3:18

Commentators disagree about whom Paul was referring to in 3:18–19. The main suggestions are:

(a) the Judaizers Paul mentioned earlier in the chapter who were trying to make the Gentile Christians become like Jews.

(b) Christians who believed they did not need to obey any moral laws.

(c) non-Christian Jews.

All the Greek text (especially 3:19) implies is that they were people opposed to moral laws. You should not try and identify these people further in your translation.

Once again Paul talked about the enemies of Christ with strong feeling and emotion. Try to make this meaning clear in your translation.

3:18a

For: This means that the evil lives of Christ’s enemies are one of the reasons the believers should try to imitate Paul’s godly life.

as I have often told you before: Paul had often warned the believers about the enemies he was about to describe.

and now say again even with tears: Paul was very sorrowful, even to the point of crying, when he had to tell the believers again about these enemies of Christ.

with tears: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as with tears literally means “crying, weeping, wailing.”

3:18b

Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ: Many people behaved in a way that showed that they opposed the good news, especially the main teaching about why Christ died on the cross. In many languages it does not make sense to say that someone is an “enemy of the cross.” The Display for 3:18b shows some ways to translate this.

Many: It may be necessary to include some implicit information here to clarify who these Many were. For example:

Many ⌊say they are Christians, but they⌋ act like they hate the message about Christ dying on the cross.

Paul does not say explicitly whether these people were Christians or not, even though they claimed to be.

live: As in 3:17b, the word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as live refers here to acting or behaving in a certain way.

the cross of Christ: This means “the cross on which Jesus died.” Here this is used figuratively to refer to the significance or purpose of Christ’s death.

General Comment on 3:18

In some languages it may be helpful to reorder this verse so that the main thing Paul is saying comes at the beginning. For example:

For there are many enemies of the cross of Christ. I have told you about them before, and now I am crying as I tell you again.

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