The Passion Translation New Testament: With Psalms, Proverbs and Song of Songs

by Brian Simmons

4Be cheerful with joyous celebration in every season of life. Let your joy overflow! 5And let gentlenessf be seen in every relationship, for our Lord is ever near.g 6Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, 7then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ. 8Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God,h praising him always. 9Put into practice the example of all that you have heard from me or seen in my life and the God of peace will be with you in all things.

15Let your heart be always guidedl by the peace of the Anointed One, who called you to peace as part of his one body. And always be thankful.

l3:15 The Greek literally means “let peace be the umpire of your minds.”

Generally speaking, 1 Timothy could be seen as a manual for church planting.

11 Literally “quietly.” In the context of that day, it referred to women arguing with their male congregational leaders. In the temple worship of Diana, the goddess of the Ephesian people, it was most common to have female leadership. For the women who converted to Christ, their only cultural context of worship was that the women were the leaders. In the church, however, it was the men who more commonly made up the leadership of the congregations. Paul telling the women to “be willing to learn” means he was instructing them to take a respectful posture of a disciple in this new way of worshiping the true God. When Paul instructs them not to be teachers, he was apparently referring to their old religious system where it was the women who were the temple leaders and teachers of their goddess religion in Ephesus. This entire passage from 1 Tim. 2:9–15 is arguably one of the more difficult texts to translate in Paul’s writings, and has a number of plausible translations and interpretations. However, this translation has chosen to make clear what was implicitly understood by the early Christians in Ephesus, making it explicit for those of us from another culture and another era.

The urgency of this letter is Paul’s revelation of the last days. Mentioned here in 2 Timothy more than any other letter, Paul warns, instructs, and challenges all of us to live a life of purity as the days grow evil. He gives us six analogies of the last days’ servant of the Lord. The believer is compared to a soldier (2:3), an athlete (2:5), a farmer (2:6), a minister (2:15), a container (2:21), and a servant (2:24).

Paul’s letter to Philemon is perhaps one of the most fascinating portions of our New Testament. It is a letter written with one purpose—to bring reconciliation between two brothers in Christ. It is a letter that promotes forgiveness as the key to unity and reconciliation. Everyone has experienced being offended, and everyone has offended another person. Yet in Christ, there is enough love to cover all sin and enough forgiveness to reconcile with those who have hurt or wounded us. Here’s the backstory of this intriguing letter: Philemon had been one of Paul’s numerous coworkers in ministry. There was much history between Paul and Philemon, a person Paul considered a dear and trusted friend. It is believed that Philemon was wealthy and, along with his wife, led a dynamic house church in the city of Colossae, a city in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). Although Paul had never visited Colossae, there remained a strong bond of friendship between Philemon and Paul. Apparently, Philemon owned a slave who stole from him and ran away. His name was Onesimus. (Onesimus means “useful” or “valuable.” See Col. 4:9. This reference of Onesimus in Colossians suggests that Colossians was written shortly after Philemon.) By events that only God could orchestrate, the fugitive Onesimus found himself imprisoned next to Paul. Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Paul led his fellow prisoner to the Lord. Paul sent the runaway slave back to Philemon carrying this letter in his hand asking his f...

d5:7 There is considerable historical and theological debate surrounding vv. 7–8. Some later, less reliable manuscripts have for vv. 7–8: “There are three that testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. And these three are one.” This is known as the Comma Johanneum. But there has been a nearly complete agreement of scholars that this reading was added by copyists, with many theories of who it was. Although there is nothing heretical about this addition, it seems to have been inserted to reinforce the doctrine of the Trinity. It is not included in modern versions nor in the Aramaic.

The book of Revelation can be viewed in multilayers structured around each mention of seven (seven Spirits, seven lampstands, seven horns, seven seals, seven bowls, seven trumpets, seven thunders).

The Greek is “the Alpha and Omega,” Alpha being the first letter of the Greek alphabet and Omega the last letter. Jesus affirms that he has all knowledge and is the sum of all truth. Not only is he all the letters, he is also everything the letters can convey.

12 These seven golden lampstands represent seven churches (Rev. 1:20). The “lampstand” (or menorah) becomes a symbol of the burning presence of Christ. They are golden, for Christ has purified and made holy his church.

1:20 The messages to the seven churches from Jesus Christ found in chs. 2–3 have at least four applications: (1) a local application to the specific cities and believers in the church; (2) to all the churches of all generations; (3) a prophetic application unveiling seven distinct phases of church history from the days of the apostle John until today; (4) a personal application to individual believers who have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying.

b2:1 The meaning of Ephesus is “desirable” or “darling.” Every church and every believer is desirable to Jesus Christ, for we are his bride. This is the word a Greek bridegroom would use for the girl he desired to marry. See Song of Songs.

d2:3 The Aramaic can be translated “You endured suffering without complaining.” Every church should be known for these five qualities: (1) working for the kingdom, (2) persevering, (3) not being tolerant of sin, (4) examining the claims of ministries, and (5) enduring trials bravely. Yet doing all this without a passionate love for Jesus Christ weakens our power and witness in the world.

4 Or “you have abandoned your first love.” The Greek word for “first” (protos) means “foremost,” “best,” “paramount,” “supreme,” “crowning,” “number one.” Jesus is referring to exclusive love that has first place in our hearts above all else. Our first love is the love God has for us! We love God because he first loved us. Being loved deeply and eternally is the definition of our “first love.” It is a love that will be expressed by our passionate devotion to Jesus Christ, and seen in our relationships with others.

