Acts 14:23

14:23 When they had appointed elders ¹  for them in the various churches, ²  with prayer and fasting ³  they entrusted them to the protection ⁴  of the Lord in whom they had believed.

Acts 15:2

15:2 When Paul and Barnabas had a major argument and debate ⁵  with them, the church ⁶  appointed Paul and Barnabas and some others from among them to go up to meet with ⁷  the apostles and elders in Jerusalem ⁸  about this point of disagreement. ⁹ 

Acts 15:22

15:22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided ¹⁰  to send men chosen from among them, Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, ¹¹  leaders among the brothers, to Antioch ¹²  with Paul and Barnabas.

Acts 20:17

20:17 From Miletus ¹³  he sent a message ¹⁴  to Ephesus, telling the elders of the church to come to him. ¹⁵ 

Acts 20:1

Paul Travels Through Macedonia and Greece

20:1 After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging ¹⁶  them and saying farewell, ¹⁷  he left to go to Macedonia. ¹⁸ 

1 Timothy 5:17

5:17 Elders who provide effective leadership ¹⁹  must be counted worthy ²⁰  of double honor, ²¹  especially those who work hard in speaking ²²  and teaching.

Titus 1:5

Titus’ Task on Crete

1:5 The reason I left you in Crete was to set in order the remaining matters and to appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

James 5:14

5:14 Is anyone among you ill? He should summon the elders of the church, and they should pray for him and anoint ²³  him with oil in the name of the Lord.

James 5:1

Warning to the Rich

5:1 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud ²⁴  over the miseries that are coming on you.

1 Peter 5:1-2

Leading and Living in God’s Flock

5:1 So as your fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings and as one who shares in the glory that will be revealed, I urge the elders among you: 5:2 Give a shepherd’s care to ²⁵  God’s flock among you, exercising oversight ²⁶  not merely as a duty ²⁷  but willingly under God’s direction, ²⁸  not for shameful profit but eagerly.

John 1:1

The Prologue to the Gospel

1:1 In the beginning ²⁹  was the Word, and the Word was with God, ³⁰  and the Word was fully God. ³¹ 

[14:23]  ¹ sn Appointed elders. See Acts 20:17.

[14:23]  ² tn The preposition κατά (kata) is used here in a distributive sense; see BDAG 512 s.v. κατά B.1.d.

[14:23]  ³ tn Literally with a finite verb (προσευξάμενοι, proseuxamenoi) rather than a noun, “praying with fasting,” but the combination “prayer and fasting” is so familiar in English that it is preferable to use it here.

[14:23]  ⁴ tn BDAG 772 s.v. παρατίθημι 3.b has “entrust someone to the care or protection of someone” for this phrase. The reference to persecution or suffering in the context (v. 22) suggests “protection” is a better translation here. This looks at God’s ultimate care for the church.

[15:2]  ⁵ tn Grk “no little argument and debate” (an idiom).

[15:2]  ⁶ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the church, or the rest of the believers at Antioch) has been specified to avoid confusion with the Judaizers mentioned in the preceding clause.

[15:2]  ⁷ tn Grk “go up to,” but in this context a meeting is implied.

[15:2]  ⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[15:2]  ⁹ tn Or “point of controversy.” It is unclear whether this event parallels Gal 2:1-10 or that Gal 2 fits with Acts 11:30. More than likely Gal 2:1-10 is to be related to Acts 11:30.

[15:22]  ⁹ tn BDAG 255 s.v. δοκέω 2.b.β lists this verse under the meaning “it seems best to me, I decide, I resolve.”

[15:22]  ¹⁰ sn Silas. See 2 Cor 1:19; 1 Thess 1:1; 2 Thess 1:1 (= Silvanus).

[15:22]  ¹¹ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia).

[20:17]  ¹³ sn Miletus was a seaport on the western coast of Asia Minor about 45 mi (72 km) south of Ephesus.

[20:17]  ¹⁴ tn The words “a message” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[20:17]  ¹⁵ tn The words “to him” are not in the Greek text but are implied. L&N 33.311 has for the verb μετακαλέομαι (metakaleomai) “to summon someone, with considerable insistence and authority – ‘to summon, to tell to come.’”

[20:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “exhorting.”

[20:1]  ¹⁸ tn Or “and taking leave of them.”

[20:1]  ¹⁹ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[5:17]  ²¹ tn Grk “who lead well.”

[5:17]  ²² tn Or “deserving.”

