Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 15 Mar. 2019
The relationship between pastors and parishioners has long been the subject of eulogies as well as the object of criticism. Some say we don’t need religious leaders and that most of the trouble in the world stems from religious zealots. Others feel that most of the problems in the world would be solved if only we had more good pastors. Some folks are willing to follow any fool that acts confident, while others feel it is their calling to get out ahead of their pastor and show him how to do what he needs to do. I recently ran across a series of letters from children offering advice to their pastors:
Dear
Pastor,
I know God loves everybody but He never met my
sister.
Yours sincerely, Arnold.
Dear
Pastor,
Please say in your sermon that Peter Peterson has
been a good boy all week.
Sincerely, Peter Peterson
Dear
Pastor,
I'm sorry I can't leave more money in the plate, but
my father didn't give me a raise in my allowance. Could you have a
sermon about raising allowances?
Love, Patty.
Dear
Pastor,
I think a lot more people would come to your church
if you moved it to Disneyland.
Sincerely, Loreen.
Dear
Pastor,
Please say a prayer for our Little League team. We
need God's help or a new pitcher.
Thank you, Alexander.
Dear
Pastor,
I liked your sermon on Sunday. Especially when it was
finished.
God Bless, Ralph
In the three verses before us today, we are exhorted to further consideration of our church leaders. I want to draw out four principles in particular from these verses – four principles for relating to your Christian leaders:
Let yourselves be persuaded by them
Yield to them
Keep praying for them
Seek for their restoration
The first two are in….
Another viable translation for “leaders” is “decision-makers.”
We saw this same verb used back in chapters 10 and 11 (Heb. 10:29; 11:11, 26) to refer to people making decisions.
These decision-makers are now mentioned three times in the final chapter of Hebrews, in verses 7, 17, and 24. They seem to refer to church leaders and elders in particular.
The first imperative Πείθεσθε is traditionally translated “obey2;” literally, it means to “keep letting yourselves be persuaded by...” It is the same verb translated “We trust/are sure/confident” in verse 18. This literal meaning helps paint a practical picture of how to apply it.
The nature of leadership of church elders is primarily to teach and give advice. There’s not a lot of obeying commands involved in church membership – or at least there shouldn’t be. It does happen when leaders go off the deep end and become cult-like and controlling, but with healthy leadership, they mostly share wisdom with you and leave you free to take it or leave it.3
I
know there are times when your mind is made up, and you may not
want to hear advice.
I responded to a phone call once where a
husband and wife were having a spat. As I stood in their apartment
with them and saw how upset the wife was, I said to the husband,
“You’ve got a problem in your marriage; we ought to
talk about it. How about we go down to the nearest coffee shop and
chat?” His reply dumbfounded me, “No, we’re fine.
Besides, I can’t leave now, because we’re hosting a
superbowl party later today.” Needless to say, that
marriage went on to experience more
problems.
I
know there are also times when you get advice that you don’t
want to follow. But God’s word says to give your spiritual
leaders a chance to persuade you.
Growing up, I never wanted
to be a pastor. But in my mid-30’s, I had a financial crisis
that got me asking for advice from my pastor, my parents, and my
job supervisors, and you know what every one of them told me? Go
to seminary! Well, I certainly had no interest in attending
seminary; I couldn’t afford it – being married with
four children, and I figured I already knew most of the material
anyway from going to Christian schools all my life, and besides,
seminary was for theology geeks that liked to talk a lot, and that
just wasn’t me. But I listened to the advice of my elders,
and I tried to take it seriously, and now I can say it was one of
the best things that ever happened to me. (Not that it was easy,
mind you, but God used it to move me eventually here, out of a job
that wasn’t so good for me.)
The second imperative ὑπείκετε, is an unusual Greek word, traditionally translated into English as “submit.”
It is a compound of the Greek word for “under” and the word for “weak/soft/yielding.”
Are you willing to be seen as “weak” in comparison to your church officers? If you are a very confident person with strong opinions, or if you are a wounded person who has been treated abusively by leaders before, it will take a lot of God’s grace to change you to take a yielding posture that concedes to your elders, but you should seek to grow in maturity toward that goal.
This is not something which the leaders should beat their followers over the heads with. Any leader that has to resort to the tactic of saying, “You’d better give in to me because God says you should submit to me,” has already failed at the basic skill of being a leader. Yielding is presented in this verse as a choice made by followers in obedience to God, not the shrill self-promotion of a demagogue.
