Philippians 3:13

3:13 Brothers and sisters, ¹  I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: ²  Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead,

Philippians 3:16

3:16 Nevertheless, let us live up to the standard ³  that we have already attained. ⁴ 

Psalms 119:5

119:5 If only I were predisposed ⁵ 

to keep your statutes!

Psalms 119:173-176

119:173 May your hand help me,

for I choose to obey ⁶  your precepts.

119:174 I long for your deliverance, O Lord;

I find delight in your law.

119:175 May I ⁷  live and praise you!

May your regulations help me! ⁸ 

119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep. ⁹ 

Come looking for your servant,

for I do not forget your commands.

Romans 7:19-24

7:19 For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want! 7:20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.

7:21 So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. 7:22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. 7:23 But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Galatians 5:17

5:17 For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires ¹⁰  that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to ¹¹  each other, so that you cannot do what you want.

Galatians 5:1

Freedom of the Believer

5:1 For freedom ¹²  Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke ¹³  of slavery.

Galatians 6:12

6:12 Those who want to make a good showing in external matters ¹⁴  are trying to force you to be circumcised. They do so ¹⁵  only to avoid being persecuted ¹⁶  for the cross of Christ.

James 3:2

3:2 For we all stumble ¹⁷  in many ways. If someone does not stumble ¹⁸  in what he says, ¹⁹  he is a perfect individual, ²⁰  able to control the entire body as well.

[3:13]  ¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:12.

[3:13]  ² tn Grk “But this one thing (I do).”

[3:16]  ³ tc Although κανόνι (kanoni, “standard, rule”) is found in most witnesses, though in various locations in this verse (א² D² Ψ 075 Ï), it is almost surely a motivated reading, for it clarifies the cryptic τῷ αὐτῷ (tw autw, “the same”). Both the fact that the word floats, and that there are other variants which accomplish greater clarity by other means, strongly suggests the secondary nature of any of the longer readings here. Further, the shortest text has excellent and early support in Ì^16,46 א* A B I^vid 6 33 1739 co, rendering it decidedly the preferred reading. The translation adds “standard” because of English requirements, not because of textual basis.

[3:16]  ⁴ tn Grk “Nevertheless, to what we have attained, to the same hold fast.”

[119:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “if only my ways were established.”

[119:173]  ⁶ tn The words “to obey” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.

[119:175]  ⁷ tn Heb “my life.”

[119:175]  ⁸ tn God’s regulations will “help” the psalmist by giving him moral and ethical guidance.

[119:176]  ⁹ tn Heb “I stray like a lost sheep.” It is possible that the point of the metaphor is vulnerability: The psalmist, who is threatened by his enemies, feels as vulnerable as a straying, lost sheep. This would not suggest, however, that he has wandered from God’s path (see the second half of the verse, as well as v. 110).

[5:17]  ¹⁰ tn The words “has desires” do not occur in the Greek text a second time, but are repeated in the translation for clarity.

[5:17]  ¹¹ tn Or “are hostile toward” (L&N 39.1).

[5:1]  ¹² tn Translating the dative as “For freedom” shows the purpose for Christ setting us free; however, it is also possible to take the phrase in the sense of means or instrument (“with [or by] freedom”), referring to the freedom mentioned in 4:31 and implied throughout the letter.

[5:1]  ¹³ sn Here the yoke figuratively represents the burdensome nature of slavery.

[6:12]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “in the flesh.” L&N 88.236 translates the phrase “those who force you to be circumcised are those who wish to make a good showing in external matters.”

[6:12]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “to be circumcised, only.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started with the words “They do so,” which were supplied to make a complete English sentence.

[6:12]  ¹⁶ tc ‡ Grk “so that they will not be persecuted.” The indicative after ἵνα μή (Jina mh) is unusual (though not unexampled elsewhere in the NT), making it the harder reading. The evidence is fairly evenly split between the indicative διώκονται (diwkontai; Ì⁴⁶ A C F G K L P 0278 6 81 104 326 629 1175 1505 pm) and the subjunctive διώκωνται (diwkwntai; א B D Ψ 33 365 1739 pm), with a slight preference for the subjunctive. However, since scribes would tend to change the indicative to a subjunctive due to syntactical requirements, the internal evidence is decidedly on the side of the indicative, suggesting that it is original.

[3:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ¹⁸ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “in speech.”

[3:2]  ²⁰ tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).