[5:17]  ²³ tn Like the similar use of “honor” in v. 3, this phrase
denotes both respect and remuneration: “honor plus honorarium.”

[5:17]  ²⁴ tn Or “in preaching”; Grk “in word.”

[5:14]  ²⁵ tn Grk “anointing.”

[5:1]  ²⁹ tn Or “wail”; Grk “crying aloud.”

[5:2]  ³³ tn Grk “shepherd,” “tend,” “pastor.”

[5:2]  ³⁴ tc A few important mss (א* B sa) lack ἐπισκοποῦντες (episkopounte", “exercising oversight”), but the participle enjoys otherwise good ms support (Ì⁷² א² A P Ψ 33 1739 Ï lat). A decision is difficult because normally the shorter reading is preferred, especially when found in excellent witnesses. However, in this instance the omission may be due to a hesitation among some scribes to associate oversight with elders, since the later church viewed overseer/bishop as a separate office from elder.

[5:2]  ³⁵ tn Or “not under compulsion/coercion.”

[5:2]  ³⁶ tn Grk “according to God.”

[1:1]  ³⁷ sn In the beginning. The search for the basic “stuff” out of which things are made was the earliest one in Greek philosophy. It was attended by the related question of “What is the process by which the secondary things came out of the primary one (or ones)?,” or in Aristotelian terminology, “What is the ‘beginning’ (same Greek word as beginning, John 1:1) and what is the origin of the things that are made?” In the New Testament the word usually has a temporal sense, but even BDAG 138 s.v. ἀρχή 3 lists a major category of meaning as “the first cause.” For John, the words “In the beginning” are most likely a conscious allusion to the opening words of Genesis – “In the beginning.” Other concepts which occur prominently in Gen 1 are also found in John’s prologue: “life” (1:4) “light” (1:4) and “darkness” (1:5). Gen 1 describes the first (physical) creation; John 1 describes the new (spiritual) creation. But this is not to play off a false dichotomy between “physical” and “spiritual”; the first creation was both physical and spiritual. The new creation is really a re-creation, of the spiritual (first) but also the physical. (In spite of the common understanding of John’s “spiritual” emphasis, the “physical” re-creation should not be overlooked; this occurs in John 2 with the changing of water into wine, in John 11 with the resurrection of Lazarus, and the emphasis of John 20-21 on the aftermath of Jesus’ own resurrection.)

[1:1]  ³⁸ tn The preposition πρός (pros) implies not just proximity, but intimate personal relationship. M. Dods stated, “Πρός …means more than μετά or παρά, and is regularly employed in expressing the presence of one person with another” (“The Gospel of St. John,” The Expositor’s Greek Testament, 1:684). See also Mark 6:3, Matt 13:56, Mark 9:19, Gal 1:18, 2 John 12.

[1:1]  ³⁹ tn Or “and what God was the Word was.” Colwell’s Rule is often invoked to support the translation of θεός (qeos) as definite (“God”) rather than indefinite (“a god”) here. However, Colwell’s Rule merely permits, but does not demand, that a predicate nominative ahead of an equative verb be translated as definite rather than indefinite. Furthermore, Colwell’s Rule did not deal with a third possibility, that the anarthrous predicate noun may have more of a qualitative nuance when placed ahead of the verb. A definite meaning for the term is reflected in the traditional rendering “the word was God.” From a technical standpoint, though, it is preferable to see a qualitative aspect to anarthrous θεός in John 1:1c (ExSyn 266-69). Translations like the NEB, REB, and Moffatt are helpful in capturing the sense in John 1:1c, that the Word was fully deity in essence (just as much God as God the Father). However, in contemporary English “the Word was divine” (Moffatt) does not quite catch the meaning since “divine” as a descriptive term is not used in contemporary English exclusively of God. The translation “what God was the Word was” is perhaps the most nuanced rendering, conveying that everything God was in essence, the Word was too. This points to unity of essence between the Father and the Son without equating the persons. However, in surveying a number of native speakers of English, some of whom had formal theological training and some of whom did not, the editors concluded that the fine distinctions indicated by “what God was the Word was” would not be understood by many contemporary readers. Thus the translation “the Word was fully God” was chosen because it is more likely to convey the meaning to the average English reader that the Logos (which “became flesh and took up residence among us” in John 1:14 and is thereafter identified in the Fourth Gospel as Jesus) is one in essence with God the Father. The previous phrase, “the Word was with God,” shows that the Logos is distinct in person from God the Father.