Matthew 24:24-25

24:24 For false messiahs ¹  and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 24:25 Remember, ²  I have told you ahead of time.

Acts 20:31

20:31 Therefore be alert, ³  remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning ⁴  each one of you with tears.

Acts 20:1

Paul Travels Through Macedonia and Greece

20:1 After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging ⁵  them and saying farewell, ⁶  he left to go to Macedonia. ⁷ 

Colossians 4:14

4:14 Our dear friend Luke the physician and Demas greet you.

Colossians 1:12

1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ⁸  in the saints’ ⁹  inheritance in the light.

Galatians 1:6-10

Occasion of the Letter

1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one ¹⁰  who called you by the grace of Christ ¹¹  and are following ¹²  a different ¹³  gospel – 1:7 not that there really is another gospel, ¹⁴  but ¹⁵  there are some who are disturbing you and wanting ¹⁶  to distort the gospel of Christ. 1:8 But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should preach ¹⁷  a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, ¹⁸  let him be condemned to hell! ¹⁹  1:9 As we have said before, and now I say again, if any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be condemned to hell! ²⁰  1:10 Am I now trying to gain the approval of people, ²¹  or of God? Or am I trying to please people? ²²  If I were still trying to please ²³  people, ²⁴  I would not be a slave ²⁵  of Christ!

Galatians 5:2-7

5:2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all! 5:3 And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey ²⁶  the whole law. 5:4 You who are trying to be declared righteous ²⁷  by the law have been alienated ²⁸  from Christ; you have fallen away from grace! 5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness. 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight – the only thing that matters is faith working through love. ²⁹ 

5:7 You were running well; who prevented you from obeying ³⁰  the truth?

Ephesians 4:17-21

Live in Holiness

4:17 So I say this, and insist ³¹  in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility ³²  of their thinking. ³³  4:18 They are darkened in their understanding, ³⁴  being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. 4:19 Because they are callous, they have given themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. ³⁵  4:20 But you did not learn about Christ like this, 4:21 if indeed you heard about him and were taught in him, just as the truth is in Jesus.

Ephesians 5:5-6

5:5 For you can be confident of this one thing: ³⁶  that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Live in the Light

5:6 Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. ³⁷ 

Colossians 1:28

1:28 We proclaim him by instructing ³⁸  and teaching ³⁹  all people ⁴⁰  with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature ⁴¹  in Christ.

Colossians 3:5-8

3:5 So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: ⁴²  sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, ⁴³  evil desire, and greed which is idolatry. 3:6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. ⁴⁴  3:7 You also lived your lives ⁴⁵  in this way at one time, when you used to live among them. 3:8 But now, put off all such things ⁴⁶  as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth.

Colossians 3:1

Exhortations to Seek the Things Above

3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 4:6-8

4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer everyone.

Personal Greetings and Instructions

4:7 Tychicus, a dear brother, faithful minister, and fellow slave ⁴⁷  in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me. ⁴⁸  4:8 I sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are doing ⁴⁹  and that he may encourage your hearts.

Colossians 1:14

1:14 in whom we have redemption, ⁵⁰  the forgiveness of sins.

Titus 2:15

2:15 So communicate these things with the sort of exhortation or rebuke ⁵¹  that carries full authority. ⁵²  Don’t let anyone look down ⁵³  on you.

Titus 2:1

Conduct Consistent with Sound Teaching

2:1 But as for you, communicate the behavior that goes with ⁵⁴  sound teaching.

Titus 3:6-9

3:6 whom he poured out on us in full measure ⁵⁵  through Jesus Christ our Savior. 3:7 And so, ⁵⁶  since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life.” ⁵⁷ 

Summary of the Letter

3:8 This saying ⁵⁸  is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on such truths, ⁵⁹  so that those who have placed their faith in God may be intent on engaging in good works. These things are good and beneficial for all people. 3:9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, ⁶⁰  quarrels, and fights about the law, ⁶¹  because they are useless and empty.

Revelation 3:19

3:19 All those ⁶²  I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent!

[24:24]  ¹ tn Or “false christs”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[24:25]  ² tn Or “Pay attention!” Grk “Behold.”

[20:31]  ³ tn Or “be watchful.”

[20:31]  ⁴ tn Or “admonishing.”

[20:1]  ⁵ tn Or “exhorting.”

[20:1]  ⁶ tn Or “and taking leave of them.”

[20:1]  ⁷ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[1:12]  ⁸ tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

[1:12]  ⁹ tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”

[1:6]  ¹⁰ sn The one who called you is a reference to God the Father (note the mention of Christ in the following prepositional phrase and the mention of God the Father in 1:1).

