Matthew 1:23

1:23 “Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him ¹  Emmanuel,” ²  which means ³  “God with us.” ⁴ 

Luke 2:10-11

2:10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! Listen carefully, ⁵  for I proclaim to you good news ⁶  that brings great joy to all the people: 2:11 Today ⁷  your Savior is born in the city ⁸  of David. ⁹  He is Christ ¹⁰  the Lord.

John 1:14

1:14 Now ¹¹  the Word became flesh ¹²  and took up residence ¹³  among us. We ¹⁴  saw his glory – the glory of the one and only, ¹⁵  full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.

John 1:1

The Prologue to the Gospel

1:1 In the beginning ¹⁶  was the Word, and the Word was with God, ¹⁷  and the Word was fully God. ¹⁸ 

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ¹⁹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Philippians 2:6-8

2:6 ²⁰ who though he existed in the form of God ²¹ 

did not regard equality with God

as something to be grasped,

2:7 but emptied himself

by taking on the form of a slave, ²² 

by looking like other men, ²³ 

and by sharing in human nature. ²⁴ 

2:8 He humbled himself,

by becoming obedient to the point of death

– even death on a cross!

Hebrews 2:6-13

2:6 Instead someone testified somewhere:

“What is man that you think of him ²⁵  or the son of man that you care for him?

2:7 You made him lower than the angels for a little while.

You crowned him with glory and honor. ²⁶ 

2:8 You put all things under his control.” ²⁷ 

For when he put all things under his control, he left nothing outside of his control. At present we do not yet see all things under his control, ²⁸  2:9 but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, ²⁹  now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, ³⁰  so that by God’s grace he would experience ³¹  death on behalf of everyone. 2:10 For it was fitting for him, for whom and through whom all things exist, ³²  in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer ³³  of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 2:11 For indeed he who makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin, ³⁴  and so ³⁵  he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, ³⁶  2:12 saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers; ³⁷  in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.” ³⁸  2:13 Again he says, ³⁹  “I will be confident in him,” and again, “Here I am, ⁴⁰  with ⁴¹  the children God has given me.” ⁴² 

Revelation 1:13

1:13 and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man. ⁴³  He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet and he wore a wide golden belt ⁴⁴  around his chest.

[1:23]  ¹ tn Grk “they will call his name.”

[1:23]  ² sn A quotation from Isa 7:14.

[1:23]  ³ tn Grk “is translated.”

[1:23]  ⁴ sn An allusion to Isa 8:8, 10 (LXX).

[2:10]  ⁵ tn Grk “behold.”

[2:10]  ⁶ tn Grk “I evangelize to you great joy.”

[2:11]  ⁷ sn The Greek word for today (σήμερον, shmeron) occurs eleven times in the Gospel of Luke (2:11; 4:21; 5:26; 12:28; 13:32-33; 19:5, 9; 22:34, 61; 23:43) and nine times in Acts. Its use, especially in passages such as 2:11, 4:21, 5:26; 19:5, 9, signifies the dawning of the era of messianic salvation and the fulfillment of the plan of God. Not only does it underscore the idea of present fulfillment in Jesus’ ministry, but it also indicates salvific fulfillment present in the church (cf. Acts 1:6; 3:18; D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:412; I. H. Marshall, Luke, [NIGTC], 873).

[2:11]  ⁸ tn Or “town.” See the note on “city” in v. 4.

[2:11]  ⁹ tn This is another indication of a royal, messianic connection.

[2:11]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[1:14]  ¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic, the incarnation of the Word. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.

[1:14]  ¹² tn This looks at the Word incarnate in humility and weakness; the word σάρξ (sarx) does not carry overtones of sinfulness here as it frequently does in Pauline usage. See also John 3:6.

[1:14]  ¹³ tn Grk “and tabernacled.”

[1:14]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “and we saw.”

