Luke 18:22

18:22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have ¹  and give the money ²  to the poor, ³  and you will have treasure ⁴  in heaven. Then ⁵  come, follow me.”

Psalms 27:4

27:4 I have asked the Lord for one thing –

this is what I desire!

I want to live ⁶  in the Lord’s house ⁷  all the days of my life,

so I can gaze at the splendor ⁸  of the Lord

and contemplate in his temple.

Psalms 73:25

73:25 Whom do I have in heaven but you?

I desire no one but you on earth. ⁹ 

Ecclesiastes 12:13

12:13 Having heard everything, I have reached this conclusion: ¹⁰ 

Fear God and keep his commandments,

because this is the whole duty ¹¹  of man.

Mark 8:36

8:36 For what benefit is it for a person ¹²  to gain the whole world, yet ¹³  forfeit his life?

John 17:3

17:3 Now this ¹⁴  is eternal life ¹⁵  – that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, ¹⁶  whom you sent.

John 17:1

Jesus Prays for the Father to Glorify Him

17:1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he looked upward ¹⁷  to heaven ¹⁸  and said, “Father, the time ¹⁹  has come. Glorify your Son, so that your ²⁰  Son may glorify you –

Colossians 1:3

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church

1:3 We always ²¹  give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

Galatians 5:6

5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight – the only thing that matters is faith working through love. ²² 

Colossians 2:10-19

2:10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 2:11 In him you also were circumcised – not, however, ²³  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ²⁴  of the fleshly body, ²⁵  that is, ²⁶  through the circumcision done by Christ. 2:12 Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your ²⁷  faith in the power ²⁸  of God who raised him from the dead. 2:13 And even though you were dead in your ²⁹  transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he nevertheless ³⁰  made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions. 2:14 He has destroyed ³¹  what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness ³²  expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. 2:15 Disarming ³³  the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross. ³⁴ 

2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days – 2:17 these are only ³⁵  the shadow of the things to come, but the reality ³⁶  is Christ! ³⁷  2:18 Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels pass judgment on you. That person goes on at great lengths ³⁸  about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind. ³⁹  2:19 He has not held fast ⁴⁰  to the head from whom the whole body, supported ⁴¹  and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. ⁴² 

Colossians 2:1

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, ⁴³  and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. ⁴⁴ 

Colossians 1:11-12

1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ⁴⁵  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully 1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ⁴⁶  in the saints’ ⁴⁷  inheritance in the light.

[18:22]  ¹ sn See Luke 14:33.

[18:22]  ² tn The words “the money” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[18:22]  ³ sn See Luke 1:50-53; 6:20-23; 14:12-14.

[18:22]  ⁴ sn The call for sacrifice comes with a promise of eternal reward: …you will have treasure in heaven. Jesus’ call is a test to see how responsive the man is to God’s direction through him. Will he walk the path God’s agent calls him to walk? For a rich person who got it right, see Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10.

[18:22]  ⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the conversation.

[27:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “my living.”

[27:4]  ⁷ sn The Lord’s house. This probably refers to the tabernacle (if one accepts Davidic authorship) or the temple (see Judg 19:18; 1 Sam 1:7, 24; 2 Sam 12:20; 1 Kgs 7:12, 40, 45, 51).

[27:4]  ⁸ tn Or “beauty.”

[73:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “Who [is there] for me in heaven? And besides you I do not desire [anyone] in the earth.” The psalmist uses a merism (heaven/earth) to emphasize that God is the sole object of his desire and worship in the entire universe.

[12:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “The end of the matter, everything having been heard.”

