Matthew 20:2

20:2 And after agreeing with the workers for the standard wage, ¹  he sent them into his vineyard.

Matthew 20:6-7

20:6 And about five o’clock that afternoon ²  he went out and found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why are you standing here all day without work?’ 20:7 They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go and work in the vineyard too.’

Luke 23:40-43

23:40 But the other rebuked him, saying, ³  “Don’t ⁴  you fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? ⁵  23:41 And we rightly so, for we are getting what we deserve for what we did, but this man has done nothing ⁶  wrong.” 23:42 Then ⁷  he said, “Jesus, remember me ⁸  when you come in ⁹  your kingdom.” 23:43 And Jesus ¹⁰  said to him, “I tell you the truth, ¹¹  today ¹²  you will be with me in paradise.” ¹³ 

Romans 4:3-6

4:3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited ¹⁴  to him as righteousness.” ¹⁵  4:4 Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation. ¹⁶  4:5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, ¹⁷  his faith is credited as righteousness.

4:6 So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

Romans 5:20-21

5:20 Now the law came in ¹⁸  so that the transgression ¹⁹  may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, 5:21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Ephesians 1:6-8

1:6 to the praise of the glory of his grace ²⁰  that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. ²¹  1:7 In him ²²  we have redemption through his blood, ²³  the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 1:8 that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.

Ephesians 2:8-10

2:8 For by grace you are saved ²⁴  through faith, ²⁵  and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 2:9 it is not from ²⁶  works, so that no one can boast. ²⁷  2:10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. ²⁸ 

Ephesians 2:1

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ²⁹  dead ³⁰  in your transgressions and sins,

Ephesians 1:14-16

1:14 who is the down payment ³¹  of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, ³²  to the praise of his glory.

Prayer for Wisdom and Revelation

1:15 For this reason, ³³  because I ³⁴  have heard ³⁵  of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love ³⁶  for all the saints, 1:16 I do not cease to give thanks for you when I remember you ³⁷  in my prayers.

[20:2]  ¹ tn Grk “agreeing with the workers for a denarius a day.”

[20:6]  ² tn Grk “about the eleventh hour.”

[23:40]  ³ tn Grk “But answering, the other rebuking him, said.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.

[23:40]  ⁴ tn The particle used here (οὐδέ, oude), which expects a positive reply, makes this a rebuke – “You should fear God and not speak!”

[23:40]  ⁵ tn The words “of condemnation” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[23:41]  ⁶ sn This man has done nothing wrong is yet another declaration that Jesus was innocent of any crime.

[23:42]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[23:42]  ⁸ sn Jesus, remember me is a statement of faith from the cross, as Jesus saves another even while he himself is dying. This man’s faith had shown itself when he rebuked the other thief. He hoped to be with Jesus sometime in the future in the kingdom.

[23:42]  ⁹ tc ‡ The alternate readings of some mss make the reference to Jesus’ coming clearer. “Into your kingdom” – with εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν (ei" thn basileian), read by Ì⁷⁵ B L – is a reference to his entering into God’s presence at the right hand. “In your kingdom” – with ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ (en th basileia), read by א A C*^,2 W Θ Ψ 070 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat sy – looks at his return. It could be argued that the reading with εἰς is more in keeping with Luke’s theology elsewhere, but the contrast with Jesus’ reply, “Today,” slightly favors the reading “in your kingdom.” Codex Bezae (D), in place of this short interchange between the criminal and Jesus, reads “Then he turned to the Lord and said to him, ‘Remember me in the day of your coming.’ Then the Lord said in reply to [him], ‘Take courage; today you will be with me in paradise.’” This reading emphasizes the future aspect of the coming of Christ; it has virtually no support in any other mss.

[23:43]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “he.”

[23:43]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[23:43]  ¹² sn Jesus gives more than the criminal asked for, because the blessing will come today, not in the future. He will be among the righteous. See the note on today in 2:11.

[23:43]  ¹³ sn In the NT, paradise is mentioned three times. Here it refers to the abode of the righteous dead. In Rev 2:7 it refers to the restoration of Edenic paradise predicted in Isa 51:3 and Ezek 36:35. In 2 Cor 12:4 it probably refers to the “third heaven” (2 Cor 12:2) as the place where God dwells.

[4:3]  ¹⁴ tn The term λογίζομαι (logizomai) occurs 11 times in this chapter (vv. 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 22, 23, 24). In secular usage it could (a) refer to deliberations of some sort, or (b) in commercial dealings (as virtually a technical term) to “reckoning” or “charging up a debt.” See H. W. Heidland, TDNT 4:284, 290-92.

[4:3]  ¹⁵ sn A quotation from Gen 15:6.

[4:4]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “not according to grace but according to obligation.”

[4:5]  ¹⁷ tn Or “who justifies the ungodly.”

[5:20]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “slipped in.”

[5:20]  ¹⁹ tn Or “trespass.”

[1:6]  ²⁰ tn Or “to the praise of his glorious grace.” Many translations translate δόξης τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ (doxh" th" carito" autou, literally “of the glory of his grace”) with τῆς χάριτος as an attributed genitive (cf., e.g., NIV, NRSV, ESV). The translation above has retained a literal rendering in order to make clear the relationship of this phrase to the other two similar phrases in v. 12 and 14, which affect the way one divides the material in the passage.

