Matthew 7:21-22

Judgment of Pretenders

7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ ¹  will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 7:22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do ²  many powerful deeds?’

Luke 10:19-20

10:19 Look, I have given you authority to tread ³  on snakes and scorpions ⁴  and on the full force of the enemy, ⁵  and nothing will ⁶  hurt you. 10:20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice that ⁷  the spirits submit to you, but rejoice ⁸  that your names stand written ⁹  in heaven.”

John 3:27

3:27 John replied, ¹⁰  “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven.

John 4:10

4:10 Jesus answered ¹¹  her, “If you had known ¹²  the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water ¹³  to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ¹⁴ 

John 6:32

6:32 Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁵  it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven.

Acts 8:20

8:20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, ¹⁶  because you thought you could acquire ¹⁷  God’s gift with money!

Acts 10:45

10:45 The ¹⁸  circumcised believers ¹⁹  who had accompanied Peter were greatly astonished ²⁰  that ²¹  the gift of the Holy Spirit ²²  had been poured out ²³  even on the Gentiles,

Acts 11:17

11:17 Therefore if God ²⁴  gave them the same gift ²⁵  as he also gave us after believing ²⁶  in the Lord Jesus Christ, ²⁷  who was I to hinder ²⁸  God?”

Romans 1:11

1:11 For I long to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift ²⁹  to strengthen you,

Romans 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ³⁰  a slave ³¹  of Christ Jesus, ³²  called to be an apostle, ³³  set apart for the gospel of God. ³⁴ 

Colossians 1:1-2

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ³⁵  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 1:2 to the saints, the faithful ³⁶  brothers and sisters ³⁷  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ³⁸  from God our Father! ³⁹ 

Ephesians 2:8

2:8 For by grace you are saved ⁴⁰  through faith, ⁴¹  and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Ephesians 3:7

3:7 I became a servant of this gospel ⁴²  according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by ⁴³  the exercise of his power. ⁴⁴ 

Ephesians 4:7

4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Ephesians 4:1

Live in Unity

4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, ⁴⁵  urge you to live ⁴⁶  worthily of the calling with which you have been called, ⁴⁷ 

Ephesians 4:14

4:14 So ⁴⁸  we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. ⁴⁹ 

James 1:17-18

1:17 All generous giving and every perfect gift ⁵⁰  is from above, coming down ⁵¹  from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. ⁵²  1:18 By his sovereign plan he gave us birth ⁵³  through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

[7:21]  ¹ sn The double use of the vocative is normally used in situations of high emotion or emphasis. Even an emphatic confession without action means little.

[7:22]  ² tn Grk “and in your name do.” This phrase was not repeated here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[10:19]  ³ tn Or perhaps, “trample on” (which emphasizes the impact of the feet on the snakes). See L&N 15.226.

[10:19]  ⁴ sn Snakes and scorpions are examples of the hostility in the creation that is defeated by Jesus. The use of battle imagery shows who the kingdom fights against. See Acts 28:3-6.

[10:19]  ⁵ tn Or “I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and [authority] over the full force of the enemy.” The second prepositional phrase can be taken either as modifying the infinitive πατεῖν (patein, “to tread”) or the noun ἐξουσίαν (exousian, “power”). The former is to be preferred and has been represented in the translation.

[10:19]  ⁶ tn This is an emphatic double negative in the Greek text.

[10:20]  ⁷ tn Grk “do not rejoice in this, that.” This is awkward in contemporary English and has been simplified to “do not rejoice that.”

[10:20]  ⁸ tn The verb here is a present imperative, so the call is to an attitude of rejoicing.

[10:20]  ⁹ tn The verb here, a perfect tense, stresses a present reality of that which was a completed action, that is, their names were etched in the heavenly stone, as it were.

[3:27]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “answered and said.”

[4:10]  ¹¹ tn Grk “answered and said to her.”

[4:10]  ¹² tn Or “if you knew.”

[4:10]  ¹³ tn The phrase “some water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).

[4:10]  ¹⁴ tn This is a second class conditional sentence in Greek.

[6:32]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[8:20]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “May your silver together with you be sent into destruction.” This is a strong curse. The gifts of God are sovereignly bestowed and cannot be purchased.

[8:20]  ¹⁷ tn Or “obtain.”

[10:45]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “And the.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[10:45]  ¹⁹ tn Or “The Jewish Christians”; Grk “The believers from the circumcision.”

[10:45]  ²⁰ sn The Jewish Christians who were with Peter were greatly astonished because they thought the promise of the Spirit would be limited only to those of Israel. God’s plan was taking on fresh dimensions even as it was a reflection of what the prophets had promised.

[10:45]  ²¹ tn Or “because.”

[10:45]  ²² tn That is, the gift consisting of the Holy Spirit. Here τοῦ πνεύματος (tou pneumato") is a genitive of apposition; the gift consists of the Spirit.

[10:45]  ²³ sn The gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out. Compare the account in Acts 2, especially 2:33. Note also Joel 2:17-21 and Acts 11:15-18.

[11:17]  ²⁴ tc Codex Bezae (D) and {a few other Western witnesses} here lack ὁ θεός (Jo qeo", “God”), perhaps because these scribes considered the Holy Spirit to be the gift of Christ rather than the gift of God; thus leaving the subject implicit would naturally draw the reader back to v. 16 to see the Lord Jesus as the bestower of the Spirit.

[11:17]  ²⁵ sn That is, the same gift of the Holy Spirit.

