Ulangan 14:1

The Holy and the Profane

14:1 You are children ¹  of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald ²  for the sake of the dead.

Roma 8:14

8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are ³  the sons of God.

Roma 8:16

8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness to ⁴  our spirit that we are God’s children.

Roma 8:21

8:21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.

Efesus 5:1

Live in Love

5:1 Therefore, be ⁵  imitators of God as dearly loved children

Efesus 5:1

Live in Love

5:1 Therefore, be ⁶  imitators of God as dearly loved children

Yohanes 3:1-2

Conversation with Nicodemus

3:1 Now a certain man, a Pharisee ⁷  named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, ⁸  3:2 came to Jesus ⁹  at night ¹⁰  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 ¹¹  that you do unless God is with him.”

[14:1]  ¹ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); TEV, NLT “people.”

[14:1]  ² sn Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald. These were pagan practices associated with mourning the dead; they were not be imitated by God’s people (though they frequently were; cf. 1 Kgs 18:28; Jer 16:6; 41:5; 47:5; Hos 7:14 [LXX]; Mic 5:1). For other warnings against such practices see Lev 21:5; Jer 16:5.

[8:14]  ³ tn Grk “For as many as are being led by the Spirit of God, these are.”

[8:16]  ⁴ 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.”

[5:1]  ⁵ tn Or “become.”

[5:1]  ⁶ tn Or “become.”

[3:1]  ⁷ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[3:1]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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.