Matius 16:24

16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ¹  he must deny ²  himself, take up his cross, ³  and follow me.

Lukas 24:26

24:26 Wasn’t ⁴  it necessary ⁵  for the Christ ⁶  to suffer these things and enter into his glory?”

Yohanes 12:25-26

12:25 The one who loves his life ⁷  destroys ⁸  it, and the one who hates his life in this world guards ⁹  it for eternal life. 12:26 If anyone wants to serve me, he must follow ¹⁰  me, and where I am, my servant will be too. ¹¹  If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

Kisah Para Rasul 14:22

14:22 They strengthened ¹²  the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue ¹³  in the faith, saying, “We must enter the kingdom ¹⁴  of God through many persecutions.” ¹⁵ 

Kisah Para Rasul 14:2

14:2 But the Jews who refused to believe ¹⁶  stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds ¹⁷  against the brothers.

Kolose 4:8-12

4:8 I sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are doing ¹⁸  and that he may encourage your hearts. 4:9 I sent him ¹⁹  with Onesimus, the faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. ²⁰  They will tell ²¹  you about everything here.

4:10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him). 4:11 And Jesus who is called Justus also sends greetings. In terms of Jewish converts, ²²  these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a slave ²³  of Christ, ²⁴  greets you. He is always struggling in prayer on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured ²⁵  in all the will of God.

Filipi 1:29

1:29 For it has been granted to you ²⁶  not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for him,

Filipi 1:2

1:2 Grace and peace to you ²⁷  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Titus 2:10-14

2:10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, ²⁸  in order to bring credit to ²⁹  the teaching of God our Savior in everything.

2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. ³⁰  2:12 It trains us ³¹  to reject godless ways ³²  and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 2:13 as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing ³³  of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. ³⁴  2:14 He ³⁵  gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, ³⁶  who are eager to do good. ³⁷ 

[16:24]  ¹ tn Grk “to come after me.”

[16:24]  ² tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

[16:24]  ³ sn To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

[24:26]  ⁴ tn This Greek particle (οὐχί, ouci) expects a positive reply.

[24:26]  ⁵ sn The statement Wasn’t it necessary is a reference to the design of God’s plan (see Luke 24:7). Suffering must precede glory (see Luke 17:25).

[24:26]  ⁶ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[24:26]  sn See the note on Christ in 2:11.

[12:25]  ⁷ tn Or “soul.”

[12:25]  ⁸ tn Or “loses.” Although the traditional English translation of ἀπολλύει (apolluei) in John 12:25 is “loses,” the contrast with φυλάξει (fulaxei, “keeps” or “guards”) in the second half of the verse favors the meaning “destroy” here.

[12:25]  ⁹ tn Or “keeps.”

[12:26]  ¹⁰ tn As a third person imperative in Greek, ἀκολουθείτω (akolouqeitw) is usually translated “let him follow me.” This could be understood by the modern English reader as merely permissive, however (“he may follow me if he wishes”). In this context there is no permissive sense, but rather a command, so the translation “he must follow me” is preferred.

[12:26]  ¹¹ tn Grk “where I am, there my servant will be too.”

[14:22]  ¹² tn Grk “to Antioch, strengthening.” Due to the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was started here. This participle (ἐπιστηρίζοντες, episthrizonte") and the following one (παρακαλοῦντες, parakalounte") have been translated as finite verbs connected by the coordinating conjunction “and.”

[14:22]  ¹³ sn And encouraged them to continue. The exhortations are like those noted in Acts 11:23; 13:43. An example of such a speech is found in Acts 20:18-35. Christianity is now characterized as “the faith.”

[14:22]  ¹⁴ sn This reference to the kingdom of God clearly refers to its future arrival.

[14:22]  ¹⁵ tn Or “sufferings.”

[14:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “who would not believe.”

[14:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “embittered their minds” (Grk “their souls”). BDAG 502 s.v. κακόω 2 has “make angry, embitter τὰς ψυχάς τινων κατά τινος poison the minds of some persons against another Ac 14:2.”

[4:8]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the things concerning us.”

[4:9]  ¹⁹ tn The Greek sentence continues v. 9 with the phrase “with Onesimus,” but this is awkward in English, so the verb “I sent” was inserted and a new sentence started at the beginning of v. 9 in the translation.

[4:9]  ²⁰ tn Grk “is of you.”

[4:9]  ²¹ tn Grk “will make known to you.” This has been simplified in the translation to “will tell.”