[1:6]  ¹¹ tc Although the majority of witnesses, including some of the most important ones (Ì⁵¹ א A B F^c Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï f vg sy^p bo), read “by the grace of Christ” (χάριτι Χριστοῦ, cariti Cristou) here, this reading is not without variables. Besides alternate readings such as χάριτι ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (cariti Ihsou Cristou, “by the grace of Jesus Christ”; D 326 1241^s pc sy^h**) and χάριτι θεοῦ (cariti qeou, “by the grace of God”; 327 pc Thret^lem), a few mss (Ì^46vid F* G H^vid ar b Tert Cyp Ambst Pel) have simply χάριτι with no modifier. Internally, the reading that seems best to explain the rise of the others is the shortest reading, χάριτι. Indeed, the fact that three different adjuncts are found in the mss seems to be a natural expansion on the simple “grace.” At the same time, the witnesses for the shortest reading are not particularly impressive, being that they largely represent one textual strand (Western), and a less-than-reliable one at that. Further, nowhere else in the corpus Paulinum do we see the construction χάρις (cari", “grace”) followed by Χριστοῦ without some other name (such as κυρίου [kuriou, “Lord”] or ᾿Ιησοῦ). The construction χάρις θεοῦ is likewise frequent in Paul. Thus, upon closer inspection it seems that the original wording here was χάριτι Χριστοῦ (for it is difficult to explain how this particular reading could have arisen from the simple χάριτι, in light of Paul’s normal idioms), with the other readings intentionally or accidentally arising from it.

[1:6]  ¹² tn Grk “deserting [turning away] to” a different gospel, implying the idea of “following.”

[1:6]  ¹³ tn Grk “another.”

[1:7]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “which is not another,” but this could be misunderstood to mean “which is not really different.” In fact, as Paul goes on to make clear, there is no other gospel than the one he preaches.

[1:7]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “except.”

[1:7]  ¹⁶ tn Or “trying.”

[1:8]  ¹⁷ tc ‡ Most witnesses have ὑμῖν (Jumin, “to you”) either after (א² A [D* ὑμᾶς] 6 33 326 614 945 1881 Ï Tert^pt Ambst) or before (Ì^51vid B H 0278 630 1175 [1739* ἡμῖν]) εὐαγγελίζηται (euaggelizhtai, “should preach” [or some variation on the form of this verb]). But the fact that it floats suggests its inauthenticity, especially since it appears to be a motivated reading for purposes of clarification. The following witnesses lack the pronoun: א* F G Ψ ar b g Cyp Mcion^T Tert^pt Lcf. The external evidence admittedly is not as weighty as evidence for the pronoun, but coupled with strong internal evidence the shorter reading should be considered original. Although it is possible that scribes may have deleted the pronoun to make Paul’s statement seem more universal, the fact that the pronoun floats suggests otherwise. NA²⁷ has the pronoun in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

[1:8]  ¹⁸ tn Or “other than the one we preached to you.”

[1:8]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “let him be accursed” (ἀνάθεμα, anaqema). The translation gives the outcome which is implied by this dreadful curse.

[1:9]  ²⁰ tn See the note on this phrase in the previous verse.

[1:10]  ²¹ tn Grk “of men”; but here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpou") is used in a generic sense of both men and women.

[1:10]  ²² tn Grk “men”; but here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") is used in a generic sense of both men and women.

[1:10]  ²³ tn The imperfect verb has been translated conatively (ExSyn 550).

[1:10]  ²⁴ tn Grk “men”; but here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") is used in a generic sense of both men and women.

[1:10]  ²⁵ tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” 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.

[5:3]  ²⁶ tn Or “keep”; or “carry out”; Grk “do.”

[5:4]  ²⁷ tn Or “trying to be justified.” The verb δικαιοῦσθε (dikaiousqe) has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534).

[5:4]  ²⁸ tn Or “estranged”; BDAG 526 s.v. καταργέω 4 states, “Of those who aspire to righteousness through the law κ. ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ be estranged from Christ Gal 5:4.”

[5:6]  ²⁹ tn Grk “but faith working through love.”

[5:7]  ³⁰ tn Or “following.” BDAG 792 s.v. πείθω 3.b states, “obey, follow w. dat. of the pers. or thing…Gal 3:1 v.l.; 5:7.”

[4:17]  ³¹ tn On the translation of μαρτύρομαι (marturomai) as “insist” see BDAG 619 s.v. 2.

[4:17]  ³² tn On the translation of ματαιότης (mataioth") as “futility” see BDAG 621 s.v.

[4:17]  ³³ tn Or “thoughts,” “mind.”

[4:18]  ³⁴ tn In the Greek text this clause is actually subordinate to περιπατεῖ (peripatei) in v. 17. It was broken up in the English translation so as to avoid an unnecessarily long and cumbersome statement.

[4:19]  ³⁵ sn Greediness refers to an increasing desire for more and more. The point is that sinful passions and desires are never satisfied.

[5:5]  ³⁶ tn Grk “be knowing this.” See also 2 Pet 1:20 for a similar phrase: τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες (touto prwton ginwskonte").