Furthermore, God’s word does not teach blind obedience to all authority, so there are times when authorities who require you to disobey God ought to be resisted4. But such cases should be rare and entered upon with great care. (Esther mobilized a three-day prayer campaign with millions of believers before she dared to break the law and enter the king Xerxes’ throne-room unbidden.) Normally, we should yield to authority if at all possible.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13, the Apostle Paul urged much the same thing: “And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake.”
Verse 17 gives four reasons why the people of God should “yield to” and “allow themselves to be persuaded by” their church “leaders:”
These decision-makers invest time and emotional energy in looking out for your well-being5.
The Greek word which describes this is ἀγρυπνοῦσιν – which literally means they “lose sleep” over you. It’s a word used throughout the Greek Old Testament to describe watchmen who stay up all night guarding their communities from intruders.
In the New Testament, this word is used exclusively to describe prayer vigils:
Mark 13:33 "Take heed, watch and pray6; for you do not know when the time is."
Luke 21:36 "Watch therefore, and pray always... "
Ephesians 6:18 "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints" (NKJV).
This fits well with the Apostles’ statement in Acts 6:4 that their job was to be devoted “to prayer and the ministry of the word,” indeed what church elders should be devoted to as well!
When a pastor and his wife hear of hard things going on in the lives of their parishioners, they experience sleepless nights grieving with you from a distance, wrestling with God in prayer over you, and trying to think through all the angles in order to formulate counsel to give. With that kind of time and emotional energy invested in you, it is appropriate for you to obey and submit to them.
The second reason given for being persuaded by and yielding to church leaders is that these leaders are going to be called to account before Jesus, and Jesus is going to ask them about how they shepherded you.
Jesus was very clear on this matter of having to give account on judgment day7: Matthew 12:36 "I'm telling y'all that every do-nothing word – whatever men might utter, they will give an account for it during the day of judgment… 16:27 For the Son of Man is about to come in His Father's glory with His angels and then pay back to each man according to his deeds." (NAW)8
Jesus also affirmed the Old Testament law, "you shall deliver to the Lord your vows." (Matthew 5:33c, cf. Deut. 23:21) The elders of our church make the following vow, “Do you promise to be zealous and faithful in maintaining the truths of the Gospel and the purity and peace and unity of the Church, whatever persecution or opposition may arise unto you on that account? Do you engage to be faithful and diligent in the exercise of all your duties as a Christian and a minister of the Gospel, whether personal or relational, private or public; and to endeavor by the grace of God to adorn the profession of the Gospel in your manner of life, and to walk with exemplary piety before the flock of which God shall make you overseer?” Jesus is going to examine our lives to see whether we fulfilled that or not.
For your own sake, you don’t want your pastor to have to say, “I tore my hair out over Suzie and Tom and never could get them to a healthy place spiritually.” And for your pastor’s sake, you don’t want to hear Jesus say, “What do you mean it was too hard and you gave up on shepherding Tom and Suzie? Didn’t you realize what the consequences are for that?”
The third reason given in Hebrews 13:17 for obeying and submitting to your leaders is that they may keep vigil over your souls joyfully, rather than with groaning. This groaning could be interpreted in a couple of ways:
It could be the righteous result of intense effort or empathy with pain, such as Jesus modeled when He “groaned” over the deaf and mute man before healing him (Mk. 7:34).
The application would be that if you heed God’s word as you hear it from your leaders and don’t wallow in sin, it makes for that much less sin and heartache in the world which, in turn, lightens the burden of leadership for those responsible to you.
When the sheep are all happy and the fields are green and the sun is shining, it makes the shepherd want to pull out his harp or flute and sing for joy, but when the sheep are wandering into the wrong places or getting bloat from eating the wrong stuff or restless due to skin parasites or due to a storm coming up, the shepherd has to work harder and then gets tired and irritable, and sometimes loses his temper and cusses at the sheep or kicks them, and then he’s no fun to be around.
So this groaning could also take the form of unrighteous complaining, as it does in James 5:9 "Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!" (NKJV)
God is certainly going to hold shepherds accountable when they grow impatient and lose their tempers and don’t fulfill their calling joyfully. Don’t make it any harder for me than it already needs to be, eh?
This is also a sobering exhortation to anyone who is - or would be - a church officer. God won’t overlook our grumbling.
