Matius 16:18

16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades ¹  will not overpower it.

Efesus 2:22

2:22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Efesus 2:1

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ²  dead ³  in your transgressions and sins,

Titus 3:15

3:15 Everyone with me greets you. Greet those who love us in the faith. ⁴  Grace be with you all. ⁵ 

Ibrani 3:6

3:6 But Christ ⁶  is faithful as a son over God’s ⁷  house. We are of his house, ⁸  if in fact we hold firmly ⁹  to our confidence and the hope we take pride in. ¹⁰ 

¹ tn Or “and the power of death” (taking the reference to the gates of Hades as a metonymy).

sn In the OT, Hades was known as Sheol. It is the place where the unrighteous will reside (Matt 11:23; Luke 16:23; Rev 20:13-14). Some translations render this by its modern equivalent, “hell”; others see it as a reference to the power of death.

² tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

³ 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.

⁴ tn Or “faithfully.”

⁵ tc Most witnesses (א² D¹ F G H Ψ 0278 Ï lat sy bo) conclude this letter with ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”). Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, early and excellent witnesses (א* A C D* 048 33 81 1739 1881 sa) lack the particle, rendering the omission the preferred reading.

⁶ sn The Greek makes the contrast between v. 5 and v. 6a more emphatic and explicit than is easily done in English.

⁷ tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.

⁸ tn Grk “whose house we are,” continuing the previous sentence.

⁹ tc The reading adopted by the translation is found in Ì^13,46 B sa, while the vast majority of mss (א A C D Ψ 0243 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï latt) add μέχρι τέλους βεβαίαν (mecri telou" bebaian, “secure until the end”). The external evidence for the omission, though minimal, has excellent credentials. Considering the internal factors, B. M. Metzger (TCGNT 595) finds it surprising that the feminine adjective βεβαίαν should modify the neuter noun καύχημα (kauchma, here translated “we take pride”), a fact that suggests that even the form of the word was borrowed from another place. Since the same phrase occurs at Heb 3:14, it is likely that later scribes added it here at Heb 3:6 in anticipation of Heb 3:14. While these words belong at 3:14, they seem foreign to 3:6.

¹⁰ tn Grk “the pride of our hope.”