Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 29 Mar. 2019
Grocery shopping for our large family is always a bit of a challenge – and even more so during times when stockpiling is frowned upon. Sam’s Club seems to sell in just about the right quantities for us: we can get 80 pounds of hamburger meat in one box much cheaper by the pound than we can get it at a regular grocery store. When my wife comes home from shopping at Sam’s, my children are sometimes kind-of reluctant to respond to her call to help unload the groceries. With no teenage boys left in the house, nobody wants to carry the 80-pound box of hamburger in from the car along with all the other groceries. But one time, after a string of birthday parties which had left our freezer filled with half-empty ice cream cartons, Paula realized there wasn’t room for all the hamburger she had bought, so she called for the kids to help her. The kids responded half-heartedly, expecting the usual hard work of hauling groceries, but Paula surprised them by saying that what she really needed help with was with eating all that leftover ice cream in order to make more room in the freezer. Suddenly every shred of reluctance was gone from the children, (“Mom is asking us to help her by eating ice cream?!!!”) and they helped their mom out with an enthusiasm I have rarely seen before! Why? Because, when she asked them to do something they really enjoyed doing, it didn’t feel like a chore at all!
This principle has some application to our prayer life, for our theology can inform our prayers. When we know what God really loves to do, praying is a cinch!
In our series on the book of Hebrews, we have come to a point where the Apostle has asked his readers to pray for him, and then, in Hebrews 13:20-21, he prays for his readers: “Now, may the God of peace, who raised up from among the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, by means of the blood of the eternal covenant, fix y’all up in every good [work] toward the doing of His will, doing in us what is well-pleasing in His presence, through Jesus the Anointed One, to whom be the glory forever and ever, Amen.
Here the apostle used what he knew of God to formulate prayer requests which he could be certain God would answer because they so conformed to His character.
I see six characteristics of God highlighted in this prayer, so let’s meditate on them one by one so that our faith in Him may be fortified and so that we will see how to apply God’s character in our own prayers.
God is the source of peace; it is one of His defining characteristics.
Because His being is eternally unchangeable, He is never disturbed in His peace.
Because He is divinely sovereign, He is never anxious, for nothing ever feels out-of-control to Him.
And because the persons of the Trinity love each other perfectly, they always experience relational peace.
This God brings His peace into our lives: Ps. 4:8 “In peace I will lie down and sleep at once, for You – You alone, Yahweh, cause me to settle down confidently.” (NAW, cf. Phil. 4:7)1
He did this through instituting the “sacrifice of peace offerings” in the Old Testament to atone for human sin and to create peace between His people and Himself (Deut. 27:7), such that the sons of Korah could say in Psalm 85:2 & 8 "You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin... He will speak peace to His people..." (NKJV).
In the New Testament, Jesus offered Himself as the fulfillment of those sacrifices such that the Apostle Paul could say in Romans 5:1 "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (NKJV).
This is called “preaching peace through Christ Jesus” in Acts 10:36.2
But peace with God is not all; God also brings peace through helping us conquer our spiritual enemies:
Romans 16:20a "And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet..."
1 Thessalonians 5:23a "...the God of peace Himself [will] sanctify you completely..." (NKJV) – helping you conquer sins in your life.
God also gives us peace by guarding our thought life: Phil. 4:6-9 "...the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus [as you make your requests known to God and meditate on the true, noble, just, pure, lovely, virtuous things you learned from the Apostles] and the God of peace will be with you." (NKJV)
And He is developing a kingdom under the monarchy of Jesus Himself which will be characterized by peace.
Isaiah 9:6-7 "For a child is born for us, a son is given for us, and the government is on His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of His empire’s increase and of peace there will be no end." (NAW, cf. 52:7, Luke 2:11-14)
The vanguard of that “kingdom of peace” is the church – with Jesus as its head – the church which “pursues peace with all” (as Heb. 12:14 says) and thus enjoys peace in its community while “the God of love and peace” dwells among us (2 Cor. 13:11b) by His Spirit.