The fourth and final reason given at the end of v.17 for why you should be persuaded by and yield to your church elders is related to the previous: your leaders rendering an account with groaning would be without benefit/advantage to you/that is, unprofitable.
If the spiritual under-shepherds responsible for your spiritual care have to report to Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep about you with groaning, it’s probably not going to go well for you on judgment day. Jesus gives the keys to His kingdom to church leaders to admit or deny membership in the church (Mt.16:19; 18:18-20, etc.). If you’ve been admitted to the church, but their vigilant watchcare over you has involved a lot of groaning, that doesn’t bode well for you.9
Phillip Hughes, in his commentary wrote, “[E]nable them, when the day of reckoning comes, to present a joyful report of blessing, thanks to your willing obedience and cooperation. A sad report of disharmony and spiritual decline, occasioned by and ungracious and recalcitrant spirit on your part, will be of no advantage to you...”
It is to your advantage if you’ve got shepherds over you that are not too careworn. Yielding to your elders and letting them persuade you in righteousness can make church fun! It is to your benefit when you can happily enjoy great exploits in the Kingdom of God together.
Verses 18-19 continue to talk about the relationship between church people and their leaders. Not only should we heed and yield to leaders, we should also pray for them and seek for their freedom and safety:
When you see somebody claiming to have a good conscience in the New Testament, it means they are being falsely accused of something and are pleading not guilty to charges.10
Acts 23:1 "And Paul, earnestly beholding the council [Sanhedrin in Jerusalem], said, 'Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience [πάσῃ συνειδήσει ἀγαθῇ] before God until this day.'" (KJV)
Acts 24:16 And [before Governor Felix] "herein do I exercise myself, to have always [διὰ παντός] a conscience void of offence [ἀπρόσκοπον συνείδησιν ἔχων/εχειν] toward God, and toward men." (KJV)
Romans 9:1-4 "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience [συνειδήσεώς] also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart... for my kinsmen... Israelites..." (KJV)
2 Corinthians 1:12 "...the testimony of our conscience [is] that we conducted ourselves [ἀνεστράφημεν] in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity..." (NKJV)
2 Timothy 1:3 "I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience [καθαρᾷ συνειδήσει], as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day" (NKJV, cf. 1 Tim. 4:2)
1 Peter 3:15 ...be ready always [ἀεὶ] to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience [συνείδησιν ἔχοντες ἀγαθήν]..." (KJV)
The Apostle to the Hebrews has already commented on how his conscience became pure in an absolute sense: it was not by the offering of animal sacrifices but rather by Jesus' priestly mediation: Hebrews 9:9 "...sacrifices are being offered that are not able to perfect in conscience the one who ministers... 14 the blood of the Anointed One (who, through the eternal Spirit offered His faultless self to God) will purify y'all's conscience..." (NAW, cf. 1 Pet. 3:21), but here he seems to be saying that he has also refrained from any activity that a Jewish or Roman court would consider illegal.
The last time the verb anastrephw was used in Hebrews, it was also passive, referring to “being treated” abusively by persecutors (10:33), and, of the 37 times in the New Testament that the adverb kalws occurs, this is the only time anybody translates it with the word “honestly/honorably” - It is normally translated with the English word “well/good.” So I want to suggest that our author’s desire is related to a prayer request that he “be treated well” in whatever legal threat he may currently be under because he has done nothing wrong and “has a clear conscience.”
However, the five other times11 the passive form of this verb occurs in the New Testament, it is with a reflexive meaning (“to conduct oneself/live your lifestyle”), so the translation of the majority of English translations – and of all the commentators I read – is reasonable, serving as a parallel statement to the apostle’s assertion of innocence: “We have a good conscience because we have conducted our lives well.” (Indeed, 1 Tim. 1:5 says that’s a goal of the Christian life!12)
In verse 19, our author urgently “encourages” his readers to do something, literally “do THIS,” so the question is, “What is he urging them to do?” If you read verse 19 together with v.18, it appears he is referring back to his exhortation to them to pray for him13. (If you’re looking at an NIV, you’ll see that they substituted the original phrase “do this” for the word “pray” to make this clear.)
