1 Korintus 14:20

14:20 Brothers and sisters, ¹  do not be children in your thinking. Instead, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

Efesus 4:13-14

4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God – a mature person, attaining to ²  the measure of Christ’s full stature. ³  4:14 So ⁴  we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. ⁵ 

Efesus 4:1

Live in Unity

4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, ⁶  urge you to live ⁷  worthily of the calling with which you have been called, ⁸ 

Yohanes 2:12

Cleansing the Temple

2:12 After this he went down to Capernaum ⁹  with his mother and brothers ¹⁰  and his disciples, and they stayed there a few days.

[14:20]  ¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:10.

[4:13]  ² tn The words “attaining to” were supplied in the translation to pick up the καταντήσωμεν (katanthswmen) mentioned earlier in the sentence and the εἰς (eis) which heads up this clause.

[4:13]  ³ tn Grk “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” On this translation of ἡλικία (Jhlikia, “stature”) see BDAG 436 s.v. 3.

[4:14]  ⁴ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:14]  ⁵ tn While the sense of the passage is clear enough, translation in English is somewhat difficult. The Greek says: “by the trickery of men, by craftiness with the scheme of deceit.” The point is that the author is concerned about Christians growing into maturity. He is fearful that certain kinds of very cunning people, who are skilled at deceitful scheming, should come in and teach false doctrines which would in turn stunt the growth of the believers.

[4:1]  ⁶ tn Grk “prisoner in the Lord.”

[4:1]  ⁷ tn Grk “walk.” The verb “walk” in the NT letters refers to the conduct of one’s life, not to physical walking.

[4:1]  ⁸ sn With which you have been called. The calling refers to the Holy Spirit’s prompting that caused them to believe. The author is thus urging his readers to live a life that conforms to their saved status before God.

[2:12]  ⁹ sn Verse 12 is merely a transitional note in the narrative (although Capernaum does not lie on the direct route to Jerusalem from Cana). Nothing is mentioned in John’s Gospel at this point about anything Jesus said or did there (although later his teaching is mentioned, see 6:59). From the synoptics it is clear that Capernaum was a center of Jesus’ Galilean ministry and might even be called “his own town” (Matt 9:1). The royal official whose son Jesus healed (John 4:46-54) was from Capernaum. He may have heard Jesus speak there, or picked up the story about the miracle at Cana from one of Jesus’ disciples.

[2:12]  map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 C3; Map3 B2.

[2:12]  ¹⁰ sn With respect to Jesus’ brothers, the so-called Helvidian view is to be preferred (named after Helvidius, a 4th-century theologian). This view holds that the most natural way to understand the phrase is as a reference to children of Joseph and Mary after the birth of Jesus. Other views are that of Epiphanius (they were children of Joseph by a former marriage) or Jerome (they were cousins). The tradition of Mary’s perpetual virginity appeared in the 2nd century and is difficult to explain (as J. H. Bernard, St. John [ICC], 1:85, points out) if some of her other children were prominent members of the early church (e.g., James of Jerusalem). But this is outweighed by the natural sense of the words.