Psalms 120:7

120:7 I am committed to peace, ¹ 

but when I speak, they want to make war. ² 

Romans 12:18

12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people. ³ 

Romans 12:1

Consecration of the Believer’s Life

12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, ⁴  by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God ⁵  – which is your reasonable service.

Colossians 1:7

1:7 You learned the gospel ⁶  from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave ⁷  – a ⁸  faithful minister of Christ on our ⁹  behalf –

Hebrews 12:14

Do Not Reject God’s Warning

12:14 Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, ¹⁰  for without it no one will see the Lord.

James 3:13-18

True Wisdom

3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings. ¹¹  3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. 3:15 Such ¹²  wisdom does not come ¹³  from above but is earthly, natural, ¹⁴  demonic. 3:16 For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice. 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, ¹⁵  full of mercy and good fruit, ¹⁶  impartial, and not hypocritical. ¹⁷  3:18 And the fruit that consists of righteousness ¹⁸  is planted ¹⁹  in peace among ²⁰  those who make peace.

James 3:1

The Power of the Tongue

3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, ²¹  because you know that we will be judged more strictly. ²² 

James 3:8-12

3:8 But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless ²³  evil, full of deadly poison. 3:9 With it we bless the Lord ²⁴  and Father, and with it we curse people ²⁵  made in God’s image. 3:10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters. ²⁶  3:11 A spring does not pour out fresh water and bitter water from the same opening, does it? 3:12 Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, ²⁷  or a vine produce figs? Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water.

[120:7]  ¹ tn Heb “I, peace.”

[120:7]  ² tn Heb “they [are] for war.”

[12:18]  ³ tn Here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic and refers to both men and women.

[12:1]  ⁴ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[12:1]  ⁵ tn The participle and two adjectives “alive, holy, and pleasing to God” are taken as predicates in relation to “sacrifice,” making the exhortation more emphatic. See ExSyn 618-19.

[1:7]  ⁶ tn Or “learned it.” The Greek text simply has “you learned” without the reference to “the gospel,” but “the gospel” is supplied to clarify the sense of the clause. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[1:7]  ⁷ tn The Greek word translated “fellow slave” is σύνδουλος (sundoulo"); the σύν- prefix here denotes association. Though δοῦλος 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.

[1:7]  ⁸ tn The Greek text has “who (ὅς, Jos) is a faithful minister.” The above translation conveys the antecedent of the relative pronoun quite well and avoids the redundancy with the following substantival participle of v. 8, namely, “who told” (ὁ δηλώσας, Jo dhlwsa").

[1:7]  ⁹ tc ‡ Judging by the superior witnesses for the first person pronoun ἡμῶν (Jhmwn, “us”; Ì⁴⁶ א* A B D* F G 326* 1505 al) vs. the second person pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “you”; found in א² C D¹ Ψ 075 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy co), ἡμῶν should be regarded as original. Although it is possible that ἡμῶν was an early alteration of ὑμῶν (either unintentionally, as dittography, since it comes seventeen letters after the previous ἡμῶν; or intentionally, to conform to the surrounding first person pronouns), this supposition is difficult to maintain in light of the varied and valuable witnesses for this reading. Further, the second person is both embedded in the verb ἐμάθετε (emaqete) and is explicit in v. 8 (ὑμῶν). Hence, the motivation to change to the first person pronoun is counterbalanced by such evidence. The second person pronoun may have been introduced unintentionally via homoioarcton with the ὑπέρ (Juper) that immediately precedes it. As well, the second person reading is somewhat harder for it seems to address Epaphras’ role only in relation to Paul and his colleagues, rather than in relation to the Colossians. Nevertheless, the decision must be based ultimately on external evidence (because the internal evidence can be variously interpreted), and this strongly supports ἡμῶν.

[12:14]  ¹⁰ sn The references to peace and holiness show the close connection between this paragraph and the previous one. The pathway toward “holiness” and the need for it is cited in Heb 12:10 and 14. More importantly Prov 4:26-27 sets up the transition from one paragraph to the next: It urges people to stay on godly paths (Prov 4:26, quoted here in v. 13) and promises that God will lead them in peace if they do so (Prov 4:27 [LXX], quoted in v. 14).

[3:13]  ¹¹ tn Grk “works in the gentleness of wisdom.”

[3:15]  ¹² tn Grk “This.”

[3:15]  ¹³ tn Grk “come down”; “descend.”

[3:15]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “soulish,” which describes life apart from God, characteristic of earthly human life as opposed to what is spiritual. Cf. 1 Cor 2:14; 15:44-46; Jude 19.

[3:17]  ¹⁵ tn Or “willing to yield,” “open to persuasion.”

[3:17]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit.”

[3:17]  ¹⁷ tn Or “sincere.”

[3:18]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the fruit of righteousness,” meaning righteous living as a fruit, as the thing produced.

[3:18]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “is sown.”

[3:18]  ²⁰ tn Or “for,” or possibly “by.”

[3:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[3:1]  ²² tn Grk “will receive a greater judgment.”

[3:8]  ²³ tc Most mss (C Ψ 1739^c Ï as well as a few versions and fathers) read “uncontrollable” (ἀκατασχετόν, akatasceton), while the most important witnesses (א A B K P 1739* latt) have “restless” (ἀκατάστατον, akatastaton). Externally, the latter reading should be preferred. Internally, however, things get a bit more complex. The notion of being uncontrollable is well suited to the context, especially as a counterbalance to v. 8a, though for this very reason scribes may have been tempted to replace ἀκατάστατον with ἀκατασχετόν. However, in a semantically parallel early Christian text, ἀκατάστατος (akatastato") was considered strong enough of a term to denounce slander as “a restless demon” (Herm. 27:3). On the other hand, ἀκατάστατον may have been substituted for ἀκατασχετόν by way of assimilation to 1:8 (especially since both words were relatively rare, scribes may have replaced the less familiar with one that was already used in this letter). On internal evidence, it is difficult to decide, though ἀκατασχετόν is slightly preferred. However, in light of the strong support for ἀκατάστατον, and the less-than-decisive internal evidence, ἀκατάστατον is preferred instead.

[3:9]  ²⁴ tc Most later mss (Ï), along with several versional witnesses, have θεόν (qeon, “God”) here instead of κύριον (kurion, “Lord”). Such is a predictable variant since nowhere else in the NT is God described as “Lord and Father,” but he is called “God and Father” on several occasions. Further, the reading κύριον is well supported by early and diversified witnesses (̲⁰ א A B C P Ψ 33 81 945 1241 1739), rendering it as the overwhelmingly preferred reading.

[3:9]  ²⁵ tn Grk “men”; but here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpous) has generic force, referring to both men and women.

[3:10]  ²⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[3:12]  ²⁷ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.