2:5 The Greek word for “repent” is metanoia and means more than simply changing one’s mind. It means “to take another mind.” Every believer needs to turn from his or her error and take “another mind,” the mind of Christ.

2:5 That is, “Return to your passion for me that motivated you at the first.”

2:6 The Greek meaning of “Nicolaitans” is “to rule [conquer] over people.” Many see in this term the beginning of the movement of every believer from being a priest to being part of a special class of clergy who ruled over the church. There is also a case to be made that the Aramaic word niaqleidto can be translated “the performing of rituals,” which would make the verse read “You despise the performing of rituals, which I also despise.”

i2:7 This shows that the message to these seven churches is for everyone today, not just a specific church or for a specific period of church history.

l2:8 Smyrna (present-day Izmir, Turkey) means “sweet smelling” and comes from the word for “myrrh,” an embalming spice. It is seen throughout Scripture as an emblem for suffering. Like myrrh, the Smyrna church, known as the suffering church, was crushed by Roman persecution but gave off the most fragrant perfume.

p2:9 That is, they were serving Satan’s purposes. Satan means “adversary.” These people, known as Judaizers, attempted to impose Jewish rules upon new converts.

r2:10 The Aramaic can be translated “torture house.” s2:10 It is recorded that a tremendous persecution took place in Smyrna that eventually resulted in the death of Polycarp, one of the leading church fathers, whom Tertullian described as a disciple of John. Some view the ten days as ten time periods representing ten waves of identifiable persecutions under ten Roman emperors. See John F. Walvoord, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, 1966.

t2:10 Or “the victor’s crown, which is life.” This is a symbol of ruling and reigning in the power and nature of divine life. See

13 Ancient church tradition states that Antipas was a disciple of John who was ordained by John to be the bishop of Pergamum during the reign of the emperor Domitian. He was believed to have been martyred in AD 92 after refusing to deny his faith and make a sacrifice to the gods. He was dragged to the temple of Diana and placed inside a bronze, bull-like altar and roasted alive. Eastern tradition states that Antipas was one of the seventy disciples whom Jesus sent out.

There was manna hidden within the ark of the covenant, and there is now hidden manna within the heart of the overcomer.

17 We see that there are personal mysteries imparted to God’s people; that is, secrets that are between the believer and Jesus. Only someone devoted to God is to know the meaning of the shining white stone and the name written upon it. In the first century AD, the white stone became an engagement stone. It later took on the form of an engagement ring with the white stone being represented as a diamond. A bridegroom would give his bride a white stone with a special name engraved upon it, a pet name of endearment as lovers for life. Such names could be embarrassing and thus were kept secret and used only between themselves. Only one person in the world could call a woman by that special name, and that would be her husband, her beloved.

ae2:18 Thyatira comes from two Greek words: “sacrifice” and “that which goes on continually.” Perhaps “a continual sacrifice” would be a good definition of Thyatira. Sadly, some Christians observe a continual sacrifice of Christ through communion rather than celebrating a “once for all” sacrifice that is sufficient to bring us to God. Other scholars have studied the etymology of the word thyatira and believe it means “the odor of affliction.”

af2:18 Or “polished brass.” Brass, forged in flames, is an emblem of judgment.

ag2:20 Jezebel, King Ahab’s wicked queen, was immoral and practiced idolatry. She released into Israel a spirit of darkness that hindered God’s faithful ones by attempting to mix the worship of Baal with the worship of the true God. She becomes a symbol of a spirit of tolerance and compromise, which teaches that God’s loving servants can sin and not experience any consequence. See 1 Kings 16:29–31; 18:4.

ai2:22 This may be an idiom for a severe illness. The Aramaic can be translated “I will throw her down into a coffin.”

ak2:22 Thyatira was known as the center of many guilds or trade societies that required their members to participate in idolatry (often involving sexual immorality). This would make it very difficult for the believers to remain morally pure in an immoral and idolatrous culture.

am2:23 Or “every emotion” (or “affection”).

an2:23 The Aramaic can be translated “I am the guardian of hearts and souls.”

aq2:27 Or “to govern them with a staff made of iron” or “a shepherd’s club” (capped with iron). See

at2:28 Or “the star of the dawn.” See Dan. 12:3; 2 Peter 1:19; Rev. 22:16.

a3:1 Sardis can mean “those who have escaped” or “red ones” (jewels). How we need to escape every form of religious bondage on our journey into Christlikeness. By the blood of Christ, we are redeemed and set free to be his fiery (red) ones, like jewels before God. Twice in the history of Sardis it had fallen to its enemies because it was not alert and watching. It was conquered once in 549 BC by King Cyrus of Persia, and again in 214 BC by Antiochus the Great. For this reason, the people of Sardis were asleep and needed an awakening.

Ephesus means “desirable” (deeply loved by the Lord). Smyrna means “myrrh” (the trials and troubles we all go through). Pergamum means “elevated place” (seasons of praises and favor). Thyatira means “the incense [odor] of affliction” (learning to praise and overcome hardships). Sardis means “those who escape” (breaking free of our past). Philadelphia means “brotherly love” (learning lessons of loving others). Laodicea means “people’s rights” (surrendering our rights to him).