[1:6]  ²¹ tn Grk “the beloved.” The term ἠγαπημένῳ (hgaphmenw) means “beloved,” but often bears connotations of “only beloved” in an exclusive sense. “His dearly loved Son” picks up this connotation.

[1:7]  ²² tn Grk “in whom” (the relative clause of v. 7 is subordinate to v. 6). The “him” refers to Christ.

[1:7]  ²³ sn In this context his blood, the blood of Jesus Christ, refers to the price paid for believers’ redemption, which is the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross.

[2:8]  ²⁴ tn See note on the same expression in v. 5.

[2:8]  ²⁵ tc The feminine article is found before πίστεως (pistews, “faith”) in the Byzantine text as well as in A Ψ 1881 pc. Perhaps for some scribes the article was intended to imply creedal fidelity as a necessary condition of salvation (“you are saved through the faith”), although elsewhere in the corpus Paulinum the phrase διὰ τῆς πίστεως (dia th" pistew") is used for the act of believing rather than the content of faith (cf. Rom 3:30, 31; Gal 3:14; Eph 3:17; Col 2:12). On the other side, strong representatives of the Alexandrian and Western texts (א B D* F G P 0278 6 33 1739 al bo) lack the article. Hence, both text-critically and exegetically, the meaning of the text here is most likely “saved through faith” as opposed to “saved through the faith.” Regarding the textual problem, the lack of the article is the preferred reading.

[2:9]  ²⁶ tn Or “not as a result of.”

[2:9]  ²⁷ tn Grk “lest anyone should boast.”

[2:10]  ²⁸ tn Grk “so that we might walk in them” (or “by them”).

[2:1]  ²⁹ tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

[2:1]  ³⁰ sn Chapter 2 starts off with a participle, although you were dead, that is left dangling. The syntax in Greek for vv. 1-3 constitutes one incomplete sentence, though it seems to have been done intentionally. The dangling participle leaves the readers in suspense while they wait for the solution (in v. 4) to their spiritual dilemma.

[1:14]  ³¹ tn Or “first installment,” “pledge,” “deposit.”

[1:14]  ³² tn Grk “the possession.”

[1:15]  ³³ sn The conjunctive phrase For this reason points back to the preceding section, vv. 3-14, which is also summed up in this verse in the expression because I have heard of your faith. In other words, the author’s prayer can be made for his audience because he knows that they are true believers.

[1:15]  ³⁴ tn Grk “even I.”

[1:15]  ³⁵ tn Grk “having also heard.”

[1:15]  ³⁶ tc Ì⁴⁶ א* A B P 33 1739 1881 2464 Hier lack “your love” (τὴν ἀγάπην, thn agaphn), while various other groups of mss have different arrangements of the phrase “your love toward all the saints” (τὴν ἀγάπην τὴν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους, thn agaphn thn ei" panta" tou" Jagiou"). Most witnesses, especially the later ones (א² D¹ Ψ Ï latt sa), read τὴν ἀγάπην τὴν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους. Externally, the shorter reading is superior. Internally, the omission of τὴν ἀγάπην is a significantly harder reading, for the saints become an object of faith on par with the Lord Jesus. If this reading is authentic, however, the force of πίστις (pisti") is probably closer to “faithfulness,” a meaning that could perhaps be suitable toward both the Lord and the saints. Nevertheless, if the shorter reading is authentic, later scribes would no doubt have been tempted to alter it. With the parallel in Col 1:4 at hand, τὴν ἀγάπην would have been the most obvious phrase to add. (TCGNT 533 suggests that ἣν ἔχετε would have been added instead of the second τήν if the shorter reading were original, in conformity with Col 1:4, but this is not necessarily so: Scribes often altered the text as minimally as possible, and since the second τήν was already present, replacing it with ἣν ἔχετε, when the meaning was not significantly different from the second τήν, seems unlikely.) Further, ἀγάπην comes after “saints” (thus, τὴν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους ἀγάπην) in some witnesses (81 104 326 365 1175), and the second τήν is lacking (thus, τὴν ἀγάπην εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους) in others (D* F G). Such a floating text normally indicates inauthenticity. On the other hand, τὴν ἀγάπην could easily have dropped out of the text by way of haplography, the Alexandrian scribes’ eyes skipping from τήν to τήν. The weak first declension feminine article-noun-article construction is common enough in the NT, occurring over 40 times, yet in four of these texts there is some ms evidence for an omission similar to Eph 1:15 (Rom 11:17; 2 Tim 3:10; Rev 11:2; 21:9). But in none of these places is the Alexandrian testimony united in the omission as it is here. Further, a wholesale Alexandrian omission of τὴν ἀγάπην presupposes a much stronger genealogical relation among the Alexandrian mss than many scholars would embrace. What seems to tip the scales in favor of the longer reading, however, is the intrinsic evidence: The question of whether πίστις could be used to mean faithfulness in the general sense toward both the Lord and the saints is quite problematic. All in all, a decision is difficult, but the longer reading is, with hesitation, preferred.

[1:16]  ³⁷ tn Grk “making mention [of you].”