In an early post I promised:
Instead, in due course, Grasshopper, I will reveal to you all the secret tricks you need to study the Bible…
We’re going to focus on Koine Greek which I’m just going to call Greek if that’s alright with you. Happily for you, Grasshopper, today we won’t be looking at Greek at all. You don’t need to understand any funny characters like this: Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος. And you don’t need to understand technical terms like participle, declension and movable nu.
All I’m asking you to do is develop the skill of seeing double. Seeing double for those who study the Bible simply means reading the Scriptures using two different translations. Which translations should these be? The first one should be the one you use the most. In my case, I use NIV the most so that would be my first translation. My second choice would be something more idiomatic. Normally for me that is CEV. So my combination would be NIV/CEV. What would your two translations be?
Our text for today is Philemon 6. Here it is in my pair:
NIV: I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.
CEV: As you share your faith with others, I pray that they may come to know all the blessings Christ has given us.
Read those verses a couple times. Are they saying the same thing? Language is flexible. These two versions are using different words but in my opinion they are saying essentially the same thing. The words might be different but the message is the same.
Now, let’s try to see triple! Here’s another version of that verse. Is it still saying the same thing?
NLT: You are generous because of your faith. And I am praying that you will really put your generosity to work, for in so doing you will come to an understanding of all the good things we can do for Christ.
This seems different to me. The first two versions seem to be about evangelism but the NLT seems to be talking about generosity. When we notice something like that we’ve made a real discovery about the original language behind our translations. And that’s when we will want to dig deeper into the Greek.
You’ve now received the first insight on the path to Biblical enlightenment. Seeing double has shown us that translations can express the same meaning using different words and that when two translations are expressing a different meaning it is an indication that there is not a clear consensus on the meaning of the original.
I have some questions for you:
- What do you imagine you might discover by studying the Bible in the original languages?
- What would be your two versions for seeing double?
- What kinds of online tools would you recommend for seeing double?
- Is Philemon 6 about evangelism or generosity?
For an interesting example of seeing double, check out the post 1 Cor. 7:1-4 at Better Bibles Blog. Different translations render this passage in different ways. Are they saying the same thing in different ways or is there a lack of consensus about what this passage really means?
Grasshopper Greek
second aorist middle deponent subjunctive eh? I don’t do Greek yet but I can read the letters. What is the part of speech for epignosis? and who is its subject? If it is ambiguous, then the translation must be ambiguous. I see both your examples have repeated the verb but the first two are obviously not the same meaning, for in one ‘they’ are growing and in the other ‘you’ are growing. Philemon is on the spot – will he or will he not accept Onesimus? The concept of active faith (koinonia!) in 20th century terms does not sound accurate but sectarian. I do not think it will be read well in this age.
Philemon is not about evangelism but about community and slavery.
I read this text at BLB – old enough online to see the Greek but no apparatus for textual things. I usually read English in kjv, rsv, or nrsv and NEB at church. I have put you on my aggregator.
I don’t see NIV and CEV as saying the same thing. CEV is saying that Philemon is sharing his faith, whereas NIV suggests that he is not doing so and Paul is praying that he does. CEV is in fact more accurate here, as I can tell only by looking at the Greek. I note that the NIV translation team has corrected this in TNIV, which has “I pray that your partnership in the faith may be effective…”
As for “The first two versions seem to be about evangelism”, that is only because you are so used to the evangelical jargon in which “sharing your faith” means that. I’m not sure that the NIV and CEV translators intended their rendering to be understood in that way. The NIV translators’ defence might be that this is literally accurate. But their change in TNIV is a wise one to avoid this misunderstanding.
This verse is therefore a good example of TNIV being substantially better than NIV, unrelated to gender language.
Like Peter, I don’t think NIV and CEV are saying the same thing. In fact I was fascinated to see how varied the translations of this verse are – more than just the three options here.
I like your methodology.
You might actually sneak a linguistic oriented exegesis into people’s minds without anyone noticing.
Given the ambiguity of the sentence structure a broader context reading would be warranted, right? 4-7 seem to be Paul focusing on the positive and then the “turn” in verse 8 towards correction and appeal. Philemon’s generosity/evangelism still need to become effective so that his understanding might increase. Verse 7 would seem to argue for a generosity context, especially since it is the saints being refreshed. dt
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