"This is one part of the duty which people owe to their ministers. Ministers need the prayers of the people; and the more earnestly the people pray for their ministers the more benefit they may expect to reap from their ministry. They should pray that God would teach those who are to teach them, that he would make them vigilant, and wise, and zealous, and successful - that he would assist them in all their labours, support them under all their burdens, and strengthen them under all their temptations." ~M. Henry
Verse 19 also gives us a reason for this urgency to pray; “do this in order that I may be restored to you soon.” What exactly he seeks to be “restored” from is not stated explicitly, but, in the context of v.18, it appears he is being falsely accused and maybe imprisoned and is asking for prayer to be cleared of the charges and let out of prison so he can be free to fellowship with these Christians again.14
Here is yet another application for considerate support of Christian leadership: Pray for them!
Are you praying for your church elders? I know from experience that it’s often easier to criticize your leaders than to pray for them and extend trust to them.
Church elders are irritatingly slow at making decisions and taking action; young people feel a lot more comfortable making quick decisions and running ahead with things.
Once when I was expressing to a college friend my impatience at the slowness of my elders to make a decision he said something I’ve remembered ever since: “The gears of the church grind slow but fine.”
Another aspect of Christian leadership is that church pastors are often leading on the front lines and getting hit the hardest by opposition, whether that’s spiritual demonic oppression that sinks them into despair and depression, or whether that’s sexual temptation that destroys their integrity as leaders, or whether that’s persecution from authorities who are hoping to get pastors to compromise their faith and lead the rest of the church into compromise with the world.
Sometimes pastors hide their depression or other secret sins from their congregations because they are afraid that their congregation will reject them and not pray for them to be restored.
Certainly there are sins which disqualify a man from continuing as a church elder, but would you pray for restoration even after they are deposed from leadership? I’m reminded of Phil Keaggy’s song15 about this, “I heard the news today. Another soldier tumbled. A fragile warrior slipped and fell from grace. The vultures swooped to tear his heart and pin him to the ground, and from the shadows someone took his place. Today we talk amongst ourselves that we never bought his words. We say we’ve seen the madness in his eyes. Tomorrow he’s forgotten as we’ve scrubbed him from our hearts, and as he bleeds, we slowly turn our eyes.”
And then again, what if he broke the law?
The government of Chicago told Jeremy Chong that it was illegal to distribute gospel tracts at Millennium Park last year. Would you have prayed for him if he had continued handing out tracts there and was put in prison? (Thankfully that didn’t happen because he got a lawyer who convinced the judge that the city’s laws were unjust.)
What about the church leaders a few years back who participated in Operation Rescues in Wichita to passively block entrances to abortion clinics – and were brutally beaten and thrown in jail? Would you pray for their restoration or would you back away and find a less-controversial church?
Maybe we could bring it a little closer to home. Due to health concerns surrounding Covid-19, the Governor of Kentucky apparently told schools to keep their doors open but told pastors to close their church doors. Pastor Aaron Harvie is keeping the doors of Highview Baptist Church open. How many of his congregation are going to want him back as their pastor if he gets jailed for defying the governor’s order?
A lot of these issues have complicating factors, so we might have different responses based on additional factors, but the point is to pray for and seek the restoration of leaders who have gotten knocked down for whatever reason while standing on the front lines.