[1:14]  ¹⁵ tn Or “of the unique one.” Although this word is often translated “only begotten,” such a translation is misleading, since in English it appears to express a metaphysical relationship. The word in Greek was used of an only child (a son [Luke 7:12, 9:38] or a daughter [Luke 8:42]). It was also used of something unique (only one of its kind) such as the mythological Phoenix (1 Clem. 25:2). From here it passes easily to a description of Isaac (Heb 11:17 and Josephus, Ant., 1.13.1 [1.222]) who was not Abraham’s only son, but was one-of-a-kind because he was the child of the promise. Thus the word means “one-of-a-kind” and is reserved for Jesus in the Johannine literature of the NT. While all Christians are children of God, Jesus is God’s Son in a unique, one-of-a-kind sense. The word is used in this way in all its uses in the Gospel of John (1:14, 1:18, 3:16, and 3:18).

[1:1]  ¹⁶ sn In the beginning. The search for the basic “stuff” out of which things are made was the earliest one in Greek philosophy. It was attended by the related question of “What is the process by which the secondary things came out of the primary one (or ones)?,” or in Aristotelian terminology, “What is the ‘beginning’ (same Greek word as beginning, John 1:1) and what is the origin of the things that are made?” In the New Testament the word usually has a temporal sense, but even BDAG 138 s.v. ἀρχή 3 lists a major category of meaning as “the first cause.” For John, the words “In the beginning” are most likely a conscious allusion to the opening words of Genesis – “In the beginning.” Other concepts which occur prominently in Gen 1 are also found in John’s prologue: “life” (1:4) “light” (1:4) and “darkness” (1:5). Gen 1 describes the first (physical) creation; John 1 describes the new (spiritual) creation. But this is not to play off a false dichotomy between “physical” and “spiritual”; the first creation was both physical and spiritual. The new creation is really a re-creation, of the spiritual (first) but also the physical. (In spite of the common understanding of John’s “spiritual” emphasis, the “physical” re-creation should not be overlooked; this occurs in John 2 with the changing of water into wine, in John 11 with the resurrection of Lazarus, and the emphasis of John 20-21 on the aftermath of Jesus’ own resurrection.)

[1:1]  ¹⁷ tn The preposition πρός (pros) implies not just proximity, but intimate personal relationship. M. Dods stated, “Πρός …means more than μετά or παρά, and is regularly employed in expressing the presence of one person with another” (“The Gospel of St. John,” The Expositor’s Greek Testament, 1:684). See also Mark 6:3, Matt 13:56, Mark 9:19, Gal 1:18, 2 John 12.

[1:1]  ¹⁸ tn Or “and what God was the Word was.” Colwell’s Rule is often invoked to support the translation of θεός (qeos) as definite (“God”) rather than indefinite (“a god”) here. However, Colwell’s Rule merely permits, but does not demand, that a predicate nominative ahead of an equative verb be translated as definite rather than indefinite. Furthermore, Colwell’s Rule did not deal with a third possibility, that the anarthrous predicate noun may have more of a qualitative nuance when placed ahead of the verb. A definite meaning for the term is reflected in the traditional rendering “the word was God.” From a technical standpoint, though, it is preferable to see a qualitative aspect to anarthrous θεός in John 1:1c (ExSyn 266-69). Translations like the NEB, REB, and Moffatt are helpful in capturing the sense in John 1:1c, that the Word was fully deity in essence (just as much God as God the Father). However, in contemporary English “the Word was divine” (Moffatt) does not quite catch the meaning since “divine” as a descriptive term is not used in contemporary English exclusively of God. The translation “what God was the Word was” is perhaps the most nuanced rendering, conveying that everything God was in essence, the Word was too. This points to unity of essence between the Father and the Son without equating the persons. However, in surveying a number of native speakers of English, some of whom had formal theological training and some of whom did not, the editors concluded that the fine distinctions indicated by “what God was the Word was” would not be understood by many contemporary readers. Thus the translation “the Word was fully God” was chosen because it is more likely to convey the meaning to the average English reader that the Logos (which “became flesh and took up residence among us” in John 1:14 and is thereafter identified in the Fourth Gospel as Jesus) is one in essence with God the Father. The previous phrase, “the Word was with God,” shows that the Logos is distinct in person from God the Father.

[1:1]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[2:6]  ²⁰ sn This passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

[2:6]  ²¹ sn The Greek term translated form indicates a correspondence with reality. Thus the meaning of this phrase is that Christ was truly God.

[2:7]  ²² tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 1:1.

[2:7]  ²³ tn Grk “by coming in the likeness of people.”

