Romans 3:6

3:6 Absolutely not! For otherwise how could God judge the world?

Romans 3:31

3:31 Do we then nullify ¹  the law through faith? Absolutely not! Instead ²  we uphold the law.

Romans 6:2

6:2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Romans 6:15

The Believer’s Enslavement to God’s Righteousness

6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not!

Romans 7:7

7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I ³  would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else ⁴  if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” ⁵ 

Romans 7:13

7:13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

Romans 9:14

9:14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!

Romans 11:1

Israel’s Rejection not Complete nor Final

11:1 So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

Romans 11:11

11:11 I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, ⁶  did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel ⁷  jealous.

Luke 20:16

20:16 He will come and destroy ⁸  those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” ⁹  When the people ¹⁰  heard this, they said, “May this never happen!” ¹¹ 

Luke 20:1

The Authority of Jesus

20:1 Now one ¹²  day, as Jesus ¹³  was teaching the people in the temple courts ¹⁴  and proclaiming ¹⁵  the gospel, the chief priests and the experts in the law ¹⁶  with the elders came up ¹⁷ 

Colossians 1:15

The Supremacy of Christ

1:15 ¹⁸ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn ¹⁹  over all creation, ²⁰ 

Galatians 2:17

2:17 But if while seeking to be justified in Christ we ourselves have also been found to be sinners, is Christ then one who encourages ²¹  sin? Absolutely not!

Galatians 2:21

2:21 I do not set aside ²²  God’s grace, because if righteousness ²³  could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing! ²⁴ 

Galatians 6:14

6:14 But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which ²⁵  the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

[3:31]  ¹ tn Grk “render inoperative.”

[3:31]  ² tn Grk “but” (Greek ἀλλά, alla).

[7:7]  ³ sn Romans 7:7-25. There has been an enormous debate over the significance of the first person singular pronouns (“I”) in this passage and how to understand their referent. Did Paul intend (1) a reference to himself and other Christians too; (2) a reference to his own pre-Christian experience as a Jew, struggling with the law and sin (and thus addressing his fellow countrymen as Jews); or (3) a reference to himself as a child of Adam, reflecting the experience of Adam that is shared by both Jews and Gentiles alike (i.e., all people everywhere)? Good arguments can be assembled for each of these views, and each has problems dealing with specific statements in the passage. The classic argument against an autobiographical interpretation was made by W. G. Kümmel, Römer 7 und die Bekehrung des Paulus. A good case for seeing at least an autobiographical element in the chapter has been made by G. Theissen, Psychologische Aspekte paulinischer Theologie [FRLANT], 181-268. One major point that seems to favor some sort of an autobiographical reading of these verses is the lack of any mention of the Holy Spirit for empowerment in the struggle described in Rom 7:7-25. The Spirit is mentioned beginning in 8:1 as the solution to the problem of the struggle with sin (8:4-6, 9).

[7:7]  ⁴ tn Grk “I would not have known covetousness.”

[7:7]  ⁵ sn A quotation from Exod 20:17 and Deut 5:21.

[11:11]  ⁶ tn Grk “that they might fall.”

[11:11]  ⁷ tn Grk “them”; the referent (Israel, cf. 11:7) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:16]  ⁸ sn The statement that the owner will come and destroy those tenants is a promise of judgment; see Luke 13:34-35; 19:41-44.

[20:16]  ⁹ sn The warning that the owner would give the vineyard to others suggests that the care of the promise and the nation’s hope would be passed to others. This eventually looks to Gentile inclusion; see Eph 2:11-22.

[20:16]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the people addressed in v. 9) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:16]  ¹¹ sn May this never happen! Jesus’ audience got the point and did not want to consider a story where the nation would suffer judgment.

[20:1]  ¹² tn Grk “Now it happened that one.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[20:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the temple.”

[20:1]  ¹⁵ tn Or “preaching.”

[20:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

[20:1]  ¹⁷ sn The chief priests and the experts in the law with the elders came up. The description is similar to Luke 19:47. The leaders are really watching Jesus at this point.

[1:15]  ¹⁸ sn This 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.

[1:15]  ¹⁹ tn The Greek term πρωτότοκος (prwtotokos) could refer either to first in order of time, such as a first born child, or it could refer to one who is preeminent in rank. M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 43, expresses the meaning of the word well: “The ‘firstborn’ was either the eldest child in a family or a person of preeminent rank. The use of this term to describe the Davidic king in Ps 88:28 LXX (=Ps 89:27 EVV), ‘I will also appoint him my firstborn (πρωτότοκον), the most exalted of the kings of the earth,’ indicates that it can denote supremacy in rank as well as priority in time. But whether the πρωτό- element in the word denotes time, rank, or both, the significance of the -τοκος element as indicating birth or origin (from τίκτω, give birth to) has been virtually lost except in ref. to lit. birth.” In Col 1:15 the emphasis is on the priority of Jesus’ rank as over and above creation (cf. 1:16 and the “for” clause referring to Jesus as Creator).

[1:15]  ²⁰ tn The genitive construction πάσης κτίσεως (pash" ktisew") is a genitive of subordination and is therefore translated as “over all creation.” See ExSyn 103-4.

[2:17]  ²¹ tn Or “does Christ serve the interests of sin?”; or “is Christ an agent for sin?” See BDAG 230-31 s.v. διάκονος 2.

[2:21]  ²² tn Or “I do not declare invalid,” “I do not nullify.”

[2:21]  ²³ tn Or “justification.”

[2:21]  ²⁴ tn Or “without cause,” “for no purpose.”

[6:14]  ²⁵ tn Or perhaps, “through whom,” referring to the Lord Jesus Christ rather than the cross.