Let yourselves be persuaded by them
Yield to them
Keep praying for them
Seek for their restoration
Greek NT |
NAW |
KJV |
15 δι᾿ αὐτοῦ οὖν ἀναφέρωμεν θυσίαν αἰνέσεως διὰ παντὸς τῷ Θεῷ, τοῦτ᾿ ἔστι καρπὸν χειλέων ὁμολογούντων τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ. |
15 Let it be through Him, therefore, that we offer up a thanks-offering always to God, which is fruit of lips confessing His name, |
15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. |
16 τῆς δὲ εὐποιΐας καὶ κοινωνίας μὴ ἐπιλανθάνεσθε· τοιαύταις γὰρ θυσίαις εὐαρεστεῖταιB ὁ Θεός. |
16 and never forget good works and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well-pleased. |
16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. |
17 Πείθεσθε τοῖς ἡγουμένοις ὑμῶν καὶ ὑπείκετεC· αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἀγρυπνοῦσιν ὑπὲρ τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν ὡς λόγον ἀποδώσοντες. ἵνα μετὰ χαρᾶς τοῦτο ποιῶσι καὶ μὴ στενάζοντες· ἀλυσιτελὲςD γὰρ ὑμῖν τοῦτο. |
17 Keep letting yourselves be persuaded by – and yielding to – your leaders, for they are the ones who keep vigil over your souls as those who will render an accounting, in order that they might do this with joy and not groaning, for this would be without benefit to y’all. |
17
Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit [yourselves]:
for they watch for your souls, as they that [must]
give account, that they may do |
18 Προσεύχ-εσθε περὶ ἡμῶν· πεποίθαμενE γὰρ ὅτι καλὴν συνείδησιν ἔχομεν, ἐν πᾶσι καλῶς θέλοντες ἀναστρέφεσθαι. |
18 Keep praying for us, for we are convinced that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to be treated well, |
18
Pray for us: for we X
trust
X we have a
good conscience, in all things willing
to live |
19 περισσοτέρως δὲ παρακαλῶ τοῦτο ποιῆσαι, ἵνα τάχιονF ἀποκατασταθῶ ὑμῖν. |
19 so I encourage y’all all-the-more to do this in order that I may be restored to y’all soon. |
19 But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you [the] soon[er]. |
1Chrysostom, Calvin, Theophylact, Grotius, Doddridge, and Owen refer “this,” to "watching;" Henry, Macknight, Scott, Stuart, Brown, Hughes, and I apply “it” to the "account" that is to be given by ministers. Gill has it both ways.
2"Anarchy is an evil, and a cause of ruin. But no less an evil also is the disobedience to rulers. For it comes again to the same.” ~Chrysostom
3"They have no authority to lord it over the people, but to lead them in the ways of God, by informing and instructing them, explaining the word of God to them, and applying it to their several cases. They are not to make laws of their own, but to interpret the laws of God; nor is their interpretation to be immediately received without examination, but the people must search the scriptures, and so far as the instructions of their minister are according to that rule they ought to receive them.." ~M. Henry
4“What
then (you say), when he is wicked should we obey?... If indeed in
regard to Faith, flee and avoid him... but if in regard to
lifestyle, be not over-curious... For hear Christ... having
previously spoken many fearful things concerning... the Scribes and
the Pharisees... yet He says, '...whatsoever they tell you to
observe, do; but do not ye after their works.'” [Matt 23:2-3]
~Chrysostom
"[W]hen we are bidden to obey our pastors, we
ought carefully and wisely to find out those who are true and
faithful rulers; for if we render this honor to all
indiscriminately, first, a wrong will be done to the good; and
secondly, the reason here added, to honor them because they watch
for souls, will be rendered nugatory..." ~J. Calvin
“Has
he said anything that Christ has not said? If he has, disregard him;
if he has not, blame him not, - he has but discharged his duty to
his Master and to you...” ~J. Brown
5The Greek word is literally “souls,” but P.E. Hughes noted accurately that the purview of the episcopos is not restricted to the spiritual: “The Christian pastor’s concern is not merely for the ‘souls’ of those entrusted to his care, but for their human existence in its entirety.” Prayers for physical healing are a case in point (Jas. 5).
6“And pray” is omitted from contemporary English versions on the questionable supposition that its omission from two early Greek manuscripts (B & D + plus a distinct minority of old Latin and Coptic translations) is proof positif that the thousands of other Greek manuscripts (including three manuscripts just as old as B & D, namely א, A, and C), the lectionaries, and the vast majority of ancient versions and church fathers were all in error. To put it another way, there was no language group of Christians whose Bibles omitted “and pray” for over 1,500 years. It was just removed from contemporary Bibles about 50 years ago. (No documents exist to prove the reading of Mark 13:33 before the 4th Century.)
7John Brown wrote that he thought that the “constant intercourse” of prayer between a pastor and his Lord was what this “accounting” referred to.
8Matt. 6:6 indicates that there will be accountability for prayers offered as well.
9"When
do we it with joy? When we see man making progress in the words of
God. When does the labourer in the field work with joy? When he
looks at the tree, and sees the fruit... that he has not laboured in
vain, has not bowed his back, and bruised his hands, and endured the
cold and heat in vain... He said, 'unprofitable for you.' For when
those who are set over you are saddened at your evil deeds…
their very sadness is profitable for them; but it is unprofitable
for you... Let us then, Brethren, do good together in the Lord’s
field; that at the reward we may rejoice together." ~Augustine,
Conclusion of Sermon 32 on Matthew 18:15.
