Matthew 21:29

21:29 The boy answered, ¹  ‘I will not.’ But later he had a change of heart ²  and went.

Acts 9:1-6

The Conversion of Saul

9:1 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing out threats ³  to murder ⁴  the Lord’s disciples, went to the high priest 9:2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues ⁵  in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, ⁶  either men or women, he could bring them as prisoners ⁷  to Jerusalem. ⁸  9:3 As he was going along, approaching ⁹  Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed ¹⁰  around him. 9:4 He ¹¹  fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, ¹²  why are you persecuting me?” ¹³  9:5 So he said, “Who are you, Lord?” He replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting! 9:6 But stand up ¹⁴  and enter the city and you will be told ¹⁵  what you must do.”

Acts 26:19-20

26:19 “Therefore, King Agrippa, ¹⁶  I was not disobedient ¹⁷  to the heavenly ¹⁸  vision, 26:20 but I declared to those in Damascus first, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, ¹⁹  and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, ²⁰  performing deeds consistent with ²¹  repentance.

Ephesians 2:2

2:2 in which ²²  you formerly lived ²³  according to this world’s present path, ²⁴  according to the ruler of the kingdom ²⁵  of the air, the ruler of ²⁶  the spirit ²⁷  that is now energizing ²⁸  the sons of disobedience, ²⁹ 

Ephesians 2:1

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ³⁰  dead ³¹  in your transgressions and sins,

Ephesians 1:14

1:14 who is the down payment ³²  of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, ³³  to the praise of his glory.

[21:29]  ¹ tn Grk “And answering, he said.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation. Here the referent (“the boy”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:29]  ² tn The Greek text reads here μεταμέλομαι (metamelomai): “to change one’s mind about something, with the probable implication of regret” (L&N 31.59); cf. also BDAG 639 s.v. The idea in this context involves more than just a change of mind, for the son regrets his initial response. The same verb is used in v. 32.

[9:1]  ³ tn Or “Saul, making dire threats.”

[9:1]  ⁴ tn The expression “breathing out threats and murder” is an idiomatic expression for “making threats to murder” (see L&N 33.293). Although the two terms “threats” and “murder” are syntactically coordinate, the second is semantically subordinate to the first. In other words, the content of the threats is to murder the disciples.

[9:2]  ⁵ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[9:2]  ⁶ sn The expression “the way” in ancient religious literature refers at times to “the whole way of life fr. a moral and spiritual viewpoint” (BDAG 692 s.v. ὁδός 3.c), and it has been so used of Christianity and its teachings in the book of Acts (see also 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). It is a variation of Judaism’s idea of two ways, the true and the false, where “the Way” is the true one (1 En. 91:18; 2 En. 30:15).

[9:2]  ⁷ tn Grk “bring them bound”; the translation “bring someone as prisoner” for δεδεμένον ἄγειν τινά (dedemenon agein tina) is given by BDAG 221 s.v. δέω 1.b.

[9:2]  ⁸ sn From Damascus to Jerusalem was a six-day journey. Christianity had now expanded into Syria.

[9:3]  ⁹ tn Grk “As he was going along, it happened that when he was approaching.” The phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[9:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “shone” (BDAG 799 s.v. περιαστράπτω). The light was more brilliant than the sun according to Acts 26:13.

[9:4]  ¹¹ tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[9:4]  ¹² tn The double vocative suggests emotion.

[9:4]  ¹³ sn Persecuting me. To persecute the church is to persecute Jesus.

[9:6]  ¹⁴ tn Or “But arise.”

[9:6]  ¹⁵ tn Literally a passive construction, “it will be told to you.” This has been converted to another form of passive construction in the translation.

[26:19]  ¹⁶ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[26:19]  ¹⁷ sn I was not disobedient. Paul’s defense is that he merely obeyed the risen Jesus. He was arrested for obeying heavenly direction and preaching the opportunity to turn to God.

[26:19]  ¹⁸ tn According to L&N 1.5, “In Ac 26:19 the adjective οὐράνιος could be interpreted as being related simply to the meaning of οὐρανός^a ‘sky,’ but it seems preferable to regard οὐράνιος in this context as meaning simply ‘from heaven’ or ‘heavenly.’”

[26:20]  ¹⁹ tn BDAG 1093-94 s.v. χώρα 2.b states, “of the provincial name (1 Macc 8:3) ἡ χώρα τῆς ᾿Ιουδαίας Ac 26:20.”

[26:20]  ²⁰ sn That they should repent and turn to God. This is the shortest summary of Paul’s message that he preached.

[26:20]  ²¹ tn BDAG 93 s.v. ἄξιος 1.b, “καρποὶ ἄ. τῆς μετανοίας fruits in keeping with your repentance…Lk 3:8; Mt 3:8. For this ἄ. τῆς μετανοίας ἔργα Ac 26:20.” Note how Paul preached the gospel offer and the issue of response together, side by side.

[2:2]  ²² sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ²³ tn Grk “walked.”

[2:2]  ²⁴ tn Or possibly “Aeon.”

[2:2]  ²⁵ tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ²⁶ tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ²⁷ sn The ruler of the kingdom of the air is also the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. Although several translations regard the ruler to be the same as the spirit, this is unlikely since the cases in Greek are different (ruler is accusative and spirit is genitive). To get around this, some have suggested that the genitive for spirit is a genitive of apposition. However, the semantics of the genitive of apposition are against such an interpretation (cf. ExSyn 100).

[2:2]  ²⁸ tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ²⁹ sn Sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” However, it also contains a subtle allusion to vv. 4-10: Some of those sons of disobedience have become sons of God.

[2:1]  ³⁰ tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

[2:1]  ³¹ 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]  ³² tn Or “first installment,” “pledge,” “deposit.”

[1:14]  ³³ tn Grk “the possession.”