[12:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “This is all men”; or “This is the whole of man.” The phrase זֶה כָּל־הָאָדָם (zeh kol-ha’adam, “this is all men”) features rhetorical elision of a key word. The ambiguity over the elided word has led to no less than five basic approaches: (1) “this is the whole duty of man” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NAB, NIV); (2) “this is the duty of all men” (MLB, ASV margin, RSV margin); (3) “this applies to all men” (NASB, NJPS); (4) “this is the whole duty of all men” (NRSV, Moffatt); and (5) “there is no more to man than this” (NEB). The four-fold repetition of כֹּל (kol, “all”) in 12:13-14 suggests that Qoheleth is emphasizing the “bottom line,” that is, the basic duty of man is simply to fear and obey God: After “all” (כֹּל) has been heard in the book, his conclusion is that the “whole” (כֹּל) duty of man is to obey God because God will bring “all” (כֹּל) acts into judgment, including “all” (כֹּל) that is hidden, whether good or bad. See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 3:596.

[8:36]  ¹² tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.

[8:36]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[17:3]  ¹⁴ tn Using αὕτη δέ (Jauth de) to introduce an explanation is typical Johannine style; it was used before in John 1:19, 3:19, and 15:12.

[17:3]  ¹⁵ sn This is eternal life. The author here defines eternal life for the readers, although it is worked into the prayer in such a way that many interpreters do not regard it as another of the author’s parenthetical comments. It is not just unending life in the sense of prolonged duration. Rather it is a quality of life, with its quality derived from a relationship with God. Having eternal life is here defined as being in relationship with the Father, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom the Father sent. Christ (Χριστός, Cristos) is not characteristically attached to Jesus’ name in John’s Gospel; it occurs elsewhere primarily as a title and is used with Jesus’ name only in 1:17. But that is connected to its use here: The statement here in 17:3 enables us to correlate the statement made in 1:18 of the prologue, that Jesus has fully revealed what God is like, with Jesus’ statement in 10:10 that he has come that people might have life, and have it abundantly. These two purposes are really one, according to 17:3, because (abundant) eternal life is defined as knowing (being in relationship with) the Father and the Son. The only way to gain this eternal life, that is, to obtain this knowledge of the Father, is through the Son (cf. 14:6). Although some have pointed to the use of know (γινώσκω, ginwskw) here as evidence of Gnostic influence in the Fourth Gospel, there is a crucial difference: For John this knowledge is not intellectual, but relational. It involves being in relationship.

[17:3]  ¹⁶ tn Or “and Jesus the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[17:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “he raised his eyes” (an idiom).

[17:1]  ¹⁸ tn Or “to the sky.” The Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven” depending on the context.

[17:1]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “the hour.”

[17:1]  ²⁰ tc The better witnesses (א B C* W 0109 0301) have “the Son” (ὁ υἱός, Jo Juios) here, while the majority (C³ L Ψ Ë¹³ 33 Ï) read “your Son also” (καὶ ὁ υἱὸς σου, kai Jo Juio" sou), or “your Son” (ὁ υἱὸς σου; A D Θ 0250 1 579 pc lat sy); the second corrector of C has καὶ ὁ υἱός (“the Son also”). The longer readings appear to be predictable scribal expansions and as such should be considered secondary.

[1:3]  ²¹ tn The adverb πάντοτε (pantote) is understood to modify the indicative εὐχαριστοῦμεν (eucaristoumen) because it precedes περὶ ὑμῶν (peri Jumwn) which probably modifies the indicative and not the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi). But see 1:9 where the same expression occurs and περὶ ὑμῶν modifies the participle “praying” (προσευχόμενοι).

[5:6]  ²² tn Grk “but faith working through love.”

[2:11]  ²³ tn The terms “however” and “but” in this sentence were supplied in order to emphasize the contrast.

[2:11]  ²⁴ tn The articular noun τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (th apekdusei) is a noun which ends in -σις (-sis) and therefore denotes action, i.e., “removal.” Since the head noun is a verbal noun, the following genitive τοῦ σώματος (tou swmatos) is understood as an objective genitive, receiving the action of the head noun.

[2:11]  ²⁵ tn Grk “in the removal of the body of flesh.” The genitive τῆς σαρκός (th" sarko") has been translated as an attributive genitive, “fleshly body.”

