Romans 8:16

8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness to ¹  our spirit that we are God’s children.

Isaiah 43:6

43:6 I will say to the north, ‘Hand them over!’

and to the south, ‘Don’t hold any back!’

Bring my sons from distant lands,

and my daughters from the remote regions of the earth,

John 11:52

11:52 and not for the Jewish nation ²  only, ³  but to gather together ⁴  into one the children of God who are scattered.) ⁵ 

John 11:2

11:2 (Now it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil ⁶  and wiped his feet dry with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) ⁷ 

Colossians 1:18

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ⁸  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ⁹ 

Galatians 3:26

3:26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. ¹⁰ 

Galatians 3:1

Justification by Law or by Faith?

3:1 You ¹¹  foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell ¹²  on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed ¹³  as crucified!

Galatians 3:1-3

Justification by Law or by Faith?

3:1 You ¹⁴  foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell ¹⁵  on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed ¹⁶  as crucified! 3:2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law ¹⁷  or by believing what you heard? ¹⁸  3:3 Are you so foolish? Although you began ¹⁹  with ²⁰  the Spirit, are you now trying to finish ²¹  by human effort? ²² 

[8:16]  ¹ tn Or possibly “with.” ExSyn 160-61, however, notes the following: “At issue, grammatically, is whether the Spirit testifies alongside of our spirit (dat. of association), or whether he testifies to our spirit (indirect object) that we are God’s children. If the former, the one receiving this testimony is unstated (is it God? or believers?). If the latter, the believer receives the testimony and hence is assured of salvation via the inner witness of the Spirit. The first view has the advantage of a σύν- (sun-) prefixed verb, which might be expected to take an accompanying dat. of association (and is supported by NEB, JB, etc.). But there are three reasons why πνεύματι (pneumati) should not be taken as association: (1) Grammatically, a dat. with a σύν- prefixed verb does not necessarily indicate association. This, of course, does not preclude such here, but this fact at least opens up the alternatives in this text. (2) Lexically, though συμμαρτυρέω (summarturew) originally bore an associative idea, it developed in the direction of merely intensifying μαρτυρέω (marturew). This is surely the case in the only other NT text with a dat. (Rom 9:1). (3) Contextually, a dat. of association does not seem to support Paul’s argument: ‘What standing has our spirit in this matter? Of itself it surely has no right at all to testify to our being sons of God’ [C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:403]. In sum, Rom 8:16 seems to be secure as a text in which the believer’s assurance of salvation is based on the inner witness of the Spirit. The implications of this for one’s soteriology are profound: The objective data, as helpful as they are, cannot by themselves provide assurance of salvation; the believer also needs (and receives) an existential, ongoing encounter with God’s Spirit in order to gain that familial comfort.”

[11:52]  ² tn See the note on the word “nation” in the previous verse.

[11:52]  ³ sn The author in his comment expands the prophecy to include the Gentiles (not for the Jewish nation only), a confirmation that the Fourth Gospel was directed, at least partly, to a Gentile audience. There are echoes of Pauline concepts here (particularly Eph 2:11-22) in the stress on the unity of Jew and Gentile.

[11:52]  ⁴ tn Grk “that he might gather together.”

[11:52]  ⁵ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[11:2]  ⁶ tn Or “perfume,” “ointment.”

[11:2]  ⁷ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. It is a bit surprising that the author here identifies Mary as the one who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and wiped his feet dry with her hair, since this event is not mentioned until later, in 12:3. Many see this “proleptic” reference as an indication that the author expected his readers to be familiar with the story already, and go on to assume that in general the author in writing the Fourth Gospel assumed his readers were familiar with the other three gospels. Whether the author assumed actual familiarity with the synoptic gospels or not, it is probable that he did assume some familiarity with Mary’s anointing activity.

[1:18]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”

[3:26]  ¹⁰ tn Or “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

[3:1]  ¹¹ tn Grk “O” (an interjection used both in address and emotion). In context the following section is highly charged emotionally.

[3:1]  ¹² tn Or “deceived”; the verb βασκαίνω (baskainw) can be understood literally here in the sense of bewitching by black magic, but could also be understood figuratively to refer to an act of deception (see L&N 53.98 and 88.159).

[3:1]  ¹³ tn Or “publicly placarded,” “set forth in a public proclamation” (BDAG 867 s.v. προγράφω 2).

[3:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “O” (an interjection used both in address and emotion). In context the following section is highly charged emotionally.

[3:1]  ¹⁵ tn Or “deceived”; the verb βασκαίνω (baskainw) can be understood literally here in the sense of bewitching by black magic, but could also be understood figuratively to refer to an act of deception (see L&N 53.98 and 88.159).

[3:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “publicly placarded,” “set forth in a public proclamation” (BDAG 867 s.v. προγράφω 2).

[3:2]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “by [the] works of [the] law,” a reference to observing the Mosaic law.

[3:2]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “by [the] hearing of faith.”

[3:3]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “Having begun”; the participle ἐναρξάμενοι (enarxamenoi) has been translated concessively.

[3:3]  ²⁰ tn Or “by the Spirit.”

[3:3]  ²¹ tn The verb ἐπιτελεῖσθε (epiteleisqe) has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534). This is something the Galatians were attempting to do, but could not accomplish successfully.

[3:3]  ²² tn Grk “in/by [the] flesh.”