Romans 9:3

9:3 For I could wish ¹  that I myself were accursed – cut off from Christ – for the sake of my people, ²  my fellow countrymen, ³ 

Acts 22:3

22:3 “I am a Jew, ⁴  born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up ⁵  in this city, educated with strictness ⁶  under ⁷  Gamaliel ⁸  according to the law of our ancestors, ⁹  and was ¹⁰  zealous ¹¹  for God just as all of you are today.

Acts 26:4

26:4 Now all the Jews know the way I lived ¹²  from my youth, spending my life from the beginning among my own people ¹³  and in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ 

Acts 26:2

26:2 “Regarding all the things I have been accused of by the Jews, King Agrippa, ¹⁵  I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today,

Colossians 1:22

1:22 but now he has reconciled you ¹⁶  by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him –

Philippians 3:5

3:5 I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. ¹⁷ 

[9:3]  ¹ tn Or “For I would pray.” The implied condition is “if this could save my fellow Jews.”

[9:3]  ² tn Grk “brothers.” See BDAG 18-19 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.b.

[9:3]  ³ tn Grk “my kinsmen according to the flesh.”

[22:3]  ⁴ tn Grk “a Jewish man.”

[22:3]  ⁵ tn BDAG 74 s.v. ἀνατρέφω b has “of mental and spiritual nurture bring up, rear, train…ἀνατεθραμμένος ἐν τ. πόλει ταύτῃ 22:3.”

[22:3]  ⁶ tn Or “with precision.” Although often translated “strictly” this can be misunderstood for “solely” in English. BDAG 39 s.v. ἀκρίβεια gives the meaning as “exactness, precision.” To avoid the potential misunderstanding the translation “with strictness” is used, although it is slightly more awkward than “strictly.”

[22:3]  ⁷ tn Grk “strictly at the feet of” (an idiom).

[22:3]  ⁸ tn Or “brought up in this city under Gamaliel, educated with strictness…” The phrase παρὰ τοὺς πόδας Γαμαλιὴλ (para tou" poda" Gamalihl) could be understood with what precedes or with what follows. The punctuation of NA²⁷ and UBS⁴, which place a comma after ταύτῃ (tauth), has been followed in the translation.

[22:3]  ⁹ tn Or “our forefathers.”

[22:3]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “ancestors, being.” The participle ὑπάρχων (Juparcwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[22:3]  ¹¹ tn BDAG 427 s.v. ζηλωτής 1.a.α has “of pers. …ζ. τοῦ θεοῦ one who is loyal to God Ac 22:3.”

[26:4]  ¹² tn Grk “my manner of life.”

[26:4]  ¹³ tn Or “nation.”

[26:4]  ¹⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[26:2]  ¹⁵ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[1:22]  ¹⁶ tc Some of the better representatives of the Alexandrian and Western texts have a passive verb here instead of the active ἀποκατήλλαξεν (apokathllaxen, “he has reconciled”): ἀποκατηλλάγητε (apokathllaghte) in (Ì⁴⁶) B, ἀποκατήλλακται [sic] (apokathllaktai) in 33, and ἀποκαταλλαγέντες (apokatallagente") in D* F G. Yet the active verb is strongly supported by א A C D² Ψ 048 075 [0278] 1739 1881 Ï lat sy. Internally, the passive creates an anacoluthon in that it looks back to the accusative ὑμᾶς (Juma", “you”) of v. 21 and leaves the following παραστῆσαι (parasthsai) dangling (“you were reconciled…to present you”). The passive reading is certainly the harder reading. As such, it may well explain the rise of the other readings. At the same time, it is possible that the passive was produced by scribes who wanted some symmetry between the ποτε (pote, “at one time”) of v. 21 and the νυνὶ δέ (nuni de, “but now”) of v. 22: Since a passive periphrastic participle is used in v. 21, there may have a temptation to produce a corresponding passive form in v. 22, handling the ὑμᾶς of v. 21 by way of constructio ad sensum. Since παραστῆσαι occurs ten words later, it may not have been considered in this scribal modification. Further, the Western reading (ἀποκαταλλαγέντες) hardly seems to have arisen from ἀποκατηλλάγητε (contra TCGNT 555). As difficult as this decision is, the preferred reading is the active form because it is superior externally and seems to explain the rise of all forms of the passive readings.

[3:5]  ¹⁷ sn A Pharisee was a member of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.