"We have an advocate with the Father" (I John 2:1)—It is of interest to note that the word "parkletos," which is here rendered "advocate," is translated "Comforter" in John 14:16 and elsewhere. "Parakletos" meant originally "one called to one's side;" and since a person might be summoned to one's side for purposes of comfort, defense, or aid, it can be translated "comforter," "advocate," or simply "helper" (cf. the Margin of the Revised Version).

"He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him" (I John 2:10)—The Greek word "skandalon," here rendered "occasion of stumbling," meant originally a stick used for setting a trap, or even the trap itself, and came to be employed in the sense of a "stumbling block"; "i.e., any impediment placed in the way and causing one to stumble or fall" (cf. Thayer: Greek Lexicon, p. 577). It may also be observed that "skandalon" is the root of our modern word "scandal." In Greek, the words rendered "in him" are ambiguous, for they can also mean "in it," thus referring to the "light" instead of to him "that loveth his brother." This explains Moffatt's rendering: "He who loves his brother remains in the light—and in the light there is no pitfall."

"We beseech you ... that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more" (I Thess. 4:1)—As often in the New Testament, the Greek verb literally translated "walk" in this passage, and also in I John 2:6, is used figuratively in the sense of "live" or "conduct oneself" (compare Thayer: op. cit., and also Moffatt and Weymouth); while the words which are translated "abound more and more" may also be rendered "excel still more" or "increase in excellence" (Thayer: op. cit., p. 505). Goodspeed's translation is: "We ask ... you ... to live as you learned from us that you must live, to please God—as indeed you are doing, only do it more and more."

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal" (I Cor. 13:1)—The Greek word "agape," which is regularly rendered "charity" in our Common Version of this verse and elsewhere in this chapter, has the literal meaning of "love," and is thus translated in almost all modern versions of the Scriptures. In fact, it may be noted that in the early seventeenth century, when the Authorized Version was first published, "charity" was really employed as a synonym for "love," following the usage of the Latin "caritas"; though today "charity" is more commonly used to describe "almsgiving."

"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up" (I Cor. 13:4)—While the general sense of the verse is clear enough, despite its somewhat archaic phraseology, Weymouth makes its meaning even more vivid by rendering it in modern language as follows: "Love is forbearing and kind. Love knows no jealousy. Love does not brag; is not conceited."

"Resist not evil" (Matt. 5:39)—The term rendered "evil" is somewhat ambiguous in Greek, for it could refer either to "an evil (thing)" or "an evil person." Hence, while Moffatt translates: "You are not to resist an injury;" and the Twentieth Century New Testament has: "You must not resist wrong;" Weymouth gives: "I tell you not to resist a wicked man;" and the Revised Version: "Resist not him that is evil."

"But I say unto you" (Matt. 5:39, 44)—Normally in the Greek of the New Testament period, the personal pronoun "I" is simply implied when use is made of the first person singular of the verb; but in cases of special emphasis, the additional word "ego" is found, as in these two verses, suggesting clearly that the "I" is meant to be stressed.

"Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground" (John 8:6)—The words which follow in our Authorized Version—"as though he heard them not"—are not found in the original Greek, as indicated by the fact that they are printed in italics. There are many traditions about what it was that Jesus wrote on the ground, but they are none of them upheld by early manuscript authority. A number of scholars contend with some plausibility that, in the early centuries of our era, stooping down and writing on the ground was widely recognized as an action suggesting dismissal of the subject on hand, or, sometimes, lack of interest in it. (Compare Loisy: Quartrieme Evangile, p. 546; Plummer: St. John, p. 178; Bernard: St. John, Vol. II, p. 719; and MacGregor: St. p. 212).

"He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her" (John 8:7)—The law of Deuteronomy 17:7 ordained that when anyone was about to be executed by stoning, because of some flagrant transgression of the Mosaic law, "the hands of the witnesses" should "be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people." Thus the casting of the first stone amounted to a solemn ratification by the witnesses of the sincerity of the accusation which they had brought forward.

"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2)—Moffatt translates: "The law of the Spirit brings the life which is in Christ Jesus, and that law has set me free ...;" while Weymouth, accepting a slight change in the punctuation of the passage, renders: "The Spirit's law—life in Christ Jesus—has set me free from the law of sin and death." On the evidence of a number of early manuscripts, Goodspeed reads "you" instead of "me," and, as a consequence, translates as follows: "For the life-giving law of the Spirit through Christ Jesus has freed you from the Law of sin and death."