This is the first thing which God does: He shares His peace with us! But not only is God the source of peace; He is also the source of life.
He is the only one who can reclaim souls from death and restore life to them such that they can never die again!
The word for “raise” here is different from the word in the New Testament usually used to describe the resurrection of Jesus. Here is it is the word usually used to describe launching out in a boat away from a port city. The choice of this word ἀναγαγὼν instead of εγειρω paints the picture of Jesus visiting the realms of the dead, but then departing from there, never to return.
The great historical fact that Jesus was raised from the dead has been confirmed
by the testimony of many New Testament witnesses, many of whom did so despite the consequence that they would be martyred for it.
This historical fact has been confirmed by sacred and secular historians alike.
And the thousands of years of failure on the part of highly-motivated and powerful men to find the dead body of Jesus and discredit Christianity only further clinches the case.
The resurrection of Jesus is the lynchpin in God’s plan of salvation, to take the one who died to appease God’s wrath against us for our sin and raise Him alive to be the king forever over all the people He saved!
The Apostle Peter referred to that when he wrote in the prologue of his epistle that “...the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead re-birthed us into a living hope into an imperishable and undefiled and unfading inheritance which has been preserved in the heavens..." (1 Peter 1:3-4, NAW)
The resurrection of Jesus also guarantees that His followers’ lives will not end in death but in eternal life. Romans 8:11 "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." (NKJV, cf. 1 Cor. 15, Rom. 6:8-14)
Next, not only does God share His peace and life with us, He also takes care of us because...
Ever since the profound opening of Psalm 23 “Yahweh is my shepherd,” God’s people have envisioned themselves as a flock of sheep under His care. They have also understood themselves to be in a familiar relationship with God, different from those who were not God’s people, just as shepherds do not wander the world tending every animal they come across, but rather focus their care on a particular set of sheep over which they have responsibility.
Shepherds feed their sheep, heal their sheep’s infirmities, and protect them from enemies.
The Old Testament prophets, around the time that Israel and Judah were conquered and removed by the Assyrians and Chaldeans, predicted God’s coming to his people like a shepherd and restoring them:
Isaiah 40:10-11 "Look, the Lord Yahweh will come in might... Like a shepherd He will shepherd His flock: With His arm He will gather lambs, And in His bosom carry; Those who are nursing He will lead gently." (NAW, cf. Micah 5:3)
Ezekiel 34:12-25 "'As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered... I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel... I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,' says the Lord GOD. 'I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong... Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats.'"
Ezekiel 37:21-26 "...Thus says the Lord GOD: '...I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God. David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd... My servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant..." (NKJV)
Now, David had been dead for 500 years when Ezekiel wrote that prophecy, so it was a mystery who this new shepherd would be until Jesus revealed that He is that great Shepherd of the sheep:
"When He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, as sheep not having a shepherd." (Matt. 9:36, NAW) and He said...
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep... I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own... My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand." (John 10:11-28, NKJV)
Thus the Apostle Peter could say to those who believed in Jesus, "For y'all were being 'like wandering sheep,' but now y'all have been returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." ( 1 Peter 2:25, NAW)
To be sure, Jesus has more coming. The role of shepherd as judge and destroyer of enemies has yet to be fulfilled in its entirety, but He assured His disciples in Matthew 25:32 that He would come back later to do that.
This is what God does: He gives peace, restores life, and shepherds with leadership, provision, care, and protection. Heb. 13:20 goes on to tell us that He does this in a special way...
In the Greek text, the phrase about the “eternal covenant in His blood” comes immediately after the phrase “the great shepherd of the sheep,” but there is some disagreement among Bible scholars as to whether
the blood of the eternal covenant is the means by which Jesus is the great shepherd of the sheep (as the KJV, NAS, and ESV indicate)4
or whether it is the means by which God raised Jesus from the dead (as the NIV5 indicates).
