Psalms 133:1

Psalm 133 ¹ 

A song of ascents, ²  by David.

133:1 Look! How good and how pleasant it is

when brothers live together! ³ 

John 15:10-12

15:10 If you obey ⁴  my commandments, you will remain ⁵  in my love, just as I have obeyed ⁶  my Father’s commandments and remain ⁷  in his love. 15:11 I have told you these things ⁸  so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete. 15:12 My commandment is this – to love one another just as I have loved you. ⁹ 

Acts 2:46

2:46 Every day ¹⁰  they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, ¹¹  breaking bread from ¹²  house to house, sharing their food with glad ¹³  and humble hearts, ¹⁴ 

Acts 4:32

Conditions Among the Early Believers

4:32 The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, ¹⁵  and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common. ¹⁶ 

Galatians 5:22

5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit ¹⁷  is love, ¹⁸  joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ¹⁹ 

Ephesians 4:30-32

4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 4:31 You must put away every kind of bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and evil, slanderous talk. 4:32 Instead, ²⁰  be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you. ²¹ 

Colossians 2:2

2:2 My goal is that ²²  their hearts, having been knit together ²³  in love, may be encouraged, and that ²⁴  they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ²⁵ 

Colossians 2:1

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, ²⁶  and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. ²⁷ 

Colossians 4:7-8

Personal Greetings and Instructions

4:7 Tychicus, a dear brother, faithful minister, and fellow slave ²⁸  in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me. ²⁹  4:8 I sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are doing ³⁰  and that he may encourage your hearts.

Colossians 4:12

4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a slave ³¹  of Christ, ³²  greets you. He is always struggling in prayer on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured ³³  in all the will of God.

Colossians 4:16

4:16 And after ³⁴  you have read this letter, have it read ³⁵  to the church of Laodicea. In turn, read the letter from Laodicea ³⁶  as well.

[133:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 133. The psalmist affirms the benefits of family unity.

[133:1]  ² sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[133:1]  ³ sn This statement refers to the extended family structure of ancient Israel, where brothers would often live in proximity to one another (Deut 25:5), giving the family greater social prominence and security. However, in its later application in the Israelite cult it probably envisions unity within the covenant community. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 212-15.

[15:10]  ⁴ tn Or “keep.”

[15:10]  ⁵ tn Or “reside.”

[15:10]  ⁶ tn Or “kept.”

[15:10]  ⁷ tn Or “reside.”

[15:11]  ⁷ tn Grk “These things I have spoken to you.”

[15:12]  ¹⁰ sn Now the reference to the commandments (plural) in 15:10 have been reduced to a singular commandment: The disciples are to love one another, just as Jesus has loved them. This is the ‘new commandment’ of John 13:34, and it is repeated in 15:17. The disciples’ love for one another is compared to Jesus’ love for them. How has Jesus shown his love for the disciples? This was illustrated in 13:1-20 in the washing of the disciples’ feet, introduced by the statement in 13:1 that Jesus loved them “to the end.” In context this constitutes a reference to Jesus’ self-sacrificial death on the cross on their behalf; the love they are to have for one another is so great that it must include a self-sacrificial willingness to die for one another if necessary. This is exactly what Jesus is discussing here, because he introduces the theme of his sacrificial death in the following verse. In John 10:18 and 14:31 Jesus spoke of his death on the cross as a commandment he had received from his Father, which also links the idea of commandment and love as they are linked here. One final note: It is not just the degree or intensity of the disciples’ love for one another that Jesus is referring to when he introduces by comparison his own death on the cross (that they must love one another enough to die for one another) but the very means of expressing that love: It is to express itself in self-sacrifice for one another, sacrifice up to the point of death, which is what Jesus himself did on the cross (cf. 1 John 3:16).

[2:46]  ¹³ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase.

[2:46]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “in the temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper, and has been translated accordingly.

[2:46]  ¹⁵ tn Here κατά (kata) is used as a distributive (BDAG 512 s.v. B.1.d).

[2:46]  ¹⁶ sn The term glad (Grk “gladness”) often refers to joy brought about by God’s saving acts (Luke 1:14, 44; also the related verb in 1:47; 10:21).