[2:11]  ²⁶ tn The second prepositional phrase beginning with ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ (en th peritomh) is parallel to the prepositional phrase ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (en th apekdusei) and gives a further explanation of it. The words “that is” were supplied to bring out this force in the translation.

[2:12]  ²⁷ tn The article with the genitive modifier τῆς πίστεως (th" pistew") is functioning as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[2:12]  ²⁸ tn The genitive τῆς ἐνεργείας (th" energeia") has been translated as an objective genitive, “faith in the power.”

[2:13]  ²⁹ tn The article τοῖς (tois) with παραπτώμασιν (paraptwmasin) is functioning as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[2:13]  ³⁰ tn The word “nevertheless,” though not in the Greek text, was supplied in the translation to bring out the force of the concessive participle ὄντας (ontas).

[2:14]  ³¹ tn The participle ἐξαλείψας (exaleiyas) is a temporal adverbial participle of contemporaneous time related to the previous verb συνεζωοποίησεν (sunezwopoihsen), but has been translated as a finite verb because of the complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences. For the meaning “destroy” see BDAG 344-45 s.v. ἐξαλείφω 2.

[2:14]  ³² tn On the translation of χειρόγραφον (ceirografon), see BDAG 1083 s.v. which refers to it as “a certificate of indebtedness.”

[2:15]  ³³ tn See BDAG 100 s.v. ἀπεκδύομαι 2.

[2:15]  ³⁴ tn The antecedent of the Greek pronoun αὐτῷ (autw) could either be “Christ” or the “cross.” There are several reasons for choosing “the cross” as the antecedent for αὐτῷ in verse 15: (1) The nearest antecedent is τῷ σταυρῷ (tw staurw) in v. 14; (2) the idea of ἐδειγμάτισεν ἐν παρρησία (edeigmatisen en parrhsia, “made a public disgrace”) seems to be more in keeping with the idea of the cross; (3) a reference to Christ seems to miss the irony involved in the idea of triumph – the whole point is that where one would expect defeat, there came the victory; (4) if Christ is the subject of the participles in v. 15 then almost certainly the cross is the referent for αὐτῷ. Thus the best solution is to see αὐτῷ as a reference to the cross and the preposition ἐν (en) indicating “means” (i.e., by means of the cross) or possibly (though less likely) location (on the cross).

[2:17]  ³⁵ tn The word “only,” though not in the Greek text, is supplied in the English translation to bring out the force of the Greek phrase.

[2:17]  ³⁶ tn Grk “but the body of Christ.” The term body here, when used in contrast to shadow (σκιά, skia) indicates the opposite meaning, i.e., the reality or substance itself.

[2:17]  ³⁷ tn The genitive τοῦ Χριστοῦ (tou Cristou) is appositional and translated as such: “the reality is Christ.”

[2:18]  ³⁸ tn For the various views on the translation of ἐμβατεύων (embateuwn), see BDAG 321 s.v. ἐμβατεύω 4. The idea in this context seems to be that the individual in question loves to talk on and on about his spiritual experiences, but in reality they are only coming out of his own sinful flesh.

[2:18]  ³⁹ tn Grk “by the mind of his flesh.” In the translation above, σαρκός (sarkos) is taken as an attributive genitive. The phrase could also be translated “by his sinful thoughts,” since it appears that Paul is using σάρξ (sarx, “flesh”) here in a morally negative way.

[2:19]  ⁴⁰ tn The Greek participle κρατῶν (kratwn) was translated as a finite verb to avoid an unusually long and pedantic sentence structure in English.

[2:19]  ⁴¹ tn See BDAG 387 s.v. ἐπιχορηγέω 3.

[2:19]  ⁴² tn The genitive τοῦ θεοῦ (tou qeou) has been translated as a genitive of source, “from God.”

[2:1]  ⁴³ tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”

[2:1]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”

[1:11]  ⁴⁵ 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.

[1:12]  ⁴⁶ tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

[1:12]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”