[11:17]  ²⁶ tn Or “gave us when we believed”; or “gave us after we believed”; or “gave us who believed”; or “gave them when they believed the same gift as he also gave us.” The aorist dative plural participle πιστεύσασιν (pisteusasin) can be understood in several different ways: (1) It could modify ἡμῖν (Jhmin, “us”) or αὐτοῖς (autois, “them”). Proximity (it immediately follows ἡμῖν) would suggest that it belongs with ἡμῖν, so the last option (“gave them when they believed the same gift he also gave us”) is less likely. (2) The participle could be either adverbial or adjectival, modifying ἡμῖν. This decision is primarily a contextual one. The point Peter made is not whether or not the Gentiles believed, since both groups (“us” and “they”) had believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. The point was whether or not the Gentiles received the Spirit when they believed, just as Jewish Christians had received the Spirit on the day of Pentecost when they believed. Translated as an adjectival participle, πιστεύσασιν only affirms the fact of belief, however, and raises somewhat of a theological problem if one realizes, “Would God have given the Gentiles the Spirit if they had not believed?” (In other words, belief in itself is a theological prerequisite for receiving the Spirit. As such, in the case of the Gentiles, it is assumed.) Thus in context it makes more sense to understand the participle πιστεύσασιν as adverbial, related to the time of belief in connection with the giving of the Spirit. (3) The participle πιστεύσασιν as a temporal participle can refer to action antecedent to the action of the main verb ἔδωκεν (edwken) or contemporaneous with it. Logically, at least, the gift of the Spirit followed belief in the case of the original Christians, who had believed before the day of Pentecost. In the case of Cornelius and his household, belief and the reception of the Spirit were virtually simultaneous. One can argue that Peter is “summarizing” the experience of Jewish Christians, and therefore the actions of belief and reception of the Spirit, while historically separate, have been “telescoped” into one (“gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed”), but to be technically accurate the participle πιστεύσασιν should be translated “gave them the same gift as he also gave us after we believed.” A number of these problems can be avoided, however, by using a translation in English that maintains some of the ambiguity of the Greek original. Thus “if God gave them the same gift as he also gave us after believing” is used, where the phrase “after believing” can refer either to “them” or to “us,” or both.

[11:17]  ²⁷ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[11:17]  ²⁸ tn Or “prevent,” “forbid” (BDAG 580 s.v. κωλύω 1.a). Peter’s point is that he will not stand in the way of God.

[1:11]  ²⁹ sn Paul does not mean here that he is going to bestow upon the Roman believers what is commonly known as a “spiritual gift,” that is, a special enabling for service given to believers by the Holy Spirit. Instead, this is either a metonymy of cause for effect (Paul will use his own spiritual gifts to edify the Romans), or it simply means something akin to a blessing or benefit in the spiritual realm. It is possible that Paul uses this phrase to connote specifically the broader purpose of his letter, which is for the Romans to understand his gospel, but this seems less likely.

[1:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ³¹ tn Traditionally, “servant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ³² tc Many important mss, as well as several others (̲⁶ א A G Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï), have a reversed order of these words and read “Jesus Christ” rather than “Christ Jesus” (̹⁰ B 81 pc). The meaning is not affected in either case, but the reading “Christ Jesus” is preferred as slightly more difficult and thus more likely the original (a scribe who found it would be prone to change it to the more common expression). At the same time, Paul is fond of the order “Christ Jesus,” especially in certain letters such as Romans, Galatians, and Philippians. As well, the later Pauline letters almost uniformly use this order in the salutations. A decision is difficult, but “Christ Jesus” is slightly preferred.

[1:1]  ³³ tn Grk “a called apostle.”

[1:1]  ³⁴ tn The genitive in the phrase εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ (euangelion qeou, “the gospel of God”) could be translated as (1) a subjective genitive (“the gospel which God brings”) or (2) an objective genitive (“the gospel about God”). Either is grammatically possible. This is possibly an instance of a plenary genitive (see ExSyn 119-21; M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek, §§36-39). If so, an interplay between the two concepts is intended: The gospel which God brings is in fact the gospel about himself. However, in view of God’s action in v. 2 concerning this gospel, a subjective genitive notion (“the gospel which God brings”) is slightly preferred.

[1:1]  ³⁵ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:2]  ³⁶ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ³⁷ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ³⁸ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ³⁹ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[2:8]  ⁴⁰ tn See note on the same expression in v. 5.

[2:8]  ⁴¹ 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.

[3:7]  ⁴² tn Grk “of which I was made a minister,” “of which I became a servant.”

[3:7]  ⁴³ tn Grk “according to.”

[3:7]  ⁴⁴ sn On the exercise of his power see 1:19-20.

[4:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “prisoner in the Lord.”

[4:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “walk.” The verb “walk” in the NT letters refers to the conduct of one’s life, not to physical walking.

[4:1]  ⁴⁷ sn With which you have been called. The calling refers to the Holy Spirit’s prompting that caused them to believe. The author is thus urging his readers to live a life that conforms to their saved status before God.

[4:14]  ⁴⁸ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:14]  ⁴⁹ tn While the sense of the passage is clear enough, translation in English is somewhat difficult. The Greek says: “by the trickery of men, by craftiness with the scheme of deceit.” The point is that the author is concerned about Christians growing into maturity. He is fearful that certain kinds of very cunning people, who are skilled at deceitful scheming, should come in and teach false doctrines which would in turn stunt the growth of the believers.

[1:17]  ⁵⁰ tn The first phrase refers to the action of giving and the second to what is given.

[1:17]  ⁵¹ tn Or “All generous giving and every perfect gift from above is coming down.”

[1:17]  ⁵² tn Grk “variation or shadow of turning” (referring to the motions of heavenly bodies causing variations of light and darkness).

[1:18]  ⁵³ tn Grk “Having willed, he gave us birth.”