[2:46]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “with gladness and humbleness of hearts.” It is best to understand καρδίας (kardias) as an attributed genitive, with the two nouns it modifies actually listing attributes of the genitive noun which is related to them.

[4:32]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “soul.”

[4:32]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “but all things were to them in common.”

[5:22]  ¹⁹ tn That is, the fruit the Spirit produces.

[5:22]  ²⁰ sn Another way to punctuate this is “love” followed by a colon (love: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). It is thus possible to read the eight characteristics following “love” as defining love.

[5:22]  ²¹ tn Or “reliability”; see BDAG 818 s.v. πίστις 1.a.

[4:32]  ²² tc ‡ Although most witnesses have either δέ (de; Ì⁴⁹ א A D² Ψ 33 1739^mg Ï lat) or οὖν (oun; D* F G 1175) here, a few important mss lack a conjunction (Ì⁴⁶ B 0278 6 1739* 1881). If either conjunction were originally in the text, it is difficult to explain how the asyndetic construction could have arisen (although the dropping of δέ could have occurred via homoioteleuton). Further, although Hellenistic Greek rarely joined sentences without a conjunction, such does occur in the corpus Paulinum on occasion, especially to underscore a somber point. “Instead” has been supplied in the translation because of stylistic requirements, not textual basis. NA²⁷ places δέ in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.

[4:32]  ²³ tn Or “forgiving.”

[2:2]  ²⁵ tn Verse two begins a subordinate ἵνα (Jina) clause which was divided up into two sentences for the sake of clarity in English. Thus the phrase “My goal is that” is an attempt to reflect in the translation the purpose expressed through the ἵνα clauses.

[2:2]  ²⁶ tn BDAG 956 s.v. συμβιβάζω 1.b reads “unite, knit together.” Some commentators take the verb as a reference to instruction, “instructed in love.” See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 93.

[2:2]  ²⁷ tn The phrase “and that” translates the first εἰς (eis) clause of v. 2 and reflects the second goal of Paul’s striving and struggle for the Colossians – the first is “encouragement” and the second is “full assurance.”

[2:2]  ²⁸ tc There are at least a dozen variants here, almost surely generated by the unusual wording τοῦ θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ (tou qeou, Cristou, “of God, Christ”; so Ì⁴⁶ B Hil). Scribes would be prone to conform this to more common Pauline expressions such as “of God, who is in Christ” (33), “of God, the Father of Christ” (א* A C 048^vid 1175 bo), and “of the God and Father of Christ” (א² Ψ 075 0278 365 1505 pc). Even though the external support for the wording τοῦ θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ is hardly overwhelming, it clearly best explains the rise of the other readings and should thus be regarded as authentic.

[2:1]  ²⁸ tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”

[2:1]  ²⁹ tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”

[4:7]  ³¹ tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[4:7]  ³² tn Grk “all things according to me.”

[4:8]  ³⁴ tn Grk “the things concerning us.”

[4:12]  ³⁷ tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[4:12]  ³⁸ tc ‡ Strong Alexandrian testimony, along with some other witnesses, suggests that ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) follows Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “Christ”; so א A B C I L 0278 33 81 365 629 1175 2464 al lat), but the evidence for the shorter reading is diverse (Ì⁴⁶ D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï it sy Hier), cutting across all major texttypes. There can be little motivation for omitting the name of Jesus; hence, the shorter reading is judged to be original. NA²⁷ has ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[4:12]  ³⁹ tn Or “filled.”

[4:16]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “when.”

[4:16]  ⁴¹ tn The construction beginning with the imperative ποιήσατε ἵνα…ἀναγνωσθῇ (poihsate Jina…anagnwsqh) should be translated as “have it read” where the conjunction ἵνα functions to mark off its clause as the direct object of the imperative ποιήσατε. The content of the clause (“reading the letter”) is what Paul commands with the imperative ποιήσατε. Thus the translation “have it read” has been used here.

[4:16]  ⁴² sn This letter is otherwise unknown, but some have suggested that it is the letter known today as Ephesians.