Matthew 3:9

3:9 and don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

John 8:33-44

8:33 “We are descendants ¹  of Abraham,” they replied, ²  “and have never been anyone’s slaves! How can you say, ³  ‘You will become free’?” 8:34 Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁴  everyone who practices ⁵  sin is a slave ⁶  of sin. 8:35 The slave does not remain in the family ⁷  forever, but the son remains forever. ⁸  8:36 So if the son ⁹  sets you free, you will be really free. 8:37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. ¹⁰  But you want ¹¹  to kill me, because my teaching ¹²  makes no progress among you. ¹³  8:38 I am telling you the things I have seen while with the ¹⁴  Father; ¹⁵  as for you, ¹⁶  practice the things you have heard from the ¹⁷  Father!”

8:39 They answered him, ¹⁸  “Abraham is our father!” ¹⁹  Jesus replied, ²⁰  “If you are ²¹  Abraham’s children, you would be doing ²²  the deeds of Abraham. 8:40 But now you are trying ²³  to kill me, a man who has told you ²⁴  the truth I heard from God. Abraham did not do this! ²⁵  8:41 You people ²⁶  are doing the deeds of your father.”

Then ²⁷  they said to Jesus, ²⁸  “We were not born as a result of immorality! ²⁹  We have only one Father, God himself.” 8:42 Jesus replied, ³⁰  “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come from God and am now here. ³¹  I ³²  have not come on my own initiative, ³³  but he ³⁴  sent me. 8:43 Why don’t you understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot accept ³⁵  my teaching. ³⁶  8:44 You people ³⁷  are from ³⁸  your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. ³⁹  He ⁴⁰  was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, ⁴¹  because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, ⁴²  he speaks according to his own nature, ⁴³  because he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁴ 

Romans 4:12-13

4:12 And he is also the father of the circumcised, ⁴⁵  who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised. ⁴⁶ 

4:13 For the promise ⁴⁷  to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

Romans 9:4-8

9:4 who are Israelites. To them belong ⁴⁸  the adoption as sons, ⁴⁹  the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, ⁵⁰  and the promises. 9:5 To them belong the patriarchs, ⁵¹  and from them, ⁵²  by human descent, ⁵³  came the Christ, ⁵⁴  who is God over all, blessed forever! ⁵⁵  Amen.

9:6 It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel, ⁵⁶  9:7 nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.” ⁵⁷  9:8 This means ⁵⁸  it is not the children of the flesh ⁵⁹  who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants.

Galatians 3:19

3:19 Why then was the law given? ⁶⁰  It was added ⁶¹  because of transgressions, ⁶²  until the arrival of the descendant ⁶³  to whom the promise had been made. It was administered ⁶⁴  through angels by an intermediary. ⁶⁵ 

Galatians 4:22-31

4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the ⁶⁶  slave woman and the other by the free woman. 4:23 But one, the son by the slave woman, was born by natural descent, ⁶⁷  while the other, the son by the free woman, was born through the promise. 4:24 These things may be treated as an allegory, ⁶⁸  for these women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai bearing children for slavery; this is Hagar. 4:25 Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 4:26 But the Jerusalem above is free, ⁶⁹  and she is our mother. 4:27 For it is written:

“Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear children; ⁷⁰ 

break forth and shout, you who have no birth pains,

because the children of the desolate woman are more numerous

than those of the woman who has a husband.” ⁷¹ 

4:28 But you, ⁷²  brothers and sisters, ⁷³  are children of the promise like Isaac. 4:29 But just as at that time the one born by natural descent ⁷⁴  persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, ⁷⁵  so it is now. 4:30 But what does the scripture say? “Throw out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the son” ⁷⁶  of the free woman. 4:31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, ⁷⁷  we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.

[8:33]  ¹ tn Grk “We are the seed” (an idiom).

[8:33]  ² tn Grk “They answered to him.”

[8:33]  ³ tn Or “How is it that you say.”

[8:34]  ⁴ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[8:34]  ⁵ tn Or “who commits.” This could simply be translated, “everyone who sins,” but the Greek is more emphatic, using the participle ποιῶν (poiwn) in a construction with πᾶς (pas), a typical Johannine construction. Here repeated, continuous action is in view. The one whose lifestyle is characterized by repeated, continuous sin is a slave to sin. That one is not free; sin has enslaved him. To break free from this bondage requires outside (divine) intervention. Although the statement is true at the general level (the person who continually practices a lifestyle of sin is enslaved to sin) the particular sin of the Jewish authorities, repeatedly emphasized in the Fourth Gospel, is the sin of unbelief. The present tense in this instance looks at the continuing refusal on the part of the Jewish leaders to acknowledge who Jesus is, in spite of mounting evidence.

