3:12a

In Him and through faith in Him: The pronoun Him refers to Christ. See how you translated in Him at 2:22a.

One way to show how this phrase is connected to the rest of the verse is with the word “because.” For example:

Because we are united with Christ and because we believe in him
-or-
Because of our close relationship with Christ and because we believe in him

faith: The word faith refers here to the action of people trusting and believing in Jesus. See how you translated faith in 1:15b and 2:8a. See faith, Meaning 1 in the Glossary for more information.

3:12b

we may enter God’s presence: The clause we may enter God’s presence refers to believers praying to God and worshiping him; they approach him or “enter into his presence.” (Paul was not talking here about entering into God’s presence in heaven after we die.)

enter: The Greek word which the Berean Standard Bible translates as the verb enter is literally “we have…access.” This same Greek word was translated as “access” in 2:18. It means that we have the ability and right to enter God’s presence. As in 2:18, it is best in many languages to translate this phrase as a verb. For example:

go into God’s presence (Good News Translation)
-or-
we can come before God (New Century Version)

with boldness and confidence: The words the Berean Standard Bible has translated as boldness and confidence have a similar meaning. In this context, they are so close in meaning that they may be translated as a single noun with an adjective to strengthen it. For example:

bold confidence (God’s Word)

boldness: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as boldness is literally “boldness.” It means that believers do not have to be afraid when they pray to God or worship him.

confidence: The word confidence means to have “complete trust; belief in one’s own or another’s ability.” In this context, it is similar in meaning to “boldness” and strengthens it.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

without fear (New Century Version)
-or-
trust

General Comment on 3:12a–b

In some languages, it will be more natural to reverse the order of 3:12a and 3:12b. For example:

12b We can go to God confidently and without fear 12a because we believe in Christ and are united with him.

In some languages, it might be more natural to make separate clauses out of the phrases “In Him” and “through faith in him.” For example:

Through the work of Christ we (incl.) can go close to God. Because we have believed in Jesus he has opened the way so we do not fear, we can go close ⌊to God⌋.

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