Roma 8:35-39

8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ¹  8:36 As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ²  8:37 No, in all these things we have complete victory ³  through him ⁴  who loved us! 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, ⁵  nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Yohanes 3:16

3:16 For this is the way ⁶  God loved the world: He gave his one and only ⁷  Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish ⁸  but have eternal life. ⁹ 

Yohanes 3:18

3:18 The one who believes in him is not condemned. ¹⁰  The one who does not believe has been condemned ¹¹  already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only ¹²  Son of God.

Yohanes 3:36

3:36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects ¹³  the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath ¹⁴  remains ¹⁵  on him.

Efesus 2:8-10

2:8 For by grace you are saved ¹⁶  through faith, ¹⁷  and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 2:9 it is not from ¹⁸  works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁹  2:10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. ²⁰ 

Efesus 2:1

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ²¹  dead ²²  in your transgressions and sins,

Yohanes 2:1-2

Turning Water into Wine

2:1 Now on the third day there was a wedding at Cana ²³  in Galilee. ²⁴  Jesus’ mother ²⁵  was there, 2:2 and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. ²⁶ 

[8:35]  ¹ tn Here “sword” is a metonymy that includes both threats of violence and acts of violence, even including death (although death is not necessarily the only thing in view here).

[8:36]  ² sn A quotation from Ps 44:22.

[8:37]  ³ tn BDAG 1034 s.v. ὑπερνικάω states, “as a heightened form of νικᾶν prevail completely ὑπερνικῶμεν we are winning a most glorious victory Ro 8:37.”

[8:37]  ⁴ tn Here the referent could be either God or Christ, but in v. 39 it is God’s love that is mentioned.

[8:38]  ⁵ tn BDAG 138 s.v. ἀρχή 6 takes this term as a reference to angelic or transcendent powers (as opposed to merely human rulers). To clarify this, the adjective “heavenly” has been supplied in the translation. Some interpreters see this as a reference to fallen angels or demonic powers, and this view is reflected in some recent translations (NIV, NLT).

[3:16]  ⁶ tn Or “this is how much”; or “in this way.” The Greek adverb οὕτως (Joutws) can refer (1) to the degree to which God loved the world, that is, to such an extent or so much that he gave his own Son (see R. E. Brown, John [AB], 1:133-34; D. A. Carson, John, 204) or (2) simply to the manner in which God loved the world, i.e., by sending his own son (see R. H. Gundry and R. W. Howell, “The Sense and Syntax of John 3:14-17 with Special Reference to the Use of Οὕτως…ὥστε in John 3:16,” NovT 41 [1999]: 24-39). Though the term more frequently refers to the manner in which something is done (see BDAG 741-42 s.v. οὕτω/οὕτως), the following clause involving ὥστε (Jwste) plus the indicative (which stresses actual, but [usually] unexpected result) emphasizes the greatness of the gift God has given. With this in mind, then, it is likely (3) that John is emphasizing both the degree to which God loved the world as well as the manner in which He chose to express that love. This is in keeping with John’s style of using double entendre or double meaning. Thus, the focus of the Greek construction here is on the nature of God's love, addressing its mode, intensity, and extent.

[3:16]  ⁷ tn Although this word is often translated “only begotten,” such a translation is misleading, since in English it appears to express a metaphysical relationship. The word in Greek was used of an only child (a son [Luke 7:12, 9:38] or a daughter [Luke 8:42]). It was also used of something unique (only one of its kind) such as the mythological Phoenix (1 Clement 25:2). From here it passes easily to a description of Isaac (Heb 11:17 and Josephus, Ant. 1.13.1 [1.222]) who was not Abraham’s only son, but was one-of-a-kind because he was the child of the promise. Thus the word means “one-of-a-kind” and is reserved for Jesus in the Johannine literature of the NT. While all Christians are children of God (τέκνα θεοῦ, tekna qeou), Jesus is God’s Son in a unique, one-of-a-kind sense. The word is used in this way in all its uses in the Gospel of John (1:14, 1:18, 3:16, and 3:18).

[3:16]  ⁸ tn In John the word ἀπόλλυμι (apollumi) can mean either (1) to be lost (2) to perish or be destroyed, depending on the context.

[3:16]  ⁹ sn The alternatives presented are only two (again, it is typical of Johannine thought for this to be presented in terms of polar opposites): perish or have eternal life.

[3:18]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “judged.”

[3:18]  ¹¹ tn Grk “judged.”

[3:18]  ¹² tn See the note on the term “one and only” in 3:16.

[3:36]  ¹³ tn Or “refuses to believe,” or “disobeys.”

[3:36]  ¹⁴ tn Or “anger because of evil,” or “punishment.”

[3:36]  ¹⁵ tn Or “resides.”

[2:8]  ¹⁶ tn See note on the same expression in v. 5.

[2:8]  ¹⁷ tc The feminine article is found before πίστεως (pistews, “faith”) in the Byzantine text as well as in A Ψ 1881 pc. Perhaps for some scribes the article was intended to imply creedal fidelity as a necessary condition of salvation (“you are saved through the faith”), although elsewhere in the corpus Paulinum the phrase διὰ τῆς πίστεως (dia th" pistew") is used for the act of believing rather than the content of faith (cf. Rom 3:30, 31; Gal 3:14; Eph 3:17; Col 2:12). On the other side, strong representatives of the Alexandrian and Western texts (א B D* F G P 0278 6 33 1739 al bo) lack the article. Hence, both text-critically and exegetically, the meaning of the text here is most likely “saved through faith” as opposed to “saved through the faith.” Regarding the textual problem, the lack of the article is the preferred reading.

[2:9]  ¹⁸ tn Or “not as a result of.”

[2:9]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “lest anyone should boast.”

[2:10]  ²⁰ tn Grk “so that we might walk in them” (or “by them”).

[2:10]  sn So that we may do them. Before the devil began to control our walk in sin and among sinful people, God had already planned good works for us to do.

[2:1]  ²¹ tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

[2:1]  ²² sn Chapter 2 starts off with a participle, although you were dead, that is left dangling. The syntax in Greek for vv. 1-3 constitutes one incomplete sentence, though it seems to have been done intentionally. The dangling participle leaves the readers in suspense while they wait for the solution (in v. 4) to their spiritual dilemma.

[2:1]  ²³ map For location see Map1 C3; Map2 D2; Map3 C5.

[2:1]  ²⁴ sn Cana in Galilee was not a very well-known place. It is mentioned only here, in 4:46, and 21:2, and nowhere else in the NT. Josephus (Life 16 [86]) says he once had his quarters there. The probable location is present day Khirbet Cana, 8 mi (14 km) north of Nazareth, or Khirbet Kenna, 4 mi (7 km) northeast of Nazareth.

[2:1]  ²⁵ tn Grk “in Galilee, and Jesus’ mother.”

[2:2]  ²⁶ sn There is no clue to the identity of the bride and groom, but in all probability either relatives or friends of Jesus’ family were involved, since Jesus’ mother and both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the celebration. The attitude of Mary in approaching Jesus and asking him to do something when the wine ran out also suggests that familial obligations were involved.