Romans 6:13

6:13 and do not present your members to sin as instruments ¹  to be used for unrighteousness, ²  but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments ³  to be used for righteousness.

Romans 6:16

6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves ⁴  as obedient slaves, ⁵  you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? ⁶ 

Romans 6:19

6:19 (I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.) ⁷  For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

Psalms 50:13-14

50:13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls?

Do I drink the blood of goats? ⁸ 

50:14 Present to God a thank-offering!

Repay your vows to the sovereign One! ⁹ 

Psalms 50:1

Psalm 50 ¹⁰ 

A psalm by Asaph.

50:1 El, God, the Lord ¹¹  speaks,

and summons the earth to come from the east and west. ¹² 

Colossians 1:13-20

1:13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹³  1:14 in whom we have redemption, ¹⁴  the forgiveness of sins.

The Supremacy of Christ

1:15 ¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn ¹⁶  over all creation, ¹⁷ 

1:16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, ¹⁸  whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together ¹⁹  in him.

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ²⁰  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ²¹ 

1:19 For God ²²  was pleased to have all his ²³  fullness dwell ²⁴  in the Son ²⁵ 

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ²⁶  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Philippians 1:20

1:20 My confident hope ²⁷  is that I will in no way be ashamed ²⁸  but that with complete boldness, even now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether I live or die. ²⁹ 

Hebrews 10:22

10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, ³⁰  because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience ³¹  and our bodies washed in pure water.

[6:13]  ¹ tn Or “weapons, tools.”

[6:13]  ² tn Or “wickedness, injustice.”

[6:13]  ³ tn Or “weapons, tools.”

[6:16]  ⁴ tn Grk “to whom you present yourselves.”

[6:16]  ⁵ tn Grk “as slaves for obedience.” See the note on the word “slave” in 1:1.

[6:16]  ⁶ tn Grk “either of sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness.”

[6:19]  ⁷ tn Or “because of your natural limitations” (NRSV).

[50:13]  ⁸ tn The rhetorical questions assume an emphatic negative response, “Of course not!”

[50:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “Most High.” This divine title (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Pss 7:17; 9:2; 18:13; 21:7; 47:2.

[50:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 50. This psalm takes the form of a covenant lawsuit in which the Lord comes to confront his people in a formal manner (as in Isa 1:2-20). The Lord emphasizes that he places priority on obedience and genuine worship, not empty ritual.

[50:1]  ¹¹ sn Israel’s God is here identified with three names: El (אֵל [’el], or “God”), Elohim (אֱלֹהִים [’elohim], or “God”), and Yahweh (יְהוָה [yÿhvah] or “the Lord”). There is an obvious allusion here to Josh 22:22, the only other passage where these three names appear in succession. In that passage the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh declare, “El, God, the Lord! El, God, the Lord! He knows the truth! Israel must also know! If we have rebelled or disobeyed the Lord, don’t spare us today!” In that context the other tribes had accused the trans-Jordanian tribes of breaking God’s covenant by worshiping idols. The trans-Jordanian tribes appealed to “El, God, the Lord” as their witness that they were innocent of the charges brought against them. Ironically here in Ps 50 “El, God, the Lord” accuses his sinful covenant people of violating the covenant and warns that he will not spare them if they persist in their rebellion.

[50:1]  ¹² tn Heb “and calls [the] earth from the sunrise to its going.”

[1:13]  ¹³ tn Here αὐτοῦ (autou) has been translated as a subjective genitive (“he loves”).

[1:14]  ¹⁴ tc διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ (dia tou {aimato" autou, “through his blood”) is read at this juncture by several minuscule mss (614 630 1505 2464 al) as well as a few, mostly secondary, versional and patristic witnesses. But the reading was prompted by the parallel in Eph 1:7 where the wording is solid. If these words had been in the original of Colossians, why would scribes omit them here but not in Eph 1:7? Further, the testimony on behalf of the shorter reading is quite overwhelming: {א A B C D F G Ψ 075 0150 6 33 1739 1881 Ï latt co as well as several other versions and fathers}. The conviction that “through his blood” is not authentic in Col 1:14 is as strong as the conviction that these words are authentic in Eph 1:7.

[1:15]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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.

[1:16]  ¹⁸ tn BDAG 579 s.v. κυριότης 3 suggests “bearers of the ruling powers, dominions” here.

[1:17]  ¹⁹ tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.

[1:18]  ²⁰ tn See the note on the term “firstborn” in 1:15. Here the reference to Jesus as the “firstborn from among the dead” seems to be arguing for a chronological priority, i.e., Jesus was the first to rise from the dead.

[1:18]  ²¹ tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”

[1:19]  ²² tn The noun “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but since God is the one who reconciles the world to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:19), he is clearly the subject of εὐδόκησεν (eudokhsen).

[1:19]  ²³ tn The Greek article τό (to), insofar as it relates to God, may be translated as a possessive pronoun, i.e., “his.” BDAG 404 s.v. εὐδοκέω 1 translates the phrase as “all the fullness willed to dwell in him” thus leaving the referent as impersonal. Insofar as Paul is alluding to the so-called emanations from God this is acceptable. But the fact that “the fullness” dwells in a person (i.e., “in him”) seems to argue for the translation “his fullness” where “his” refers to God.

[1:19]  ²⁴ tn The aorist verb κατοικῆσαι (katoikhsai) could be taken as an ingressive, in which case it refers to the incarnation and may be translated as “begin to dwell, to take up residence.” It is perhaps better, though, to take it as a constative aorist and simply a reference to the fact that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. This is a permanent dwelling, though, not a temporary one, as the present tense in 2:9 makes clear.

[1:19]  ²⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the Son; see v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:20]  ²⁶ tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.

[1:20]  ²⁷ tn Grk “according to my eager expectation and hope.” The κατά (kata) phrase is taken as governing the following ὅτι (Joti) clause (“that I will not be ashamed…”); the idea could be expressed more verbally as “I confidently hope that I will not be ashamed…”

[1:20]  ²⁸ tn Or possibly, “be intimidated, be put to shame.”

[1:20]  ²⁹ tn Grk “whether by life or by death.”

[10:22]  ³⁰ tn Grk “in assurance of faith.”

[10:22]  ³¹ sn The phrase our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience combines the OT imagery of the sprinkling with blood to give ritual purity with the emphasis on the interior cleansing provided by the new covenant: It is the heart that is cleansed and the conscience made perfect (cf. Heb 8:10; 9:9, 14; 10:2, 16).