[8:34]  ⁶ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

[8:35]  ⁷ tn Or “household.” The Greek work οἰκία (oikia) can denote the family as consisting of relatives by both descent and marriage, as well as slaves and servants, living in the same house (more the concept of an “extended family”).

[8:35]  ⁸ sn Jesus’ point is that while a slave may be part of a family or household, the slave is not guaranteed a permanent place there, while a son, as a descendant or blood relative, will always be guaranteed a place in the family (remains forever).

[8:36]  ⁹ tn Or “Son.” The question is whether “son” is to be understood as a direct reference to Jesus himself, or as an indirect reference (a continuation of the generic illustration begun in the previous verse).

[8:37]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “seed” (an idiom).

[8:37]  ¹¹ tn Grk “you are seeking.”

[8:37]  ¹² tn Grk “my word.”

[8:37]  ¹³ tn Or “finds no place in you.” The basic idea seems to be something (in this case Jesus’ teaching) making headway or progress where resistance is involved. See BDAG 1094 s.v. χωρέω 2.

[8:38]  ¹⁴ tc The first person pronoun μου (mou, “my”) may be implied, especially if ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) follows the second mention of “father” in this verse (as it does in the majority of mss); no doubt this implication gave rise to the reading μου found in most witnesses (א D Θ Ψ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï it sy). No pronoun here is read by Ì^66,75 B C L 070 pc. This problem cannot be isolated from the second in the verse, however. See that discussion below.

[8:38]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “The things which I have seen with the Father I speak about.”

[8:38]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “and you.”

[8:38]  ¹⁷ tc A few significant witnesses lack ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) here (Ì^66,75 B L W 070 pc), while the majority have the pronoun (א C D Θ Ψ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 565 892 Ï al lat sy). However, these mss do not agree on the placement of the pronoun: τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν ποιεῖτε (tou patro" Jumwn poieite), τῷ πατρὶ ὑμῶν (tw patri Jumwn), and τῷ πατρὶ ὑμῶν ταῦτα (tw patri Jumwn tauta) all occur. If the pronoun is read, then the devil is in view and the text should be translated as “you are practicing the things you have heard from your father.” If it is not read, then the same Father mentioned in the first part of the verse is in view. In this case, ποιεῖτε should be taken as an imperative: “you [must] practice the things you have heard from the Father.” The omission is decidedly the harder reading, both because the contrast between God and the devil is now delayed until v. 41, and because ποιεῖτε could be read as an indicative, especially since the two clauses are joined by καί (kai, “and”). Thus, the pronoun looks to be a motivated reading. In light of the better external and internal evidence the omission is preferred.

[8:39]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “They answered and said to him.”

[8:39]  ¹⁹ tn Or “Our father is Abraham.”

[8:39]  ²⁰ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[8:39]  ²¹ tc Although most mss (C W Θ Ψ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï) have the imperfect ἦτε (hte, “you were”) here, making this sentence a proper second class condition, the harder reading, ἐστε (este, “you are”), is found in the better witnesses (Ì^66,75 א B D L 070 pc lat).

[8:39]  ²² tc Some important mss (Ì⁶⁶ B* [700]) have the present imperative ποιεῖτε (poieite) here: “If you are Abraham’s children, then do,” while many others (א² C K L N Δ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 565 579 892 pm) add the contingent particle ἄν (an) to ἐποιεῖτε (epoieite) making it a more proper second class condition by Attic standards. The simple ἐποιεῖτε without the ἄν is the hardest reading, and is found in some excellent witnesses (Ì⁷⁵ א* B² D W Γ Θ 070 0250 1424 pm).

[8:40]  ²³ tn Grk “seeking.”

[8:40]  ²⁴ tn Grk “has spoken to you.”

[8:40]  ²⁵ tn The Greek word order is emphatic: “This Abraham did not do.” The emphasis is indicated in the translation by an exclamation point.

[8:41]  ²⁶ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb.

[8:41]  ²⁷ tc ‡ Important and early witnesses (א B L W 070 it sy^s,p co) lack the conjunction here, while the earliest witnesses along with many others read οὖν (oun, “therefore”; Ì^66,75 C D Θ Ψ 0250 ˹³ 33 Ï). This conjunction occurs in John some 200 times, far more than in any other NT book. Even though the combined testimony of two early papyri for the conjunction is impressive, the reading seems to be a predictable scribal emendation. In particular, οὖν is frequently used with the plural of εἶπον (eipon, “they said”) in John (in this chapter alone, note vv. 13, 39, 48, 57, and possibly 52). On balance, it is probably best to consider the shorter reading as authentic, even though “Then” is virtually required in translation for English stylistic reasons. NA²⁷ has the conjunction in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.