[2:7]  ²⁴ tn Grk “and by being found in form as a man.” The versification of vv. 7 and 8 (so also NRSV) is according to the versification in the NA²⁷ and UBS⁴ editions of the Greek text. Some translations, however, break the verses in front of this phrase (NKJV, NASB, NIV, NLT). The same material has been translated in each case; the only difference is the versification of that material.

[2:6]  ²⁵ tn Grk “remember him.”

[2:7]  ²⁶ tc Several witnesses, many of them early and important (א A C D* P Ψ 0243 0278 33 1739 1881 al lat co), have at the end of v 7, “You have given him dominion over the works of your hands.” Other mss, not quite as impressive in weight, lack the words (Ì⁴⁶ B D² Ï). In spite of the impressive external evidence for the longer reading, it is most likely a scribal addition to conform the text of Hebrews to Ps 8:6 (8:7 LXX). Conformity of a NT quotation of the OT to the LXX was a routine scribal activity, and can hardly be in doubt here as to the cause of the longer reading.

[2:8]  ²⁷ tn Grk “you subjected all things under his feet.”

[2:8]  ²⁸ sn The expression all things under his control occurs three times in 2:8. The latter two occurrences are not exactly identical to the Greek text of Ps 8:6 quoted at the beginning of the verse, but have been adapted by the writer of Hebrews to fit his argument.

[2:9]  ²⁹ tn Or “who was made a little lower than the angels.”

[2:9]  ³⁰ tn Grk “because of the suffering of death.”

[2:9]  ³¹ tn Grk “would taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

[2:10]  ³² tn Grk “for whom are all things and through whom are all things.”

[2:10]  ³³ sn The Greek word translated pioneer is used of a “prince” or leader, the representative head of a family. It also carries nuances of “trailblazer,” one who breaks through to new ground for those who follow him. It is used some thirty-five times in the Greek OT and four times in the NT, always of Christ (Acts 3:15; 5:31; Heb 2:10; 12:2).

[2:11]  ³⁴ tn Grk “are all from one.”

[2:11]  ³⁵ tn Grk “for which reason.”

[2:11]  ³⁶ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). The context here also indicates both men and women are in view; note especially the collective τὰ παιδία (ta paidia) in v. 14.

[2:12]  ³⁷ tn Here, because of its occurrence in an OT quotation, τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς (tois adelfois) has been translated simply as “brothers” rather than “brothers and sisters” (see the note on the latter phrase in the previous verse).

[2:12]  ³⁸ sn A quotation from Ps 22:22.

[2:13]  ³⁹ tn Grk “and again,” as a continuation of the preceding.

[2:13]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “behold, I,” but this construction often means “here is/there is” (cf. BDAG 468 s.v. ἰδού 2).

[2:13]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “and.”

[2:13]  ⁴² sn A quotation from Isa 8:17-18.

[1:13]  ⁴³ tn This phrase constitutes an allusion to Dan 7:13. Concerning υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (Juio" tou anqrwpou), BDAG 1026 s.v. υἱός 2.d.γ says: “ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου lit. ‘the son of the man’…‘the human being, the human one, the man’…On Israelite thought contemporary w. Jesus and alleged knowledge of a heavenly being looked upon as a ‘Son of Man’ or ‘Man’, who exercises Messianic functions such as judging the world (metaph., pictorial passages in En 46-48; 4 Esdr 13:3, 51f)…Outside the gospels: Ac 7:56…Rv 1:13; 14:14 (both after Da 7:13…).” The term “son” here in this expression is anarthrous and as such lacks specificity. Some commentators and translations take the expression as an allusion to Daniel 7:13 and not to “the son of man” found in gospel traditions (e.g., Mark 8:31; 9:12; cf. D. E. Aune, Revelation [WBC], 2:800-801; cf. also NIV). Other commentators and versions, however, take the phrase “son of man” as definite, involving allusions to Dan 7:13 and “the son of man” gospel traditions (see G. K. Beale, Revelation [NIGTC], 771-72; NRSV).

[1:13]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “a wide golden sash,” but this would not be diagonal, as some modern sashes are, but horizontal. The Greek term can refer to a wide band of cloth or leather worn on the outside of one’s clothing (L&N 6.178).