Introduction
The translation of the New Testament is based upon the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece, 27th Edition and The Greek New Testament, 4th Revised Edition, 1998. All the work of the translation is my own as is the corrected translation and the explanatory notes.
The Greek exegesis (or explanation of the Greek) is designed to help those pastors, who do not have an extensive background in Greek, and need help understanding how I derived at the translation I give. My translations are designed to be a little more literal than found in the NIV or NASB and occasionally having to use English idiomatic expressions for the Greek thought to make sense in English. The Greek exegesis is not designed to be of much help to the casual Bible student.
The explanatory notes are my explanation of the meaning of the translation, trying not only to bring out in simple language what the text is saying, but also trying to show how it applies to us living the Christian life. These notes also contain categorical notes. A categorical doctrine is the explanation of an idea that is repeated many times in Scripture in different ways. It is like looking at all the facets of a diamond. Categorical doctrines are often the analysis of various passages of Scripture that relate to a single idea--such as resurrection, justification, sanctification, atonement, etc. These are all topics that should to be understood by believers, in order to enhance their appreciation of all God has done for us.
There are typos and unintentional errors, which I and others helping me are constantly trying to repair, such as "their" versus "there" or "Eph 3:1" that should have been "Eph 3:13," which spell check does not fix. If you see one, please send us an email.
One last thing you will notice in the translations are words enclosed in a parenthesis (which will look like this) and words enclosed in brackets [which will look like this]. The words in parenthesis are actually a parenthetical statement in the Greek, which sometimes doesn't show up in the NIV or NASV as a parenthesis, but should be. The words in brackets are an expanded thought, explanation, or other possible translation of a word for clarity. For example, in Acts 28:11 it says, "Then after three months we set sail on an Alexandrian ship, having spent the winter at the island, marked with the Dioscuri [the insignia of Castor and Pollux]." The Greek text uses the proper noun DIOSCURI, which means nothing to the English
reader until they read the explanation in the brackets that follows. One of the more difficult words to translate in Greek is the word meaning "to comfort" and/or "to encourage." Often the author means both ideas in what he is saying. So the translation might read something like "he encouraged [comforted] me with his coming." The encouragement was a comfort and the comfort was an encouragement. The two ideas sometimes cannot be separated. Also sometimes a Greek word may have four or five possible translations and two or three of them apply equally well. So I give the most likely translation outside the brackets and the other possibilities inside the brackets, so the reader will understand the nuances of the word.
Translation is not an exact science, but is accomplished through the influence and teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit, without Whom none of this matters. Therefore, if I have gotten anything right, it is because God the Holy Spirit helped me do so. The things I have gotten wrong are my responsibility alone.