Psalms 94:8

94:8 Take notice of this, ¹  you ignorant people! ² 

You fools, when will you ever understand?

John 1:6

1:6 A man came, sent from God, whose name was John. ³ 

Romans 13:11

Motivation to Godly Conduct

13:11 And do this ⁴  because we know ⁵  the time, that it is already the hour for us to awake from sleep, for our salvation is now nearer than when we became believers.

Ephesians 5:14

5:14 For everything made evident is light, and for this reason it says: ⁶ 

“Awake, ⁷  O sleeper! ⁸ 

Rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you!” ⁹ 

Ephesians 5:1-7

Live in Love

5:1 Therefore, be ¹⁰  imitators of God as dearly loved children 5:2 and live ¹¹  in love, just as Christ also loved us ¹²  and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering ¹³  to God. 5:3 But ¹⁴  among you there must not be either sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, ¹⁵  or greed, as these are not fitting for the saints. ¹⁶  5:4 Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting – all of which are out of character – but rather thanksgiving. 5:5 For you can be confident of this one thing: ¹⁷  that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Live in the Light

5:6 Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. ¹⁸  5:7 Therefore do not be partakers with them, ¹⁹ 

[94:8]  ¹ tn Heb “understand.” The verb used in v. 7 is repeated here for rhetorical effect. The people referred to here claim God is ignorant of their actions, but the psalmist corrects their faulty viewpoint.

[94:8]  ² tn Heb “[you] brutish among the people.”

[1:6]  ³ sn John refers to John the Baptist.

[13:11]  ⁴ tn Grk “and this,” probably referring to the command to love (13:8-10); hence, “do” is implied from the previous verses.

[13:11]  ⁵ tn The participle εἰδότες (eidotes) has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.

[5:14]  ⁶ sn The following passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

[5:14]  ⁷ tn Grk “Rise up.”

[5:14]  ⁸ tn The articular nominative participle ὁ καθεύδων (Jo kaqeudwn) is probably functioning as a nominative for vocative. Thus, it has been translated as “O sleeper.”

[5:14]  ⁹ sn A composite quotation, possibly from Isa 26:19, 51:17, 52:1, and 60:1.

[5:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “become.”

[5:2]  ¹¹ tn Grk “walk.” The NT writers often used the verb “walk” (περιπατέω, peripatew) to refer to ethical conduct (cf. Rom 8:4; Gal 5:16; Col 4:5).

[5:2]  ¹² tc A number of important witnesses have ὑμᾶς (Jumas, “you”; e.g., א* A B P 0159 81 1175 al it co as well as several fathers). Other, equally important witnesses read ἡμᾶς (Jhmas, “us”; Ì⁴⁶ א² D F G Ψ 0278 33 1739 1881 al lat sy). It is possible that ἡμᾶς was accidentally introduced via homoioarcton with the previous word (ἠγάπησεν, hgaphsen). On the other hand, ὑμᾶς may have been motivated by the preceding ὑμῖν (Jumin) in 4:32 and second person verbs in 5:1, 2. Further, the flow of argument seems to require the first person pronoun. A decision is difficult to make, but the first person pronoun has a slightly greater probability of being original.

[5:2]  ¹³ tn Grk “an offering and sacrifice to God as a smell of fragrance.” The first expression, προσφορὰν καὶ θυσίαν (prosforan kai qusian), is probably a hendiadys and has been translated such that “sacrificial” modifies “offering.” The second expression, εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας (ei" osmhn euwdia", “as a smell of fragrance”) has been translated as “a fragrant offering”; see BDAG 728-29 s.v. ὀσμή 2. Putting these two together in a clear fashion in English yields the translation: “a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.”

[5:3]  ¹⁴ tn The term “But” translates the δέ (de) in a contrastive way in light of the perfect obedience of Jesus in vv. 1-2 and the vices mentioned in v. 3.

[5:3]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “all impurity.”

[5:3]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “just as is fitting for saints.” The καθώς (kaqws) was rendered with “as” and the sense is causal, i.e., “for” or “because.” The negative particle “not” (“for these are not proper for the saints”) in this clause was supplied in English so as to make the sense very clear, i.e., that these vices are not befitting of those who name the name of Christ.

[5:5]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “be knowing this.” See also 2 Pet 1:20 for a similar phrase: τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες (touto prwton ginwskonte").

[5:6]  ¹⁸ sn The expression sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” In this context it refers to “all those who are disobedient.” Cf. Eph 2:2-3.

[5:7]  ¹⁹ tn The genitive αὐτῶν (autwn) has been translated as a genitive of association because of its use with συμμέτοχοι (summetocoi) – a verb which implies association in the σύν- (sun-) prefix.