FOOTNOTES:

^a This is the ‘surname’ of someone named Joses (Greek) or Joseph (Hebrew/Aramaic), and it means in Aramaic either ‘Son of Rest’ or ‘Son of Prophecy.’ I wonder whether his father was named something like ‘Nabas’ or if this is more of an earned nickname.

^b Or ‘based on a revelation’

^c Or ‘other peoples.’ Traditionally, ‘Gentiles.’ It means ‘people groups’ or ‘ethnicities’ and was used by Jews to refer to all other people groups other than their own. The context here does not quite make sense limited to everyone except Jews since though he seemed to specialize in going to places that were populated primarily with others, there are plenty of examples of him teaching Jews as well.

^d Most translations translate this as ‘prominent’ or ‘influential’ or ‘those who were leaders,’ and there seems to be an idiomatic quality to how it is used in that way. However, the word is a participle from dokeo, which means ‘to seem’ or ‘to appear/be perceived.’ It’s the origin of the term ‘docetism’ which is a belief that Jesus only ‘seemed’ to have a physical body but did not actually physically exist and was only a spiritual projection of God (I’m in agreement with the historical designation of that belief as a dangerous falsehoold). In this instance, I wonder if it is meant to be a contrast to the upcoming reference to ‘fake members of the family’ in verse 4. If that is the case, then it could be translated as something like ‘those who were as they seemed’ or ‘those with integrity,’ meaning their appearances fit with the truth of their identity and way of life as opposed to the fake members of the family who tried to fit in but their motives and behavior toward others were out of line with the Path of Christ.

^e This sentence has no subject or verb in the Greek. The implication seems to be that Titus’ circumcision status is only relevant to what Paul is discussing because some people who do not represent Christ’s or Paul’s values and had been infiltrating the church.

^f This word is actually an adjective in the Greek, so more literally, it’s something like ‘because of infiltrating/creeping in fake members of the family (“brothers” in Greek)’ or ‘fake members of the family who creep in.’

^g ‘Crept in’ in here is a verb form of the same word that is an adjective translated as ‘infiltration.’

^h Literally, ‘God does not take/receive a person’s face.’ It’s an idiom that is often translated as ‘God does not show favoritism/partiality.’ It’s the same idiom disingenuously used toward Jesus by the Pharisees in Matthew 22:16. In addition to ‘face,’ the Greek prosopon can be used to refer to the masks Greek actors used to portray different characters/roles, reflecting a perception by others that had nothing to do with the humanity of the person underneath.

ⁱ This is the Greek word pisteuo, which is usually in the active voice and means ‘trust’ or ‘be faithful’ or ‘have allegiance.’ However, here it is in the passive voice, which means the writer is the recipient of the action.

^j Literally, ‘for the foreskin’

^k Literally, ‘for the circumcision’

^l Traditionally, ‘James,’ but the Greek is Iakobos, the same as is used to translate ‘Jacob’ from the Hebrew Bible, and leaving it as ‘James’ obscures the Semitic history.

^m A nickname for Simeon Peter

ⁿ This is the word dokeo again. See note from Galatians 2:2.

^o A city in Syria with a primarily non-Jewish population

^p This word kataginosko, only appears three times in the Bible. Very literally, it means ‘know against.’ In the particular form here, it is ‘have been known against.’ The idea is something along the lines of ‘found guilty.’ Some knowledge that was against him had come to light.

^q Traditionally, ‘James.’ He was considered to be the leader of the church in Jerusalem.

^r Literally, ‘fearing the ones from circumcision’

^s While the word could also be translated ‘Judeans,’ the context shows it is not just the people from Judea but all the Jews present, including Barnabas and Peter (who was from Galilee, not Judea).

^t This is the same term Jesus used for the religious leaders who were supposedly representing God but excluded people and treated others as less-than in the name of upholding God’s instruction.

^u ‘Being a pretender’ is one word here, a noun, that traditionally, is ‘hypocrisy.’ In attempting to remain consistent ‘being a pretender’ seems to work. Other options include ‘pretending’ or ‘pretenderness’ which, of course, is not a real word but gets at the meaning.

^v This is orthopodeo, where we get ‘orthopedic.’ Very literally, ‘to place a foot straight,’ so ‘to walk in a straight line.’ It’s another in a long list of metaphors connected with ‘the Path’ of Christ.

^w This is an adverb form of ‘ethnicities’ or ‘other peoples’ or ‘Gentiles.’ This is ‘Gentile-like living,’ but not in the sense of simply being of foreign descent but of adhering to values that are foreign to the Path of the Lord, to the Hebrew Bible as made clear through Jesus.

^x There does not seem to be a good way to translate this literally. It is the Greek word phusis, where we get ‘physics.’ It has to do with growth or sprouting up, and in connection with that, the nature of a thing.

^y The traditional ‘Gentile sinners’ really takes this in a weird direction. Using traditional wording, ‘sinners from other nations’ could work, but ‘from’ needs to be there as it is included with the Greek word ex. It does not mean that all people of other ethnicities do things out of line with the Path of the Lord, though they may also be deviators in that sense. It has its connection with Jesus’ teaching on deviations in Matthew that includes people being considered unclean based on ethnicity and even illness or disability. See Matthew 8-9 as well as much of the rest of the book.

^z ‘Nobody’ rather than ‘no one’ was chosen here because of the presence of sarx, the stuff bodies are made of and traditionally translated as ‘flesh.’

^aa Traditionally, ‘a transgressor.’ The Greek is peri- ‘around’ -bates ‘stepper/walker.’ It’s another ‘Path’ metaphor, stepping to the side and off the Path to get around something. ‘Violator’ could be appropriate but it does not continue the metaphor, and there is nothing in the Greek that directly indicates what is being violated, though readers can fill in the blank based on the larger context.

^bb This is the same word used for when Jesus was turned in to the guards of the religious leaders, for being ‘handed over’ not just ‘giving’ like a gift.