Matthew 16:23

16:23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.” ¹ 

Matthew 18:7

18:7 Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! It ²  is necessary that stumbling blocks come, but woe to the person through whom they come.

Romans 14:13

Exhortation for the Strong not to Destroy the Weak

14:13 Therefore we must not pass judgment on one another, but rather determine never to place an obstacle or a trap before a brother or sister. ³ 

Romans 14:20-21

14:20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. For although all things are clean, ⁴  it is wrong to cause anyone to stumble by what you eat. 14:21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything that causes your brother to stumble. ⁵ 

Romans 16:17

16:17 Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, ⁶  to watch out for those who create dissensions and obstacles contrary to the teaching that you learned. Avoid them!

Romans 16:1

Personal Greetings

16:1 Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant ⁷  of the church in Cenchrea,

Colossians 1:13

1:13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, ⁸ 

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ⁹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 1:19

1:19 For God ¹⁰  was pleased to have all his ¹¹  fullness dwell ¹²  in the Son ¹³ 

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ¹⁴  brothers and sisters ¹⁵  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ¹⁶  from God our Father! ¹⁷ 

Colossians 2:10-12

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, ¹⁸  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ¹⁹  of the fleshly body, ²⁰  that is, ²¹  through the circumcision done by Christ. 2:12 Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your ²²  faith in the power ²³  of God who raised him from the dead.

Revelation 2:14

2:14 But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, ²⁴  who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block ²⁵  before the people ²⁶  of Israel so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. ²⁷ 

Revelation 2:20

2:20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that ²⁸  woman ²⁹  Jezebel, ³⁰  who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives ³¹  my servants ³²  to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. ³³ 

Revelation 13:14-18

13:14 and, by the signs he was permitted to perform on behalf of the beast, he deceived those who live on the earth. He told ³⁴  those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who had been wounded by the sword, but still lived. 13:15 The second beast ³⁵  was empowered ³⁶  to give life ³⁷  to the image of the first beast ³⁸  so that it could speak, and could cause all those who did not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 13:16 He also caused ³⁹  everyone (small and great, rich and poor, free and slave ⁴⁰ ) to obtain a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. 13:17 Thus no one was allowed to buy ⁴¹  or sell things ⁴²  unless he bore ⁴³  the mark of the beast – that is, his name or his number. ⁴⁴  13:18 This calls for wisdom: ⁴⁵  Let the one who has insight calculate the beast’s number, for it is man’s number, ⁴⁶  and his number is 666. ⁴⁷ 

[16:23]  ¹ tn Grk “people.”

[18:7]  ² tn Grk “For it.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

[14:13]  ³ tn Grk “brother.”

[14:20]  ⁴ sn Here clean refers to food being ceremonially clean.

[14:21]  ⁵ tc A large number of mss, some of them quite important (Ì^46vid א² B D F G Ψ 0209 33 1881 Ï lat sa), read “or to be offended or to be made weak” after “to stumble.” The shorter reading “to stumble” is found only in Alexandrian mss (א* A C 048 81 945 1506 1739 pc bo). Although external evidence favors inclusion, internal evidence points to a scribal expansion, perhaps reminiscent of 1 Cor 8:11-13. The shorter reading is therefore preferred.

[16:17]  ⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[16:1]  ⁷ tn Or “deaconess.” It is debated whether διάκονος (diakonos) here refers to a specific office within the church. One contextual argument used to support this view is that Phoebe is associated with a particular church, Cenchrea, and as such would therefore be a deacon of that church. In the NT some who are called διάκονος are related to a particular church, yet the scholarly consensus is that such individuals are not deacons, but “servants” or “ministers” (other viable translations for διάκονος). For example, Epaphras is associated with the church in Colossians and is called a διάκονος in Col 1:7, but no contemporary translation regards him as a deacon. In 1 Tim 4:6 Paul calls Timothy a διάκονος; Timothy was associated with the church in Ephesus, but he obviously was not a deacon. In addition, the lexical evidence leans away from this view: Within the NT, the διακον- word group rarely functions with a technical nuance. In any case, the evidence is not compelling either way. The view accepted in the translation above is that Phoebe was a servant of the church, not a deaconess, although this conclusion should be regarded as tentative.

[1:13]  ⁸ tn Here αὐτοῦ (autou) has been translated as a subjective genitive (“he loves”).

[1:1]  ⁹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:19]  ¹⁰ tn The noun “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but since God is the one who reconciles the world to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:19), he is clearly the subject of εὐδόκησεν (eudokhsen).

[1:19]  ¹¹ tn The Greek article τό (to), insofar as it relates to God, may be translated as a possessive pronoun, i.e., “his.” BDAG 404 s.v. εὐδοκέω 1 translates the phrase as “all the fullness willed to dwell in him” thus leaving the referent as impersonal. Insofar as Paul is alluding to the so-called emanations from God this is acceptable. But the fact that “the fullness” dwells in a person (i.e., “in him”) seems to argue for the translation “his fullness” where “his” refers to God.

[1:19]  ¹² tn The aorist verb κατοικῆσαι (katoikhsai) could be taken as an ingressive, in which case it refers to the incarnation and may be translated as “begin to dwell, to take up residence.” It is perhaps better, though, to take it as a constative aorist and simply a reference to the fact that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. This is a permanent dwelling, though, not a temporary one, as the present tense in 2:9 makes clear.

[1:19]  ¹³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the Son; see v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:2]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ¹⁷ 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.

[2:11]  ¹⁸ tn The terms “however” and “but” in this sentence were supplied in order to emphasize the contrast.