It seems to me a bit tautological to say that Jesus’ death was the means to his resurrection, nor do I see sense in a literal reading that God the Father took Jesus’ blood and somehow used that to raise Jesus from the dead. That’s why I think that Jesus’ blood was the means by which He became our great shepherd. He laid down His life for His sheep (John 10:15), purchasing us with His blood (Acts 20:28),
but that blood was part of God’s plan from before the creation of the world (Eph. 1:4-12) to restore sinners to favor with Him.6
In Genesis 17:19 “...God said to Abraham, ‘...Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name Isaac; and I will establish my covenant with him, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to him and to his seed after him.”
The animal sacrifices in the Mosaic law for the forgiveness of sin were also called “the blood of the covenant” by which the Israelites were made the people of God (Exodus 24:8) and the worship in the temple during those days was also called an “everlasting covenant” in Leviticus 24:8.
The covenant God made with David to enthrone a descendant forever as king was also called a part of the “everlasting covenant” in 2 Samuel 23:5, but, as David said in 1 Chronicles 16:8-24, God’s “eternal covenant... which he commanded to a thousand generations, which he covenanted with Abraham... Isaac…. Jacob... [and] Israel as an everlasting covenant” is not only about the history of the nation of Israel, it is also about “his salvation... his glory, [and] his wondrous deeds among all peoples." (Brenton) That’s why the prophecies made by Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Zachariah about the New Covenant with Jesus and church is also called the “everlasting covenant”:
Isaiah 61:7-8 "‘everlasting joy shall be upon their head... and will make an everlasting covenant with them… 54:10b ...the covenant of my peace will not slip away,’ says Yahweh, your Compassionate One."
Ezekiel 37:26 "I will make with them a covenant of peace; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will establish my sanctuary in the midst of them for ever."
Zechariah 9:11 "And thou by the blood of the covenant has sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit that has no water." (Brenton) – Presumably speaking of the blood of Jesus freeing us from hell.
The book of Hebrews explains how the blood of the Son of God (Heb. 10:29) is the fulfillment of the “blood of the eternal covenant” as the means for sanctifying a people for God (Hebrews 9:13-16) – a flock of sheep, as it were, under the shepherding of Jesus the Great High Priest who mediates the New Covenant (Heb. 12:24).
This is what God does. He makes contractual arrangements called the “eternal covenant” in order to ensure that there will always be a legitimate way for rebellious humans (who justly deserve to die for sins) to instead be reconciled to Him through the death of His perfect Son as a substitute.
This is how the blood of the eternal covenant places us under the shepherding of Jesus, makes us heirs of His life, and brings His peace into our lives. But God’s work doesn’t stop there. He doesn’t do this one-time act of salvation and then leave us in limbo. He doesn’t stuff us full of blessings to be Christian couch potatoes.
God wants His people to do something8. The King James versions read “good works,” following the vast majority of Greek manuscripts, but the NASB, NIV, & ESV read “good things,” following the two oldest-known Greek manuscripts. Really, there is no difference in meaning.
The Greek verb here is κατ-αρτίσαι – God is an artizan who makes/prepares/forms/equips/ fixes up things.
We’ve already seen in Hebrews 11:3 how He “fixed up” “the worlds... by His word... such that it was not out of visible things that what is seen came into being,"
then in Hebrews 10:5 that He “fixed up” a body in which to send His Son to save us,
and now He “fixes up” us to do what is good. (NAW)9
The Apostle John also talks about this in his first epistle: "In this we have known love, because He, on our behalf, laid down His own life, so we, on behalf of the brothers, are obliged to lay down our lives. But whoever might have the worldly means and might be noticing his brother when he is having a need, yet shuts off his affections toward him, how can the love of God remain in him? Dear children, let us neither love in word nor in talk, but rather in work and truth. And by this we will know that we are of the truth, and, in front of Him, we will assure our hearts, because if the heart is condemning of us [we will know] that God is greater than our heart, and He knows all. Loved ones, if our heart is not condemning us, we can have an open conversation directly with God. And whatever we are requesting, we are receiving from Him, because we are keeping His commands and we are doing the acceptable10 things before Him. And this is His command, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and that we should be loving one another, just as He commanded us." (1 John 3:16-23, NAW) John, was well-known for the way he framed “good works” in terms of “love.”
