Footnotes

1. 3:1 Or “sharers of the feast.”
2. 3:1 Or “you participate as partners in the heavenly calling.” The Greek phrase, “heavenly calling” implies an invitation to a celestial feast. It could also be translated “you are called to share the life of heaven.” This calling originates in heaven and draws us into heaven. However, in the Aramaic this phrase can be translated “called with a calling [from heaven],” which is the Aramaic title of the third book of the Torah, Leviticus, and refers to the calling of the Levites as priests.
3. 3:1 Or “you have discovered this Jesus.” The Aramaic can be translated “Jesus, the Messiah.”
4. 3:1 Or “with whom is our legally binding agreement.”
5. 3:1 God joins the apostolic and priestly ministries together in Christ. An apostle will always release God’s people into their priestly calling of entering into the holy of holies without going through a system, a church or a person. The word “King-Priest” is from the Aramaic, which uses a word for a priest not of the Levitical order. Jesus could not be a “High Priest” for he was not born in the tribe of Levi, or a descendant of Aaron, but was of the tribe of Judah. So the word here for priest is not cohen, but the Aramaic word kumrea, the word used for Jethro and Melchizedek. See Gen. 14:18; Ex. 2:16; 3:1; 18:1.
6. 3:2 Or “who was faithful in all his house.” See Num. 12:7.