[2:11]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn The article with the genitive modifier τῆς πίστεως (th" pistew") is functioning as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[2:12]  ²³ tn The genitive τῆς ἐνεργείας (th" energeia") has been translated as an objective genitive, “faith in the power.”

[2:14]  ²⁴ sn See Num 22-24; 31:16.

[2:14]  ²⁵ tn That is, a cause for sinning. An alternate translation is “who instructed Balak to cause the people of Israel to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols…”

[2:14]  ²⁶ tn Grk “sons,” but the expression υἱοὶ ᾿Ισραήλ (Juioi Israhl) is an idiom for the people of Israel as an ethnic entity (see L&N 11.58).

[2:14]  ²⁷ tn Due to the actual events in the OT (Num 22-24; 31:16), πορνεῦσαι (porneusai) is taken to mean “sexual immorality.” BDAG 854 s.v. πορνεύω 1 states, “engage in illicit sex, to fornicate, to whore…W. φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα ‘eat meat offered to idols’ Rv 2:14, 20.”

[2:20]  ²⁸ tn The Greek article has been translated here with demonstrative force.

[2:20]  ²⁹ tc The ms evidence for γυναῖκα (gunaika, “woman”) alone includes {א C P 1611 2053 pc lat}. The ms evidence for the addition of “your” (σου, sou) includes A 1006 2351 Ï^K pc sy. With the pronoun, the text reads “your wife, Jezebel” instead of “that woman, Jezebel.” In Revelation, A C are the most important mss, along with א Ì⁴⁷ (which only reads in portions of chapters 9-17) 1006 1611 2053; in this instance, the external evidence slightly favors the shorter reading. But internally, it gains strength. The longer reading implies the idea that the angel in 2:18 is the bishop or leader of the church in Thyatira. The pronoun “your” (σου) is used four times in vv. 19-20 and may have been the cause for the scribe copying it again. Further, once the monarchical episcopate was in vogue (beginning in the 2nd century) scribes might have been prone to add “your” here.

[2:20]  ³⁰ sn Jezebel was the name of King Ahab’s idolatrous and wicked queen in 1 Kgs 16:31; 18:1-5; 19:1-3; 21:5-24. It is probable that the individual named here was analogous to her prototype in idolatry and immoral behavior, since those are the items singled out for mention.

[2:20]  ³¹ tn Grk “teaches and deceives” (διδάσκει καὶ πλανᾷ, didaskei kai plana), a construction in which the first verb appears to specify the means by which the second is accomplished: “by her teaching, deceives…”

[2:20]  ³² tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[2:20]  ³³ sn To commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. Note the conclusions of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:29, which specifically prohibits Gentile Christians from engaging in these activities.

[13:14]  ³⁴ tn Grk “earth, telling.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in Greek.

[13:15]  ³⁵ tn Grk “it”; the referent (the second beast) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:15]  ³⁶ tn Grk “it was given [permitted] to it [the second beast].”

[13:15]  ³⁷ tn Grk “breath,” but in context the point is that the image of the first beast is made to come to life and speak.

[13:15]  ³⁸ tn Grk “of the beast”; the word “first” has been supplied to specify the referent.

[13:16]  ³⁹ tn Or “forced”; Grk “makes” (ποιεῖ, poiei).

[13:16]  ⁴⁰ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[13:17]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “and that no one be able to buy or sell.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. Although the ἵνα (Jina) is left untranslated, the English conjunction “thus” is used to indicate that this is a result clause.

[13:17]  ⁴² tn The word “things” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context. In the context of buying and selling, food could be primarily in view, but the more general “things” was used in the translation because the context is not specific.

[13:17]  ⁴³ tn Grk “except the one who had.”

[13:17]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “his name or the number of his name.”

[13:18]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “Here is wisdom.”

[13:18]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “it is man’s number.” ExSyn 254 states “if ἀνθρώπου is generic, then the sense is, ‘It is [the] number of humankind.’ It is significant that this construction fits Apollonius’ Canon (i.e., both the head noun and the genitive are anarthrous), suggesting that if one of these nouns is definite, then the other is, too. Grammatically, those who contend that the sense is ‘it is [the] number of a man’ have the burden of proof on them (for they treat the head noun, ἀριθμός, as definite and the genitive, ἀνθρώπου, as indefinite – the rarest of all possibilities). In light of Johannine usage, we might also add Rev 16:18, where the Seer clearly uses the anarthrous ἄνθρωπος in a generic sense, meaning ‘humankind.’ The implications of this grammatical possibility, exegetically speaking, are simply that the number ‘666’ is the number that represents humankind. Of course, an individual is in view, but his number may be the number representing all of humankind. Thus the Seer might be suggesting here that the antichrist, who is the best representative of humanity without Christ (and the best counterfeit of a perfect man that his master, that old serpent, could muster), is still less than perfection (which would have been represented by the number seven).” See G. K. Beale, Revelation, [NIGTC], 723-24, who argues for the “generic” understanding of the noun; for an indefinite translation, see the ASV and ESV which both translate the clause as “it is the number of a man.”

[13:18]  ⁴⁷ tc A few mss (̹¹⁵ C, along with a few mss known to Irenaeus {and two minuscule mss, 5 and 11, no longer extant}), read 616 here, and several other witnesses have other variations. Irenaeus’ mention of mss that have 616 is balanced by his rejection of such witnesses in this case. As intriguing as the reading 616 is (since the conversion of Nero Caesar’s name in Latin by way of gematria would come out to 616), it must remain suspect because such a reading seems motivated in that it conforms more neatly to Nero’s gematria.