[5:6]  ³⁷ sn The expression sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” In this context it refers to “all those who are disobedient.” Cf. Eph 2:2-3.

[1:28]  ³⁸ tn Or “admonishing,” or “warning.” BDAG 679 s.v. νουθετέω states, “to counsel about avoidance or cessation of an improper course of conduct,, admonish, warn, instruct.” After the participle νουθετοῦντες (nouqetounte", “instructing”) the words πάντα ἄνθρωπον (panta anqrwpon, “all men”) occur in the Greek text, but since the same phrase appears again after διδάσκοντες (didaskontes) it was omitted in translation to avoid redundancy in English.

[1:28]  ³⁹ tn The two participles “instructing” (νουθετοῦντες, nouqetounte") and “teaching” (διδάσκοντες, didaskonte") are translated as participles of means (“by”) related to the finite verb “we proclaim” (καταγγέλλομεν, katangellomen).

[1:28]  ⁴⁰ tn Here ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon) is twice translated as a generic (“people” and “person”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.

[1:28]  ⁴¹ tn Since Paul’s focus is on the present experience of the Colossians, “mature” is a better translation of τέλειον (teleion) than “perfect,” since the latter implies a future, eschatological focus.

[3:5]  ⁴² tn Grk “the members which are on the earth.” See BDAG 628 s.v. μέλος 1, “put to death whatever in you is worldly.”

[3:5]  ⁴³ tn Or “lust.”

[3:6]  ⁴⁴ tc The words ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας (epi tou" Juiou" th" apeiqeia", “on the sons of disobedience”) are lacking in Ì⁴⁶ B b sa, but are found in א A C D F G H I Ψ 075 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy bo. The words are omitted by several English translations (NASB, NIV, ESV, TNIV). This textual problem is quite difficult to resolve. On the one hand, the parallel account in Eph 5:6 has these words, thus providing scribes a motive for adding them here. On the other hand, the reading without the words may be too hard: The ἐν οἷς (en |oi") of v. 7 seems to have no antecedent without υἱούς already in the text, although it could possibly be construed as neuter referring to the vice list in v. 5. Further, although the witness of B is especially important, there are other places in which B and Ì⁴⁶ share errant readings of omission. Nevertheless, the strength of the internal evidence against the longer reading is at least sufficient to cause doubt here. The decision to retain the words in the text is less than certain.

[3:7]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “you also walked.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is commonly used in the NT to refer to behavior or conduct of one’s life (L&N 41.11).

[3:8]  ⁴⁶ tn The Greek article with τὰ πάντα (ta panta) is anaphoric, referring to the previous list of vices, and has been translated here as “all such things.”

[4:7]  ⁴⁷ tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[4:7]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “all things according to me.”

[4:8]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “the things concerning us.”

[1:14]  ⁵⁰ tc διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ (dia tou {aimato" autou, “through his blood”) is read at this juncture by several minuscule mss (614 630 1505 2464 al) as well as a few, mostly secondary, versional and patristic witnesses. But the reading was prompted by the parallel in Eph 1:7 where the wording is solid. If these words had been in the original of Colossians, why would scribes omit them here but not in Eph 1:7? Further, the testimony on behalf of the shorter reading is quite overwhelming: {א A B C D F G Ψ 075 0150 6 33 1739 1881 Ï latt co as well as several other versions and fathers}. The conviction that “through his blood” is not authentic in Col 1:14 is as strong as the conviction that these words are authentic in Eph 1:7.

[2:15]  ⁵¹ tn Or “reproof,” “censure.” The Greek word ἐλέγχω (elencw) implies exposing someone’s sin in order to bring correction.

[2:15]  ⁵² tn Grk “speak these things and exhort and rebuke with all authority.”

[2:15]  ⁵³ tn Or “let anyone despise you”; or “let anyone disregard you.”

[2:1]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “say what is fitting for sound teaching” (introducing the behavior called for in this chapter.).

[3:6]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “on us richly.”

[3:7]  ⁵⁶ tn This is the conclusion of a single, skillfully composed sentence in Greek encompassing Titus 3:4-7. Showing the goal of God’s merciful salvation, v. 7 begins literally, “in order that, being justified…we might become heirs…”

[3:7]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

[3:8]  ⁵⁸ sn This saying (Grk “the saying”) refers to the preceding citation (Titus 3:4-7). See 1 Tim 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tim 2:11 for other occurrences of this phrase.

[3:8]  ⁵⁹ tn Grk “concerning these things.”

[3:9]  ⁶⁰ tn Cf. 1 Tim 1:4.

[3:9]  ⁶¹ sn Fights about the law were characteristic of the false teachers in Ephesus as well as in Crete (cf. 1 Tim 1:3-7; Titus 1:10, 14).

[3:19]  ⁶² tn The Greek pronoun ὅσος (Josos) means “as many as” and can be translated “All those” or “Everyone.”