Psalms 75:3
Context75:3 When the earth and all its inhabitants dissolve in fear, 1
I make its pillars secure.” 2 (Selah)
John 1:4
Context1:4 In him was life, 3 and the life was the light of mankind. 4
Colossians 1:17
Context1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together 5 in him.
Revelation 4:11
Context4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
since you created all things,
and because of your will they existed and were created!” 6
[75:3] 2 tn The statement is understood in a generalizing sense; God typically prevents the world from being overrun by chaos. One could take this as referring to an anticipated event, “I will make its pillars secure.”
[1:4] 3 tn John uses ζωή (zwh) 37 times: 17 times it occurs with αἰώνιος (aiwnios), and in the remaining occurrences outside the prologue it is clear from context that “eternal” life is meant. The two uses in 1:4, if they do not refer to “eternal” life, would be the only exceptions. (Also 1 John uses ζωή 13 times, always of “eternal” life.)
[1:4] 4 tn Or “humanity”; Grk “of men” (but ἄνθρωπος [anqrwpo"] is used in a generic sense here, not restricted to males only, thus “mankind,” “humanity”).
[1:17] 5 tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.
[4:11] 6 tc The past tense of “they existed” (ἦσαν, hsan) and the order of the expression “they existed and were created” seems backwards both logically and chronologically. The text as it stands is the more difficult reading and seems to have given rise to codex A omitting the final “they were created,” 2329 replacing “they existed” (ἦσαν) with “have come into being” (ἐγένοντο, egeneto), and 046 adding οὐκ (ouk, “not”) before ἦσαν (“they did not exist, [but were created]”). Several