1 Korintus 2:1

2:1 When I came ¹  to you, brothers and sisters, ²  I did not come with superior eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed the testimony ³  of God.

1 Korintus 2:13

2:13 And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. ⁴ 

1 Korintus 1:18-19

The Message of the Cross

1:18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1:19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will thwart the cleverness of the intelligent.” ⁵ 

Lukas 16:8

16:8 The ⁶  master commended the dishonest ⁷  manager because he acted shrewdly. ⁸  For the people ⁹  of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their contemporaries ¹⁰  than the people ¹¹  of light.

Lukas 16:2

16:2 So ¹²  he called the manager ¹³  in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? ¹⁴  Turn in the account of your administration, ¹⁵  because you can no longer be my manager.’

Kolose 1:12

1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ¹⁶  in the saints’ ¹⁷  inheritance in the light.

Kolose 4:4

4:4 Pray that I may make it known as I should. ¹⁸ 

Efesus 2:2

2:2 in which ¹⁹  you formerly lived ²⁰  according to this world’s present path, ²¹  according to the ruler of the kingdom ²²  of the air, the ruler of ²³  the spirit ²⁴  that is now energizing ²⁵  the sons of disobedience, ²⁶ 

Yakobus 3:15

3:15 Such ²⁷  wisdom does not come ²⁸  from above but is earthly, natural, ²⁹  demonic.

[2:1]  ¹ tn Grk “and I, when I came.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, κἀγώ (kagw) has not been translated here.

[2:1]  ² tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:10.

[2:1]  ³ tc ‡ A few important mss (Ì^46vid א* A C pc as well as some versions and fathers) read μυστήριον (musthrion, “mystery”) instead of μαρτύριον (marturion, “testimony”). But the latter has wider ms support (א² B D F G Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï and some versions), though not quite as impressive. μαρτύριον may have been changed by scribes in anticipation of Paul’s words in 2:7, or conversely, μυστήριον may have been changed to conform to 1:6. Transcriptionally, since “the mystery of God/Christ” is a well-worn expression in the corpus Paulinum (1 Cor 2:7; 4:1; Eph 3:4; Col 2:2; 4:3), while “testimony of Christ” occurs in Paul only once (1 Cor 1:6, though “testimony of the Lord” appears in 2 Tim 1:8), and “testimony of God” never, it is likely that scribes changed the text to the more usual expression. A decision is difficult in this instance, but a slight preference should be given to μαρτύριον.

[2:13]  ⁴ tn Or “combining spiritual things with spiritual words” (i.e., words the Spirit gives, as just described).

[1:19]  ⁵ sn A quotation from Isa 29:14.

[16:8]  ⁶ tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[16:8]  ⁷ sn Is the manager dishonest because of what he just did? Or is it a reference to what he had done earlier, described in v. 1? This is a difficult question, but it seems unlikely that the master, having fired the man for prior dishonesty, would now commend those same actions. It would also be unusual for Jesus to make that point of the story the example. Thus it is more likely the reference to dishonesty goes back to the earliest events, while the commendation is for the cleverness of the former manager reflected in vv. 5-7.

[16:8]  ⁸ sn Where this parable ends is debated: Does it conclude with v. 7, after v. 8a, after v. 8b, or after v. 9? Verse 8a looks as if it is still part of the story, with its clear reference to the manager, while 8b looks like Jesus’ application, since its remarks are more general. So it is most likely the parable stops after v. 8a.

[16:8]  ⁹ tn Grk “sons” (an idiom).

[16:8]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “with their own generation.”

[16:8]  ¹¹ tn Grk “sons.” Here the phrase “sons of light” is a reference to the righteous. The point is that those of the world often think ahead about consequences better than the righteous do.

[16:2]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the reports the man received about his manager.

[16:2]  ¹³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the manager) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:2]  ¹⁴ sn Although phrased as a question, the charges were believed by the owner, as his dismissal of the manager implies.

[16:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or “stewardship”; the Greek word οἰκονομία (oikonomia) is cognate with the noun for the manager (οἰκονόμος, oikonomo").

[1:12]  ¹⁶ tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

[1:12]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”

[4:4]  ¹⁸ tn The phrase begins with the ἵνα (Jina) clause and is subordinate to the imperative προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite) in v. 2. The reference to the idea that Paul must make it known indicates that this clause is probably best viewed as purpose and not content, like the ἵνα of v. 3. It is the second purpose stated in the context; the first is expressed through the infinitive λαλῆσαι (lalhsai) in v. 3. The term “pray” at the beginning of the sentence is intended to pick up the imperative of v. 3.

[2:2]  ¹⁹ sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ²⁰ tn Grk “walked.”

[2:2]  sn The Greek verb translated lived (περιπατέω, peripatew) in the NT letters refers to the conduct of one’s life, not to physical walking.

[2:2]  ²¹ tn Or possibly “Aeon.”

[2:2]  sn The word translated present path is the same as that which has been translated [this] age in 1:21 (αἰών, aiwn).

[2:2]  ²² tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ²³ tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ²⁴ sn The ruler of the kingdom of the air is also the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. Although several translations regard the ruler to be the same as the spirit, this is unlikely since the cases in Greek are different (ruler is accusative and spirit is genitive). To get around this, some have suggested that the genitive for spirit is a genitive of apposition. However, the semantics of the genitive of apposition are against such an interpretation (cf. ExSyn 100).

[2:2]  ²⁵ tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ²⁶ sn Sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” However, it also contains a subtle allusion to vv. 4-10: Some of those sons of disobedience have become sons of God.

[3:15]  ²⁷ tn Grk “This.”

[3:15]  ²⁸ tn Grk “come down”; “descend.”

[3:15]  ²⁹ tn Grk “soulish,” which describes life apart from God, characteristic of earthly human life as opposed to what is spiritual. Cf. 1 Cor 2:14; 15:44-46; Jude 19.