Hosea 8:10

8:10 Even though they have hired lovers among the nations, ¹ 

I will soon gather them together for judgment. ² 

Then ³  they will begin to waste away

under the oppression of a mighty king. ⁴ 

Yohanes 11:52

11:52 and not for the Jewish nation ⁵  only, ⁶  but to gather together ⁷  into one the children of God who are scattered.) ⁸ 

Roma 8:14-18

8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are ⁹  the sons of God. 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, ¹⁰  but you received the Spirit of adoption, ¹¹  by whom ¹²  we cry, “Abba, Father.” 8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness to ¹³  our spirit that we are God’s children. 8:17 And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ) ¹⁴  – if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.

8:18 For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared ¹⁵  to the glory that will be revealed to us.

Roma 8:29-30

8:29 because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son ¹⁶  would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ¹⁷  8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

Roma 9:25-26

9:25 As he also says in Hosea:

“I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved, ¹⁸  ‘My beloved.’” ¹⁹ 

9:26 “And in the very place ²⁰  where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’

there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” ²¹ 

Roma 9:2

9:2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ²² 

Kolose 1:18

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ²³  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ²⁴ 

Galatia 3:26

3:26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. ²⁵ 

Efesus 1:5

1:5 He did this by predestining ²⁶  us to adoption as his ²⁷  sons ²⁸  through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure ²⁹  of his will –

Efesus 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ³⁰  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints [in Ephesus], ³¹  the faithful ³²  in Christ Jesus.

Yohanes 3:1-2

Conversation with Nicodemus

3:1 Now a certain man, a Pharisee ³³  named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, ³⁴  3:2 came to Jesus ³⁵  at night ³⁶  and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs ³⁷  that you do unless God is with him.”

Wahyu 7:9

7:9 After these things I looked, and here was ³⁸  an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, ³⁹  people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands.

[8:10]  ¹ tn Or “they have hired themselves out to lovers”; cf. NASB “they hire allies among the nations.”

[8:10]  ² tn The Piel stem of קָבַץ (qavats) is often used in a positive sense, meaning “to regather” a dispersed people (HALOT 1063 s.v. קבץ 3.a; BDB 868 s.v. קָבַץ 1.α). However, in Hosea 8:10 it is used in a negative sense, meaning “to assemble (people) for judgment” (e.g., Ezek 20:34; Hos 9:6; HALOT 1063 s.v. 3.e.i). Cf. JPS “I will hold them fast” (in judgment, see the parallel in 9:6).

[8:10]  ³ tn The vav consecutive + preterite וַיָּחֵלּוּ (vayyakhellu, Hiphil preterite 3rd person common plural from חָלַל, khalal, “to begin”]) denotes temporal subordination to the preceding clause: “then…” (so NLT); cf. TEV, CEV “Soon.”

[8:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “a king of princes” (cf. KJV, NASB); TEV “the emperor of Assyria.”

[11:52]  ⁵ tn See the note on the word “nation” in the previous verse.

[11:52]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Grk “that he might gather together.”

[11:52]  ⁸ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[8:14]  ⁹ tn Grk “For as many as are being led by the Spirit of God, these are.”

[8:15]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “slavery again to fear.”

[8:15]  ¹¹ tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).”

[8:15]  ¹² tn Or “in that.”

[8:16]  ¹³ 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.”

[8:17]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “on the one hand, heirs of God; on the other hand, fellow heirs with Christ.” Some prefer to render v. 17 as follows: “And if children, then heirs – that is, heirs of God. Also fellow heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.” Such a translation suggests two distinct inheritances, one coming to all of God’s children, the other coming only to those who suffer with Christ. The difficulty of this view, however, is that it ignores the correlative conjunctions μέν…δέ (men…de, “on the one hand…on the other hand”): The construction strongly suggests that the inheritances cannot be separated since both explain “then heirs.” For this reason, the preferred translation puts this explanation in parentheses.

[8:18]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “are not worthy [to be compared].”

[8:29]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God’s Son) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:29]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[9:25]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “and her who was not beloved, ‘Beloved.’”

[9:25]  ¹⁹ sn A quotation from Hos 2:23.

[9:26]  ²⁰ tn Grk “And it will be in the very place.”

[9:26]  ²¹ sn A quotation from Hos 1:10.

[9:2]  ²² tn Grk “my sorrow is great and the anguish in my heart is unceasing.”

[1:18]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”

[3:26]  ²⁵ tn Or “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

[1:5]  ²⁶ tn Grk “by predestining.” Verse 5 begins with an aorist participle dependent on the main verb in v. 4 (“chose”).

[1:5]  sn By predestining. The aorist participle may be translated either causally (“because he predestined,” “having predestined”) or instrumentally (“by predestining”). A causal nuance would suggest that God’s predestination of certain individuals prompted his choice of them. An instrumental nuance would suggest that the means by which God’s choice was accomplished was by predestination. The instrumental view is somewhat more likely in light of normal Greek syntax (i.e., an aorist participle following an aorist main verb is more likely to be instrumental than causal).