[4:11]  ²² tn Grk “those of the circumcision.” The verse as a whole is difficult to translate because it is unclear whether Paul is saying (1) that the only people working with him are Jewish converts at the time the letter is being written or previously, or (2) that Aristarchus, Mark, and Jesus Justus were the only Jewish Christians who ever worked with him. Verses 12-14 appear to indicate that Luke and Demas, who were Gentiles, were also working currently with Paul. This is the view adopted in the translation. See M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 207-8.

[4:12]  ²³ tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[4:12]  ²⁴ tc ‡ Strong Alexandrian testimony, along with some other witnesses, suggests that ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) follows Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “Christ”; so א A B C I L 0278 33 81 365 629 1175 2464 al lat), but the evidence for the shorter reading is diverse (Ì⁴⁶ D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï it sy Hier), cutting across all major texttypes. There can be little motivation for omitting the name of Jesus; hence, the shorter reading is judged to be original. NA²⁷ has ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[4:12]  ²⁵ tn Or “filled.”

[1:29]  ²⁶ tn Grk “For that which is on behalf of Christ has been granted to you – namely, not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him.” The infinitive phrases are epexegetical to the subject, τὸ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ (to Juper Cristou), which has the force of “the on-behalf-of-Christ thing,” or “the thing on behalf of Christ.” To translate this in English requires a different idiom.

[1:2]  ²⁷ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

[2:10]  ²⁸ tn Or “showing that genuine faith is productive.” At issue between these two translations is the force of ἀγαθήν (agaqhn): Is it attributive (as the text has it) or predicate (as in this note)? A number of considerations point in the direction of a predicate ἀγαθήν (e.g., separation from the noun πίστιν (pistin) by the verb, the possibility that the construction is an object-complement, etc.), though is not usually seen as an option in either translations or commentaries. Cf. ExSyn 188-89, 312-13, for a discussion. Contextually, it makes an intriguing statement, for it suggests a synthetic or synonymous parallel: “‘Slaves should be wholly subject to their masters…demonstrating that all [genuine] faith is productive, with the result [ecbatic ἵνα] that they will completely adorn the doctrine of God.’ The point of the text, then, if this understanding is correct, is an exhortation to slaves to demonstrate that their faith is sincere and results in holy behavior. If taken this way, the text seems to support the idea that saving faith does not fail, but even results in good works” (ExSyn 312-13). The translation of ἀγαθήν as an attributive adjective, however, also makes good sense.

[2:10]  ²⁹ tn Or “adorn,” “show the beauty of.”

[2:11]  ³⁰ tn Grk “all men”; but ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpois) is generic here, referring to both men and women.

[2:12]  ³¹ tn Grk “training us” (as a continuation of the previous clause). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 12 by translating the participle παιδεύουσα (paideuousa) as a finite verb and supplying the pronoun “it” as subject.

[2:12]  ³² tn Grk “ungodliness.”

[2:13]  ³³ tn Grk “the blessed hope and glorious appearing.”

[2:13]  ³⁴ tn The terms “God and Savior” both refer to the same person, Jesus Christ. This is one of the clearest statements in the NT concerning the deity of Christ. The construction in Greek is known as the Granville Sharp rule, named after the English philanthropist-linguist who first clearly articulated the rule in 1798. Sharp pointed out that in the construction article-noun-καί-noun (where καί [kai] = “and”), when two nouns are singular, personal, and common (i.e., not proper names), they always had the same referent. Illustrations such as “the friend and brother,” “the God and Father,” etc. abound in the NT to prove Sharp’s point. The only issue is whether terms such as “God” and “Savior” could be considered common nouns as opposed to proper names. Sharp and others who followed (such as T. F. Middleton in his masterful The Doctrine of the Greek Article) demonstrated that a proper name in Greek was one that could not be pluralized. Since both “God” (θεός, qeos) and “savior” (σωτήρ, swthr) were occasionally found in the plural, they did not constitute proper names, and hence, do fit Sharp’s rule. Although there have been 200 years of attempts to dislodge Sharp’s rule, all attempts have been futile. Sharp’s rule stands vindicated after all the dust has settled. For more information on Sharp’s rule see ExSyn 270-78, esp. 276. See also 2 Pet 1:1 and Jude 4.

[2:14]  ³⁵ tn Grk “who” (as a continuation of the previous clause).

[2:14]  ³⁶ tn Or “a people who are his very own.”

[2:14]  ³⁷ tn Grk “for good works.”