What are the “good works” God is preparing us to do?
Romans 2:7, in keeping with the theme of that whole book, defines “doing good works” in terms of faith. Trusting Jesus to save us is a “good work” which God equips us to do, according to Ephesians 2, by giving faith to us as a gift. 2 Corinthians 5:9 implies that such “walking by faith” is “pleasing [εὐάρεστοι] to the Lord.”
2 Corinthians 9:8 tells us that “good works” include giving financially to help the needs of the poor (cf. Phil 1:6).
To this could be added the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:35-36 “I was hungry, and y’all gave me [something] to eat; I was thirsty, and y’all gave me a drink; I was a stranger, and y’all gathered me in; I was naked, and y’all wrapped me up; I was sick, and y’all watched over me; I was in prison, and y’all came to me!”
Acts 9 gives us a practical example of helping the poor: It says in v.36 that Tabitha (also known as Dorcas) was “full of good works and charitable deeds” and then relates (in v.39) the most significant of her good works: she had made clothes for a bunch of widows.
These are “good works’ in regards to the needy, and Philippians 4:18 encourages us that such charity is also “well-pleasing [εὐάρεστον] to God.”
Romans 13 and Titus 3:1 even imply that obeying the civil laws and paying taxes are part of doing “good works.” This also applies to children in obeying your parents, which Col. 3:20 reminds us is another one of those good works that is “well-pleasing [εὐάρεστον] with the Lord.”
And then, when the Apostle Paul itemizes the "good works" in 1 Timothy 2:10 which are "proper for women professing godliness" he lists "faith, love, holiness, and self-control" but he also includes "childbearing" in that list!
God's Creation mandate in Genesis 1 to "be fruitful and multiply" is affirmed in the New Testament here and in Colossians 1, where the Apostle prays that Christians will be "fruitful in every good work"!
He reiterates it in 1 Timothy 5 in the list of “good works” expected of widows supported by the church; “bringing up children” tops the list, followed by “hospitality to strangers and washing the feet of the saints.”
"every good work" in 2 Timothy 2:21ff also includes spiritual fruitfulness: "...pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord... be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition" so that they will repent and be saved. And “every good work” in 2 Tim. 3:17ff means to "Preach the word... Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." (NKJV, cf. Titus 1:16)
Faith, generosity to the needy, being a law-abiding citizen or obedient child, and being fruitful in childbearing and in making disciples are all “good works” which God has prepared us to do!
It is God’s nature to be active in pursuing the building of His kingdom and the sharing of His love and the proclamation of His word, and it is consistent with God’s nature that He equip us to participate with Him in His works11.
The primary way He does this is through His Spirit: Rom. 5:5 tells us that “...the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (NKJV)
God also uses His word to equip us: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “...Scripture is given by inspiration of God... that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped [εξηρτισμενος] for every good work.” (NKJV)12
And God also uses other people to equip us: Ephesians 4:11-12 “And He Himself gave... apostles... prophets... evangelists, and... pastors and teachers, for the equipping [καταρτισμον] of the saints for the work of ministry...” (NKJV)
God is there with us every step of the way to give us peace through Jesus, raise us from death to life, shepherd us, save us by means of His covenant, and equip us for doing every good work. This leads us right into the final thing listed in this passage which God does...
Notice the emphasis on Jesus. Every thing God does with us is through Jesus.13 This had to be hammered into the heads of the first century Jews who weren’t so sure that Jesus was worth following. The Apostle makes it clear that there is no relationship with God without Jesus!
