Luke 9:46

Concerning the Greatest

9:46 Now an argument started among the disciples ¹  as to which of them might be ²  the greatest.

Matthew 20:20-24

A Request for James and John

20:20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling down she asked him for a favor. ³  20:21 He said to her, “What do you want?” She replied, ⁴  “Permit ⁵  these two sons of mine to sit, one at your ⁶  right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 20:22 Jesus ⁷  answered, “You don’t know what you are asking! ⁸  Are you able to drink the cup I am about to drink?” ⁹  They said to him, “We are able.” ¹⁰  20:23 He told them, “You will drink my cup, ¹¹  but to sit at my right and at my left is not mine to give. Rather, it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

20:24 Now ¹²  when the other ten ¹³  heard this, ¹⁴  they were angry with the two brothers.

Mark 9:34

9:34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.

Mark 10:37-41

10:37 They said to him, “Permit one of us to sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.” 10:38 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I experience?” ¹⁵  10:39 They said to him, “We are able.” ¹⁶  Then Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism I experience, 10:40 but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give. It is for those for whom it has been prepared.” ¹⁷ 

10:41 Now ¹⁸  when the other ten ¹⁹  heard this, ²⁰  they became angry with James and John.

Romans 12:10

12:10 Be devoted to one another with mutual love, showing eagerness in honoring one another.

Romans 12:1

Consecration of the Believer’s Life

12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, ²¹  by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God ²²  – which is your reasonable service.

Colossians 1:4

1:4 since ²³  we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.

Philippians 2:3-5

2:3 Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition ²⁴  or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. 2:4 Each of you should be concerned ²⁵  not only ²⁶  about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. ²⁷  2:5 You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, ²⁸ 

James 4:5-6

4:5 Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, ²⁹  “The spirit that God ³⁰  caused ³¹  to live within us has an envious yearning”? ³²  4:6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” ³³ 

James 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ³⁴  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ³⁵  from your passions that battle inside you? ³⁶ 

James 5:5-6

5:5 You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. ³⁷  5:6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person, although he does not resist you. ³⁸ 

[9:46]  ¹ tn Grk “among them”; the referent (the disciples) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:46]  ² tn The use of the optative mood means the answer is not clear (BDF §§267.2.3; 385.2.2).

[20:20]  ³ tn Grk “asked something from him.”

[20:21]  ⁴ tn Grk “said to him.”

[20:21]  ⁵ tn Grk “Say that.”

[20:21]  ⁶ tc A majority of witnesses read σου (sou, “your”) here, perhaps for clarification. At the same time, it is possible that the pronoun dropped out through haplography or was excised because of perceived redundancy (there are two other such pronouns in the verse) by א B. Either way, the translation adds it due to the requirements of English style. NA²⁷ includes σου here.

[20:22]  ⁷ tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said.” This is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[20:22]  ⁸ tn The verbs in Greek are plural here, indicating that Jesus is not answering the mother but has turned his attention directly to the two disciples.

[20:22]  ⁹ tc Most mss (C W 33 Ï, as well as some versional and patristic authorities) in addition have “or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” But this is surely due to a recollection of the fuller version of this dominical saying found in Mark 10:38. The same mss also have the Lord’s response, “and you will be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized” in v. 23, again due to the parallel in Mark 10:39. The shorter reading, in both v. 22 and v. 23, is to be preferred both because it better explains the rise of the other reading and is found in superior witnesses (א B D L Z Θ 085 Ë^1,13 pc lat, as well as other versional and patristic authorities).

[20:22]  ¹⁰ sn No more naïve words have ever been spoken as those found here coming from James and John, “We are able.” They said it with such confidence and ease, yet they had little clue as to what they were affirming. In the next sentence Jesus confirms that they will indeed suffer for his name.

[20:23]  ¹¹ tc See the tc note on “about to drink” in v. 22.

[20:24]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[20:24]  ¹³ tn Grk “the ten.”

