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OET (OET-RV) because a wide door has opened for me to be effective here, even though many are opposing me.
In this final section of the book, Paul wrote briefly about several topics. He wrote about collecting money for poor Christians in Jerusalem, and he wrote about the travel plans of him and his companions. Then he concluded his letter with some short exhortations, warnings, blessings, and greetings.
Here are some other possible section headings:
The conclusion of the letter
Final topics
In this paragraph Paul wrote about his travel plans. Paul wrote this letter from Ephesus, probably in March or April. He said that he would stay in Ephesus until after Pentecost, which is in late May or early June. Then he would travel through Macedonia to go to Corinth. He planned to stay in Corinth through the winter.
because a great door for effective work has opened to me,
A wide door of opportunity has opened up for me to do good work,
I will stay here because there are many people who want to believe in the word I preach.
because: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as because introduces the reason why Paul wanted to stay longer in Ephesus.
a great door for effective work has opened to me: The Greek text is more literally “a door to me is opened, great and effective.” An open door is a metaphor indicating an opportunity. The BSB has supplied the word work to help clarify its meaning. This metaphor means that God gave Paul an opportunity to do effective ministry in Ephesus. He was able to preach the gospel often and he preached to many people.
There are several ways to translate this metaphor:
Keep the metaphor of the open door. It may be necessary to supply a word that means work or “service.” For example:
there is a wide-open door for a great work here (NLT)
a door of great opportunity stands wide open for me (NET)
Translate the meaning of the metaphor. For example:
I have a great opportunity to do effective work here (GW)
there are many people here who want to believe in the word I teach
I am able to speak about the Lord to many people here
work: The work Paul talked about was the task of preaching the gospel. He did not refer to paid employment. He did not receive a salary.
even though many oppose me.
and many people are against me.
Also there are many people who do not want me to preach.
even though: There are several ways to interpret the Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as even though:
It continues the thought and introduces another reason why Paul will stay in Ephesus. For example:
and (NJB) (NJB, NIV, RSV, ESV, REB, NASB, NCV, KJV)
It introduces a contrasting thought. There was a good opportunity in Ephesus, but there were many adversaries. For example:
but (NET) (NET, NABRE, CEV)
It introduces a concession. There was a good opportunity, even though there were many enemies. For example:
although (GW) (BSB, GW, NLT, GNT)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). This has more support among the English versions and commentaries.See Fee, p. 820; Hodge, p. 367; Robertson and Plummer, p. 390.
many oppose me: The phrase many oppose me indicates that there were many people in Ephesus who wanted Paul to stop preaching the gospel. They did not believe what he said.
Here is another way to translate this phrase:
there are many people who do not want me to preach
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
θύρα & μοι ἀνέῳγεν μεγάλη καὶ ἐνεργής
˓a˒_door & (Some words not found in SR-GNT: θύρα γάρ μοί ἀνέῳγεν μεγάλη καί ἐνεργής καί ἀντικείμενοι πολλοί)
Paul speaks of his opportunity to preach the gospel in Ephesus as if someone had opened a door for him to enter into a room. He describes this door as wide to indicate that the opportunity is great. He describes the door as effective to indicate that his work is producing results. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express that a wide and effective door that has opened describes a good opportunity that God has provided to preach the gospel with a comparable metaphor or express the idea plainly. Alternate translation: [I have found a wide and effective window of opportunity] or [God has given me an effective ministry]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
θύρα & ἀνέῳγεν μεγάλη καὶ ἐνεργής
˓a˒_door & ˓has˒_opened_up great (Some words not found in SR-GNT: θύρα γάρ μοί ἀνέῳγεν μεγάλη καί ἐνεργής καί ἀντικείμενοι πολλοί)
Here Paul speaks as if the door opens itself, but he implies that “God” is the one who has opened the door. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express how the door has opened by clarifying that God opens it. Alternate translation: [God has opened a wide and effective door]
Note 3 topic: grammar-connect-words-phrases
(Occurrence 2) καὶ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: θύρα γάρ μοί ἀνέῳγεν μεγάλη καί ἐνεργής καί ἀντικείμενοι πολλοί)
Here, and could introduce: (1) another reason why Paul plans on staying in Ephesus. In other words, he stays both to take advantage of the “open door” and because he needs to resist those who “oppose” him. Alternate translation: [and also] (2) a potential reason why Paul would not stay in Ephesus. Paul would be saying that the “open door” is enough reason to stay even though there are many who “oppose” him. Alternate translation: [even though]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / nominaladj
πολλοί
many_‹are›
Paul is using the adjective many as a noun in order to describe a group of people. Your language may use adjectives in the same way. If not, you could translate this with a noun phrase. Alternate translation: [many people]
OET (OET-RV) because a wide door has opened for me to be effective here, even though many are opposing me.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.