Lukas 12:47-48

12:47 That ¹  servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or do what his master asked ²  will receive a severe beating. 12:48 But the one who did not know his master’s will ³  and did things worthy of punishment ⁴  will receive a light beating. ⁵  From everyone who has been given much, much will be required, ⁶  and from the one who has been entrusted with much, ⁷  even more will be asked. ⁸ 

Amos 3:2

3:2 “I have chosen ⁹  you alone from all the clans of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all your sins.”

Yohanes 3:19

3:19 Now this is the basis for judging: ¹⁰  that the light has come into the world and people ¹¹  loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.

Yohanes 15:22-25

15:22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. ¹²  But they no longer have any excuse for their sin. 15:23 The one who hates me hates my Father too. 15:24 If I had not performed ¹³  among them the miraculous deeds ¹⁴  that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. ¹⁵  But now they have seen the deeds ¹⁶  and have hated both me and my Father. ¹⁷  15:25 Now this happened ¹⁸  to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without reason.’ ¹⁹ 

Roma 2:1

The Condemnation of the Moralist

2:1 ²⁰ Therefore ²¹  you are without excuse, ²²  whoever you are, ²³  when you judge someone else. ²⁴  For on whatever grounds ²⁵  you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

Roma 2:27

2:27 And will not the physically uncircumcised man ²⁶  who keeps the law judge you who, despite ²⁷  the written code ²⁸  and circumcision, transgress the law?

[12:47]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[12:47]  ² tn Grk “or do according to his will”; the referent (the master) has been specified in the translation for clarity. This example deals with the slave who knew what the command was and yet failed to complete it.

[12:48]  ³ tn Grk “did not know”; the phrase “his master’s will” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the contemporary English reader.

[12:48]  ⁴ tn Grk “blows.”

[12:48]  ⁵ tn Grk “will receive few (blows).”

[12:48]  ⁶ tn Grk “required from him”; but the words “from him” are redundant in English and have not been translated.

[12:48]  ⁷ sn Entrusted with much. To be gifted with precious responsibility is something that requires faithfulness.

[12:48]  ⁸ tn Grk “they will ask even more.”

[3:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “You only have I known.” The Hebrew verb יָדַע (yada’) is used here in its covenantal sense of “recognize in a special way.”

[3:19]  ¹⁰ tn Or “this is the reason for God judging,” or “this is how judgment works.”

[3:19]  ¹¹ tn Grk “and men,” but in a generic sense, referring to people of both genders (as “everyone” in v. 20 makes clear).

[15:22]  ¹² tn Grk “they would not have sin” (an idiom).

[15:22]  sn Jesus now describes the guilt of the world. He came to these people with both words (15:22) and sign-miracles (15:24), yet they remained obstinate in their unbelief, and this sin of unbelief was without excuse. Jesus was not saying that if he had not come and spoken to these people they would be sinless; rather he was saying that if he had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of the sin of rejecting him and the Father he came to reveal. Rejecting Jesus is the one ultimate sin for which there can be no forgiveness, because the one who has committed this sin has at the same time rejected the only cure that exists. Jesus spoke similarly to the Pharisees in 9:41: “If you were blind, you would have no sin (same phrase as here), but now you say ‘We see’ your sin remains.”

[15:24]  ¹³ tn Or “If I had not done.”

[15:24]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the works.”

[15:24]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “they would not have sin” (an idiom).

[15:24]  ¹⁶ tn The words “the deeds” are supplied to clarify from context what was seen. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[15:24]  ¹⁷ tn Or “But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.” It is possible to understand both the “seeing” and the “hating” to refer to both Jesus and the Father, but this has the world “seeing” the Father, which seems alien to the Johannine Jesus. (Some point out John 14:9 as an example, but this is addressed to the disciples, not to the world.) It is more likely that the “seeing” refers to the miraculous deeds mentioned in the first half of the verse. Such an understanding of the first “both – and” construction is apparently supported by BDF §444.3.

[15:25]  ¹⁸ tn The words “this happened” are not in the Greek text but are supplied to complete an ellipsis.

[15:25]  ¹⁹ sn A quotation from Ps 35:19 and Ps 69:4. As a technical term law (νόμος, nomos) is usually restricted to the Pentateuch (the first five books of the OT), but here it must have a broader reference, since the quotation is from Ps 35:19 or Ps 69:4. The latter is the more likely source for the quoted words, since it is cited elsewhere in John’s Gospel (2:17 and 19:29, in both instances in contexts associated with Jesus’ suffering and death).

[2:1]  ²⁰ sn Rom 2:1-29 presents unusual difficulties for the interpreter. There have been several major approaches to the chapter and the group(s) it refers to: (1) Rom 2:14 refers to Gentile Christians, not Gentiles who obey the Jewish law. (2) Paul in Rom 2 is presenting a hypothetical viewpoint: If anyone could obey the law, that person would be justified, but no one can. (3) The reference to “the ones who do the law” in 2:13 are those who “do” the law in the right way, on the basis of faith, not according to Jewish legalism. (4) Rom 2:13 only speaks about Christians being judged in the future, along with such texts as Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10. (5) Paul’s material in Rom 2 is drawn heavily from Diaspora Judaism, so that the treatment of the law presented here cannot be harmonized with other things Paul says about the law elsewhere (E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, 123); another who sees Rom 2 as an example of Paul’s inconsistency in his treatment of the law is H. Räisänen, Paul and the Law [WUNT], 101-9. (6) The list of blessings and curses in Deut 27–30 provide the background for Rom 2; the Gentiles of 2:14 are Gentile Christians, but the condemnation of Jews in 2:17-24 addresses the failure of Jews as a nation to keep the law as a whole (A. Ito, “Romans 2: A Deuteronomistic Reading,” JSNT 59 [1995]: 21-37).

[2:1]  ²¹ tn Some interpreters (e.g., C. K. Barrett, Romans [HNTC], 43) connect the inferential Διό (dio, “therefore”) with 1:32a, treating 1:32b as a parenthetical comment by Paul.

[2:1]  ²² tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).

[2:1]  ²³ tn Grk “O man.”

[2:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”

[2:1]  ²⁵ tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”

[2:27]  ²⁶ tn Grk “the uncircumcision by nature.” The word “man” is supplied here to make clear that male circumcision (or uncircumcision) is in view.

[2:27]  ²⁷ tn Grk “through,” but here the preposition seems to mean “(along) with,” “though provided with,” as BDAG 224 s.v. διά A.3.c indicates.

[2:27]  ²⁸ tn Grk “letter.”