3:13a

For those who have served well as deacons: Paul was referring to deacons who help other people in an excellent way.

a high standing: People will honor deacons who fulfill their responsibilities well. For example, the New Living Translation (2004 Revision) says:

Those who do well as deacons will be rewarded with respect

3:13b

great confidence: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as confidence refers to being confident, bold, without fear.

in the faith: This is a very general expression that states the way in which deacons who have served well can be confident. However scholars interpret this in different ways. The main interpretations are:

(1) The deacons are not afraid to tell other people about their faith in Christ. For example, the Good News Translation says:

Those helpers who do their work well…are able to speak boldly about their faith in Christ Jesus.

(Good News Translation)

(2) The deacons have boldness in their relationship with God, and they trust God more and more. For example, the New Living Translation (2004 Revision) says:

Those who do well as deacons…will have increased confidence in their faith in Christ Jesus.

(New Living Translation (2004 Revision), New International Version (2011 Revision), God’s Word, New Century Version)

Many English versions are not clear as to which interpretation they follow. If it is not possible for you to translate this in a general way, it is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).

Christ Jesus: Notice that in this verse Paul referred to Jesus as Christ Jesus instead of “Jesus Christ.” The names “Christ Jesus” and “Jesus Christ” refer to the same person. (Some people, however, think that when Paul used the word Christ before the word Jesus, as in Christ Jesus, he was emphasizing that Jesus was the Messiah.)

In most English versions “Jesus Christ” and “Christ Jesus” are translated in the same order as they occur in the Greek manuscripts. It is recommended that you do the same thing.

However, it is possible that, in some languages, people may be confused to see the names in two different orders. They may even think that Paul was referring to two different people. If this is true in your language, it may be necessary to translate Christ Jesus as “Jesus Christ.” This is the more usual word order in the New Testament.

Christ: The word Christ is used two ways in the New Testament. In the Gospels, Christ is a title for Jesus. It means “the anointed one.” But later, by the time that Paul and others wrote letters to individuals and churches, the word Christ was used as another name for Jesus. It was no longer used as a title. So here and in other New Testament letters you should spell Christ according to the rules of your language.

© 2003 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.