[20:24]  ¹⁴ tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[10:38]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “baptism I am baptized with.” This same change has been made in v. 39.

[10:39]  ¹⁶ sn No more naïve words have ever been spoken as those found here coming from James and John, “We are able.” They said it with such confidence and ease, yet they had little clue as to what they were affirming. In the next sentence Jesus confirms that they will indeed suffer for his name.

[10:40]  ¹⁷ sn After the first passion prediction in 8:31 Jesus rebuked Peter as having been used by Satan. After the second passion prediction in 9:31 the disciples were concerned about who would be the greatest in the kingdom. After the third passion prediction in 10:33 James and John asked for positions of honor and rulership in the kingdom, revealing their complete misunderstanding of the nature of the kingdom and exposing their inadequacy as true disciples of Jesus. Jesus replied that such positions were for those for whom it has been prepared.

[10:41]  ¹⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[10:41]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “the ten.”

[10:41]  ²⁰ tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[12:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[12:1]  ²² tn The participle and two adjectives “alive, holy, and pleasing to God” are taken as predicates in relation to “sacrifice,” making the exhortation more emphatic. See ExSyn 618-19.

[1:4]  ²³ tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).

[2:3]  ²⁴ tn Grk “not according to selfish ambition.” There is no main verb in this verse; the subjunctive φρονῆτε (fronhte, “be of the same mind”) is implied here as well. Thus, although most translations supply the verb “do” at the beginning of v. 3 (e.g., “do nothing from selfish ambition”), the idea is even stronger than that: “Don’t even think any thoughts motivated by selfish ambition.”

[2:4]  ²⁵ tn On the meaning “be concerned about” for σκοπέω (skopew), see L&N 27.36.

[2:4]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ 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.”

[4:5]  ²⁹ tn Grk “vainly says.”

[4:5]  ³⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:5]  ³¹ tc The Byzantine text and a few other mss (P 33 Ï) have the intransitive κατῴκησεν (katwkhsen) here, which turns τὸ πνεῦμα (to pneuma) into the subject of the verb: “The spirit which lives within us.” But the more reliable and older witnesses (Ì⁷⁴ א B Ψ 049 1241 1739 al) have the causative verb, κατῴκισεν (katwkisen), which implies a different subject and τὸ πνεῦμα as the object: “The spirit that he causes to live within us.” Both because of the absence of an explicit subject and the relative scarcity of the causative κατοικίζω (katoikizw, “cause to dwell”) compared to the intransitive κατοικέω (katoikew, “live, dwell”) in biblical Greek (κατοικίζω does not occur in the NT at all, and occurs one twelfth as frequently as κατοικέω in the LXX), it is easy to see why scribes would replace κατῴκισεν with κατῴκησεν. Thus, on internal and external grounds, κατῴκισεν is the preferred reading.

[4:5]  ³² tn Interpreters debate the referent of the word “spirit” in this verse: (1) The translation takes “spirit” to be the lustful capacity within people that produces a divided mind (1:8, 14) and inward conflicts regarding God (4:1-4). God has allowed it to be in man since the fall, and he provides his grace (v. 6) and the new birth through the gospel message (1:18-25) to counteract its evil effects. (2) On the other hand the word “spirit” may be taken positively as the Holy Spirit and the sense would be, “God yearns jealously for the Spirit he caused to live within us.” But the word for “envious” or “jealous” is generally negative in biblical usage and the context before and after seems to favor the negative interpretation.

[4:6]  ³³ sn A quotation from Prov 3:34.

[4:1]  ³⁴ tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

[4:1]  ³⁵ tn Grk “from here.”

[4:1]  ³⁶ tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”

[5:5]  ³⁷ sn James’ point seems to be that instead of seeking deliverance from condemnation, they have defied God’s law (fattened your hearts) and made themselves more likely objects of his judgment (in a day of slaughter).

[5:6]  ³⁸ tn Literally a series of verbs without connectives, “you have condemned, you have murdered…he does not resist.”