"[I]f they have
their minds restrained by grief or weariness, though they may be
sincere and faithful, they will yet become disheartened and
careless, for vigor in acting will fail at the same time with their
cheerfulness. Hence the Apostle declares, that it would be
unprofitable to the people to cause sorrow and mourning to their
pastors by their ingratitude; and he did this, that he might
intimate to us that we cannot be troublesome or disobedient to our
pastors without hazarding our own salvation." ~J. Calvin
"If
they give up their account with grief, it will be the people's loss
as well as theirs. It is the interest of hearers that the account
their ministers give of them may be with joy, and not with grief. If
faithful ministers be not successful, the grief will be theirs, but
the loss will be the people's. Faithful ministers have delivered
their own souls, but a fruitless and faithless people's blood and
ruin will be upon their own heads." ~M. Henry
10“Apparently
the writer is conscious that unworthy motives have been attributed
to him.” ~A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures
“Many
of the Jews had a bad opinion of Paul, because he, being a Hebrew of
the Hebrews, had cast off the Levitical law and preached up
Christ..." ~M. Henry
“[I]t
seems likely that unfavourable reports had been circulated among the
Hebrew Christians respecting him.” ~J. Brown
112 Cor. 1:12; Eph. 2:3; 1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Pet. 1:17; 2 Pet. 2:18
121 Timothy 1:5 "Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience [συνειδήσεως ἀγαθῆς], and from sincere faith" (NKJV, cf. v.19)
13"[I]t is yet right and meet that we should be peculiarly solicitous for godly and holy men, whose probity and other marks of excellency have become known to us." ~J. Calvin
14"A
probable conjecture may hence perhaps be gathered, that the author
of this Epistle was either beset with troubles or detained by the
fear of persecution, so as not to be able to appear among those to
whom he was writing. It might however be, that he thus spoke, though
he was free and at liberty, for he regarded man’s steps as
being in God’s hand; and this appears probable from the end of
the Epistle." ~J. Calvin
Vincent: “Not implying
imprisonment, but enforced absence through sickness [cf. ATR] or
other cause.”
P.E. Hughes surprisingly was not willing to
offer even that much conjecture.
15“It Could’ve Been Me” from the 1994 album Way Back Home.
AThe
Greek is the Majority text, edited by myself to follow the majority
of the earliest-known manuscripts only when the early manuscript
evidence is practically unanimous. My original document includes
notes on the NKJV, NASB, NIV, & ESV English translations, but
since they are all copyrighted, I cannot include them in my online
document. Underlined words in English versions indicate a
standalone difference from all other English translations of a
certain word. Strikeout usually indicates that the
English translation is, in my opinion, too far outside the range of
meaning of the original Greek word. The addition of an X indicates a
Greek word left untranslated – or a plural Greek word
translated as an English singular. [Brackets] indicate words added
in English not in the Greek. {Pointed Braces} indicate words added
in Greek to the original. Key words are colored consistently across
the chart to show correlations.
BThe only other occurrences of this verb in the N.T. are in Heb. 11:5 & 6.
CHapex legomenon. Occurs in 4 Mac. 6:35.
DHapex legomenon. Without the alpha privative, the root occurs in Luke 17:2 (as well as in the apocryphal Tob. 3:6 and Sir. 20:10, 14; and 29:11) meaning “profit/advantage/better/benefit.”
EFour of the eight Greek manuscripts dated to the first millennium (plus about 9 second millennium manuscripts) support the reading πειθομεθα (present passive “we are being persuaded”), so this is the reading of contemporary critical Greek New Testaments. πεποιθαμεν (Perfect active “we have been persuaded”), however is the reading of the vast majority of Greek manuscripts (none older than the 9th century, however) and the traditional Greek New Testament Editions (Textus Receptus and Greek Orthodox Patriarchal). Both spellings speak of a current state of confidence, the only difference being whether the convincing took place in the past or whether it is ongoing, although it is hard to even bring that out in English translation, as witnessed by the fact that the KJV & NKJV translations from the TR (“we trust/are confident”) are hardly distinguishable from the NASB & NIV translations from the UBS (“we are sure”).
FThe four oldest-known Greek manuscripts plus 10 others spell this word ταχειον, which doesn’t change the meaning, but it is strange that the modern critical editors decided to support the Byzantine majority reading over their usual preference for the convergence of the Chester-Beatty Papyrus, and the Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Ephraemi Rescriptus Uncials!