[8:41]  ²⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:41]  ²⁹ sn We were not born as a result of immorality! is ironic, because Jesus’ opponents implied that it was not themselves but Jesus who had been born as a result of immoral behavior. This shows they did not know Jesus’ true origin and were not aware of the supernatural events surrounding his birth. The author does not even bother to refute the opponents’ suggestion but lets it stand, assuming his readers will know the true story.

[8:42]  ³⁰ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[8:42]  ³¹ tn Or “I came from God and have arrived.”

[8:42]  ³² tn Grk “For I.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

[8:42]  ³³ tn Grk “from myself.”

[8:42]  ³⁴ tn Grk “that one” (referring to God).

[8:43]  ³⁵ tn Grk “you cannot hear,” but this is not a reference to deafness, but rather hearing in the sense of listening to something and responding to it.

[8:43]  ³⁶ tn Grk “my word.”

[8:44]  ³⁷ tn The word “people” is supplied in the translation to clarify that the Greek pronoun and verb are plural.

[8:44]  ³⁸ tn Many translations read “You are of your father the devil” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB) or “You belong to your father, the devil” (NIV), but the Greek preposition ἐκ (ek) emphasizes the idea of source or origin. Jesus said his opponents were the devil’s very offspring (a statement which would certainly infuriate them).

[8:44]  ³⁹ tn Grk “the desires of your father you want to do.”

[8:44]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “That one” (referring to the devil).

[8:44]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “he does not stand in the truth” (in the sense of maintaining, upholding, or accepting the validity of it).

[8:44]  ⁴² tn Grk “Whenever he speaks the lie.”

[8:44]  ⁴³ tn Grk “he speaks from his own.”

[8:44]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “because he is a liar and the father of it.”

[4:12]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “the father of circumcision.”

[4:12]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “the ‘in-uncircumcision faith’ of our father Abraham.”

[4:13]  ⁴⁷ sn Although a singular noun, the promise is collective and does not refer only to Gen 12:7, but as D. Moo (Romans 1-8 [WEC], 279) points out, refers to multiple aspects of the promise to Abraham: multiplied descendants (Gen 12:2), possession of the land (Gen 13:15-17), and his becoming the vehicle of blessing to all people (Gen 12:13).

[9:4]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “of whom.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[9:4]  ⁴⁹ tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).” Although some modern translations remove the filial sense completely and render the term merely “adoption” (cf. NAB, ESV), the retention of this component of meaning was accomplished in the present translation by the phrase “as sons.”

[9:4]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “cultic service.”

[9:5]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “of whom are the fathers.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[9:5]  ⁵² tn Grk “from whom.” Here the relative pronoun has been replaced by a personal pronoun.

[9:5]  ⁵³ tn Grk “according to the flesh.”

[9:5]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “Messiah.” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed.”)

[9:5]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever,” or “the Messiah. God who is over all be blessed forever!” or “the Messiah who is over all. God be blessed forever!” The translational difficulty here is not text-critical in nature, but is a problem of punctuation. Since the genre of these opening verses of Romans 9 is a lament, it is probably best to take this as an affirmation of Christ’s deity (as the text renders it). Although the other renderings are possible, to see a note of praise to God at the end of this section seems strangely out of place. But for Paul to bring his lament to a crescendo (that is to say, his kinsmen had rejected God come in the flesh), thereby deepening his anguish, is wholly appropriate. This is also supported grammatically and stylistically: The phrase ὁ ὢν (Jo wn, “the one who is”) is most naturally taken as a phrase which modifies something in the preceding context, and Paul’s doxologies are always closely tied to the preceding context. For a detailed examination of this verse, see B. M. Metzger, “The Punctuation of Rom. 9:5,” Christ and the Spirit in the New Testament, 95-112; and M. J. Harris, Jesus as God, 144-72.

[9:6]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “For not all those who are from Israel are Israel.”

[9:7]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “be called.” The emphasis here is upon God’s divine sovereignty in choosing Isaac as the child through whom Abraham’s lineage would be counted as opposed to Ishmael.

[9:8]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “That is,” or “That is to say.”

[9:8]  ⁵⁹ tn Because it forms the counterpoint to “the children of promise” the expression “children of the flesh” has been retained in the translation.