[1:5]  ²⁷ tn Grk “to himself” after “through Jesus Christ.”

[1:5]  ²⁸ tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).” Although some modern translations remove the filial sense completely and render the term merely “adoption” (cf. NAB, ESV), the retention of this component of meaning was accomplished in the present translation by the phrase “as…sons.”

[1:5]  sn Adoption as his sons is different from spiritual birth as children. All true believers have been born as children of God and will be adopted as sons of God. The adoption is both a future reality, and in some sense, already true. To be adopted as a son means to have the full rights of an heir. Thus, although in the ancient world, only boys could be adopted as sons, in God’s family all children – both male and female – are adopted.

[1:5]  ²⁹ tn Or “good pleasure.”

[1:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ³¹ tc The earliest and most important mss omit “in Ephesus” (Ì⁴⁶ א* B* 6 1739 [Mcion^T,E]), yet the opening line of this epistle makes little sense without the phrase (“to the saints who are and are faithful…”? or perhaps “to the saints who are also faithful,” though with this sense the οὖσιν [ousin] is redundant and the καί [kai] is treated somewhat unnaturally). What is interesting is Marcion’s canon list which speaks of the letter to the Laodiceans among Paul’s authentic epistles. This, coupled with some internal evidence that the writer did not know his audience personally (cf. 1:15; 3:2; absence of personal names throughout), suggests that Ephesians was an encyclical letter, intended for more than one audience. Does this mean that the shorter reading is to be preferred? Yes and no. A plausible scenario is as follows, assuming Pauline authorship (though this is strongly contested today; for arguments on behalf of Pauline authorship, see M. Barth, Ephesians [AB 34], 1:36-50; P. T. O’Brien, Ephesians, 4-47; and H. W. Hoehner, Ephesians, 2-61): Paul sent the letter from Rome, intending it first to go to Ephesus. At the same time, Colossians was dispatched. Going counterclockwise through Asia Minor, this letter would first come to Ephesus, the port of entry, then to Laodicea, then Colossae. Tychicus’ instructions may well have been for each church to “fill in the blank” on the address line. The church at Ephesus would have certainly made the most copies, being Paul’s home base for nearly three years. Hence, most of the surviving copies have “in Ephesus” in v. 1 (so א² A B² D F G Ψ 0278 33 1881 Ï latt sy co). But one might expect a hint of evidence that Laodicea also made a few copies: Both Marcion’s list and Col 4:16 may well imply this. What is to account for the early Alexandrian evidence, then? These mss were perhaps made from a very early copy, one reflecting the blank line before each church filled it in. Although it is of course only speculation (as is necessary in a historical investigation lacking some of the pieces to the puzzle), this scenario accounts for all of the data: (1) “in Ephesus” in most mss; (2) Laodicea in Marcion’s list and Col 4:16; (3) the lack of an addressee in the earliest witnesses; (4) why the earliest witnesses’ reading must be rejected as too hard; and (5) why the author seems not to know the readership. In sum, is “in Ephesus” original? Yes and no. Some address belongs there; ἐν ᾿Εφέσῳ (en Efesw) is the predominant address, but several other churches also received this circular letter as their own. For this reason the phrase has been placed in single brackets in the translation. NA²⁷ also lists the words in brackets, indicating doubt as to their authenticity.

[1:1]  map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[1:1]  ³² tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style [and even if this letter is not by Paul it follows the general style of Paul’s letters, with some modifications]) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated. See M. Barth, Ephesians (AB 34), 1:68 and ExSyn 282.

[3:1]  ³³ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[3:1]  ³⁴ tn Grk “a ruler of the Jews” (denoting a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

[3:2]  ³⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ³⁶ tn Or “during the night.”

[3:2]  sn Possibly Nicodemus came…at night because he was afraid of public association with Jesus, or he wanted a lengthy discussion without interruptions; no explanation for the timing of the interview is given by the author. But the timing is significant for John in terms of the light-darkness motif – compare John 9:4, 11:10, 13:30 (especially), 19:39, and 21:3. Out of the darkness of his life and religiosity Nicodemus came to the Light of the world. The author probably had multiple meanings or associations in mind here, as is often the case.

[3:2]  ³⁷ sn The reference to signs (σημεῖα, shmeia) forms a link with John 2:23-25. Those people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus because of the signs he had performed. Nicodemus had apparently seen them too. But for Nicodemus all the signs meant is that Jesus was a great teacher sent from God. His approach to Jesus was well-intentioned but theologically inadequate; he had failed to grasp the messianic implications of the miraculous signs.

[7:9]  ³⁸ tn The phrase “and here was” expresses the sense of καὶ ἰδού (kai idou).

[7:9]  ³⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated before each of the following categories, since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.