In fact, everything we do that is good and pleasing14 to God is also done through Jesus.
We are not left to our own power to conjure up good. We are to be conduits of the power of God working through us as we trust in Jesus to make us right with God. The Apostle Paul put it this way:
Col. 1:29 "...I labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily."
Philippians 1:6 "...He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ… 2:13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
2 Thess. 2:16-12 "...Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, [will] comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work." (NKJV)
One obvious application is given at the end of verse 21: Let us give glory to Jesus15! If all the blessings of God’s peace and life and care and salvation and equipping and action are through Jesus, then let us praise our Lord Jesus with every breath of life we breathe, every action we take, every thought we think, and every circumstance in which His salvation and comfort are revealed. By faith accept that these really are the will of God for you and that He will indeed pour out every one of these blessings on you!
The second application is to do exactly what the apostle does and harness your conviction that God gives peace, resurrection life, shepherding care, covenantal salvation, empowerment to fruitful action, and intimate fellowship, and pray that God will do exactly what God likes to do in the lives of those you know and love. It’s like asking kids for help with eating ice cream! Pray with this scripture: may the God of peace, who raised up from among the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, by means of the blood of the eternal covenant, fix y’all up in every good [work] toward the doing of His will, doing in us what is well-pleasing in His presence, through Jesus the Anointed One, to whom be the glory forever and ever, Amen.
Greek NT |
NAW |
KJV |
20 ῾Ο δὲ Θεὸς τῆς εἰρήνης, ὁ ἀναγαγὼν ἐκ νεκρῶν τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων τὸν μέγαν ἐνB αἵματι διαθήκης αἰωνίου, τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν ᾿Ιησοῦν, |
20 Now, may the God of peace, who raised up from among the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, by means of the blood of the eternal covenant, |
20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, |
21 καταρτίσαιC ὑμᾶς ἐν παντὶ [ἔργῳD] ἀγαθῷ εἰς τὸ ποιῆσαι τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦE, ποιῶν ἐν ἡμῖνF τὸ εὐάρεστον ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ διὰ ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων· ἀμήν. |
21 fix y’all up in every good [work] toward the doing of His will, doing in us what is well-pleasing in His presence, through Jesus the Anointed One, to whom be the glory forever and ever, Amen. |
21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be X glory for ever and ever. Amen. |
1Chrysostom painted the following picture of being at peace while active and equipped: “For as a ship sailing with favorable winds is neither to be hindered nor sunk, so long as it enjoys a prosperous and steady breeze, but also causes great admiration according to the march of its progress both to the mariners, and to the passengers, giving rest to the one, and not forcing them to toil on at their oars, and setting the others free from all fear, and giving them the most delightful view of her course; so too a soul strengthened by the Divine Spirit, is far above all the billows of this life, and more strongly than the ship, cuts the way bearing on to Heaven, since it is not sent along by wind, but has all the pure sails filled by the Paraclete Himself: and He casts out of our minds all that is slackened and relaxed.”
2cf. Isa. 26:12, Eph. 6:15, Col. 1:20
3Calvin suggested this meant “chief” although Greek has a different word for that exact denotation. Brown suggested it meant either “chief” or “transcendent personal dignity.”
4This view is supported by Beza, Doddridge, Stuart, and Vincent. Another view was advanced by Jerome, Theodoret, and Calvin that the eternal covenant is about the death of Jesus taken together with His resurrection.
5This view was supported by Scott, Henry, Gill, Brown, and Hughes, the latter of whom supported it with Heb. 2:9.