[3:19]  ⁶⁰ tn Grk “Why then the law?”

[3:19]  ⁶¹ tc For προσετέθη (proseteqh) several Western mss have ἐτέθη (eteqh, “it was established”; so D* F G it Ir^lat Ambst Spec). The net effect of this reading, in conjunction with the largely Western reading of πράξεων (praxewn) for παραβάσεων (parabasewn), seems to be a very positive assessment of the law. But there are compelling reasons for rejecting this reading: (1) externally, it is provincial and relatively late; (2) internally: (a) transcriptionally, there seems to be a much higher transcriptional probability that a scribe would try to smooth over Paul’s harsh saying here about the law than vice versa; (b) intrinsically: [1] Paul has already argued that the law came after the promise (vv. 15-18), indicating, more than likely, its temporary nature; [2] the verb “was added” in v. 19 (προσετέθη) is different from the verb in v. 15 (ἐπιδιατάσσεται, epidiatassetai); virtually all exegetes recognize this as an intentional linguistic shift on Paul’s part in order not to contradict his statement in v. 15; [3] the temper of 3:1–4:7 is decidedly against a positive statement about the Torah’s role in Heilsgeschichte.

[3:19]  ⁶² tc παραδόσεων (paradosewn; “traditions, commandments”) is read by D*, while the vast majority of witnesses read παραβάσεων (parabasewn, “transgressions”). D’s reading makes little sense in this context. πράξεων (praxewn, “of deeds”) replaces παραβάσεων in Ì⁴⁶ F G it Ir^lat Ambst Spec. The wording is best taken as going with νόμος (nomo"; “Why then the law of deeds?”), as is evident by the consistent punctuation in the later witnesses. But such an expression is unpauline and superfluous; it was almost certainly added by some early scribe(s) to soften the blow of Paul’s statement.

[3:19]  ⁶³ tn Grk “the seed.” See the note on the first occurrence of the word “descendant” in 3:16.

[3:19]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “was ordered.” L&N 31.22 has “was put into effect” here.

[3:19]  ⁶⁵ tn Many modern translations (NASB, NIV, NRSV) render this word (μεσίτης, mesith"; here and in v. 20) as “mediator,” but this conveys a wrong impression in contemporary English. If this is referring to Moses, he certainly did not “mediate” between God and Israel but was an intermediary on God’s behalf. Moses was not a mediator, for example, who worked for compromise between opposing parties. He instead was God’s representative to his people who enabled them to have a relationship, but entirely on God’s terms.

[4:22]  ⁶⁶ tn Paul’s use of the Greek article here and before the phrase “free woman” presumes that both these characters are well known to the recipients of his letter. This verse is given as an example of the category called “well-known (‘celebrity’ or ‘familiar’) article” by ExSyn 225.

[4:23]  ⁶⁷ tn Grk “born according to the flesh”; BDAG 916 s.v. σάρξ 4 has “Of natural descent τὰ τέκνα τῆς σαρκός children by natural descent Ro 9:8 (opp. τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐπαγγελίας). ὁ μὲν ἐκ τῆς παιδίσκης κατὰ σάρκα γεγέννηται Gal 4:23; cp. vs. 29.”

[4:24]  ⁶⁸ tn Grk “which things are spoken about allegorically.” Paul is not saying the OT account is an allegory, but rather that he is constructing an allegory based on the OT account.

[4:26]  ⁶⁹ sn The meaning of the statement the Jerusalem above is free is that the other woman represents the second covenant (cf. v. 24); she corresponds to the Jerusalem above that is free. Paul’s argument is very condensed at this point.

[4:27]  ⁷⁰ tn The direct object “children” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied for clarity. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[4:27]  ⁷¹ tn Grk “because more are the children of the barren one than of the one having a husband.”

[4:28]  ⁷² tc Most mss (א A C D² Ψ 062 Ï lat sy bo) read “we” here, while “you” is found in Ì⁴⁶ B D* F G 0261^vid 0278 33 1739 al sa. It is more likely that a copyist, noticing the first person pronouns in vv. 26 and 31, changed a second person pronoun here to first person for consistency.

[4:28]  ⁷³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.

[4:29]  ⁷⁴ tn Grk “according to the flesh”; see the note on the phrase “by natural descent” in 4:23.

[4:29]  ⁷⁵ tn Or “the one born by the Spirit’s [power].”

[4:30]  ⁷⁶ sn A quotation from Gen 21:10. The phrase of the free woman does not occur in Gen 21:10.

[4:31]  ⁷⁷ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.