Matthew 16:24

16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ¹  he must deny ²  himself, take up his cross, ³  and follow me.

Luke 24:26

24:26 Wasn’t ⁴  it necessary ⁵  for the Christ ⁶  to suffer these things and enter into his glory?”

John 12:25-26

12:25 The one who loves his life ⁷  destroys ⁸  it, and the one who hates his life in this world guards ⁹  it for eternal life. 12:26 If anyone wants to serve me, he must follow ¹⁰  me, and where I am, my servant will be too. ¹¹  If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

Acts 14:22

14:22 They strengthened ¹²  the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue ¹³  in the faith, saying, “We must enter the kingdom ¹⁴  of God through many persecutions.” ¹⁵ 

Acts 14:2

14:2 But the Jews who refused to believe ¹⁶  stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds ¹⁷  against the brothers.

Colossians 4:8-12

4:8 I sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are doing ¹⁸  and that he may encourage your hearts. 4:9 I sent him ¹⁹  with Onesimus, the faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. ²⁰  They will tell ²¹  you about everything here.

4:10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him). 4:11 And Jesus who is called Justus also sends greetings. In terms of Jewish converts, ²²  these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a slave ²³  of Christ, ²⁴  greets you. He is always struggling in prayer on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured ²⁵  in all the will of God.

Philippians 1:29

1:29 For it has been granted to you ²⁶  not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for him,

Philippians 1:2

1:2 Grace and peace to you ²⁷  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Philippians 2:10-14

2:10 so that at the name of Jesus

every knee will bow

– in heaven and on earth and under the earth –

2:11 and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord

to the glory of God the Father.

Lights in the World

2:12 So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, ²⁸  2:13 for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God. 2:14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing,

[16:24]  ¹ tn Grk “to come after me.”

[16:24]  ² tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

[16:24]  ³ sn To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

[24:26]  ⁴ tn This Greek particle (οὐχί, ouci) expects a positive reply.

[24:26]  ⁵ sn The statement Wasn’t it necessary is a reference to the design of God’s plan (see Luke 24:7). Suffering must precede glory (see Luke 17:25).

[24:26]  ⁶ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[12:25]  ⁷ tn Or “soul.”

[12:25]  ⁸ tn Or “loses.” Although the traditional English translation of ἀπολλύει (apolluei) in John 12:25 is “loses,” the contrast with φυλάξει (fulaxei, “keeps” or “guards”) in the second half of the verse favors the meaning “destroy” here.

[12:25]  ⁹ tn Or “keeps.”

[12:26]  ¹⁰ tn As a third person imperative in Greek, ἀκολουθείτω (akolouqeitw) is usually translated “let him follow me.” This could be understood by the modern English reader as merely permissive, however (“he may follow me if he wishes”). In this context there is no permissive sense, but rather a command, so the translation “he must follow me” is preferred.

[12:26]  ¹¹ tn Grk “where I am, there my servant will be too.”

[14:22]  ¹² tn Grk “to Antioch, strengthening.” Due to the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was started here. This participle (ἐπιστηρίζοντες, episthrizonte") and the following one (παρακαλοῦντες, parakalounte") have been translated as finite verbs connected by the coordinating conjunction “and.”

[14:22]  ¹³ sn And encouraged them to continue. The exhortations are like those noted in Acts 11:23; 13:43. An example of such a speech is found in Acts 20:18-35. Christianity is now characterized as “the faith.”

[14:22]  ¹⁴ sn This reference to the kingdom of God clearly refers to its future arrival.

[14:22]  ¹⁵ tn Or “sufferings.”

[14:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “who would not believe.”

[14:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “embittered their minds” (Grk “their souls”). BDAG 502 s.v. κακόω 2 has “make angry, embitter τὰς ψυχάς τινων κατά τινος poison the minds of some persons against another Ac 14:2.”

[4:8]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the things concerning us.”

[4:9]  ¹⁹ tn The Greek sentence continues v. 9 with the phrase “with Onesimus,” but this is awkward in English, so the verb “I sent” was inserted and a new sentence started at the beginning of v. 9 in the translation.

[4:9]  ²⁰ tn Grk “is of you.”

[4:9]  ²¹ tn Grk “will make known to you.” This has been simplified in the translation to “will tell.”

[4:11]  ²² tn Grk “those of the circumcision.” The verse as a whole is difficult to translate because it is unclear whether Paul is saying (1) that the only people working with him are Jewish converts at the time the letter is being written or previously, or (2) that Aristarchus, Mark, and Jesus Justus were the only Jewish Christians who ever worked with him. Verses 12-14 appear to indicate that Luke and Demas, who were Gentiles, were also working currently with Paul. This is the view adopted in the translation. See M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 207-8.

[4:12]  ²³ tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[4:12]  ²⁴ tc ‡ Strong Alexandrian testimony, along with some other witnesses, suggests that ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) follows Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “Christ”; so א A B C I L 0278 33 81 365 629 1175 2464 al lat), but the evidence for the shorter reading is diverse (Ì⁴⁶ D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï it sy Hier), cutting across all major texttypes. There can be little motivation for omitting the name of Jesus; hence, the shorter reading is judged to be original. NA²⁷ has ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[4:12]  ²⁵ tn Or “filled.”

[1:29]  ²⁶ tn Grk “For that which is on behalf of Christ has been granted to you – namely, not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him.” The infinitive phrases are epexegetical to the subject, τὸ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ (to Juper Cristou), which has the force of “the on-behalf-of-Christ thing,” or “the thing on behalf of Christ.” To translate this in English requires a different idiom.

[1:2]  ²⁷ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

[2:12]  ²⁸ tn Grk “with fear and trembling.” The Greek words φόβος and τρόμος both imply fear in a negative sense (L&N 25.251 and 16.6 respectively) while the former can also refer to respect and awe for deity (L&N 53.59). Paul’s use of the terms in other contexts refers to “awe and reverence in the presence of God” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 284; see discussion on 282-84). The translation “awe and reverence” was chosen to portray the attitude the believer should have toward God as they consider their behavior in light of God working through Jesus Christ (2:6-11) and in the believer’s life (2:13) to accomplish their salvation.