6“The covenant here referred to is obviously that divine constitution or arrangement by which spiritual and eternal blessings are secured for the guilty and depraved children of men through the mediation of the incarnate Son of God… The blood of this covenant is the blood by the shedding of which this covenant was ratified.” ~J. Brown
7"For that is made perfect which having a beginning is afterwards completed." ~Chrysostom
8“[T]hanks to the mediation of our divine-human High Priest… Jesus Christ… there is a restoration of harmony between man and God… The union of the divine will and the human will is the true harmony of creation. This is by no means the eclipse of the human will but, on the contrary, its fulness and its perfection… The Christian’s service of God… is not passive submission but willing, joyful, and cooperative obedience.” ~P. E. Hughes
9"We hence conclude, that we are by no means fit to do good until we are made or formed for the purpose by God, and that we shall not continue long in doing good unless he strengthens us; for perseverance is his peculiar gift." ~J. Calvin
10αρεστον compare with Heb. 13:21 ευαρεστον
111 Peter 5:10 "...the God of all grace who called y'all into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus will Himself renew [καταρτίσει]... confirm, strengthen, [and] establish [y’all]." (NAW)
12“In His word He has given us a plain, well-accredited revelation of His mind. By the influence of His Spirit, which our depravity renders absolutely necessary, He leads us to understand and believe this revelation.” ~J. Brown
13"God
is then only prayed to aright by us, to lead us on to perfection,
when we acknowledge his power in the resurrection of Christ, and
acknowledge Christ himself as our pastor." ~J. Calvin
"[S]aints
need to be strengthened with spiritual strength, to perform good
works; for they are weak and feeble, and unable of themselves to do
anything spiritually good; without Christ they can do nothing, but
through him strengthening them, they can do all things..." ~J.
Gill
14"… ‘very agreeable to’ him; it makes men like unto him; hereby they become a suitable habitation for him, and are put into a capacity of serving him; to such he gives more grace..."~ J. Gill
15There is some debate among commentators whether Jesus or the Father is intended as the recipient of this glory.
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 a quote from the Old Testament. Key words are colored
consistently across the chart to show correlations.
BAlthough all the standard English versions interpret this as a preposition of means, Moulton’s Grammar, following Calvin, suggested it was merely denoting “accompaniment… ‘with the blood...’”
C“The aorist optative καταρτισαι expresses the notion of wishing, ‘may God … make you complete.”” (Burton, Moods and Tenses of New Testament Greek)
DThis word is in the majority of Greek manuscripts (the oldest of which is the Ephraemi Rescriptus from the 5th Century), and thus in the traditional Textus Receptus and Patriarchal Greek Orthodox editions of the Greek New Testament (as well as the 3rd Century Sahidic and 5th Century Syriac versions and 5th Century Church fathers Chrysostom and Theodoret), but is not in the 5th century Vulgate or 3rd Century Boharic versions, and it’s not in the western contemporary critical editions of the Greek New Testament (such as Nestle-Aland or the UBS) because it is not found in 6 manuscripts, two of which are the oldest-known (The Chester-Beatty Papyrus and the Sinaiticus Uncial, dating to the 3rd and 4th centuries respectively. It’s also not in the 6th Century Claramontanus.) Curiously, the 5th Century Alexandrinus manuscript reads “word” instead of “work” here. The difference does not approach anything significant theologically, whether we are equipped with “that which is good” with “good works” or with “good words;” all three can be supported by other scriptures.
ECuriously, all the oldest-known manuscripts spelled this pronoun with a different case ending (P46-accusative; א, A, C -dative), but not even the contemporary critical editions considered that to be accurate.
FThe majority of Greek manuscripts - and thus the Textus Receptus editions - read “to y’all,” whereas contemporary editions - both Western “critical” and Eastern Orthodox read “to us.” The former is supported by 3 of the 8 known manuscripts from the first millennium, the oldest dating to the 5th century (plus the 5th Century Vulgate and church fathers from the 4th and 5th centuries – Gregory Nyssa, Chrysostom, and Theodoret), but the latter is supported by dozens of Greek manuscripts from almost every century since the 3rd (as well as the 3rd century Coptic versions and 5th century Armenian and Georgian versions). Whether the author includes himself or not makes no difference in meaning, for it is not intended exclusively.