1 John 4:13 translation questioned

Jonathan Robie jonathan at texcel.no
Sat Feb 27 19:27:34 EST 1999


At 04:52 PM 2/27/99 EST, LGOberean at aol.com wrote:
>I have been lurking on this list for some time.  I am a little Greek, and a
>rusty one at that.  I was a first year student of Greek a quarter of a
century
>ago.  Consequently, I have believed that I should listen a great deal more
>than I speak on this list, and so I’ve been lurking for months.  However, a
>question concerning the translation of the last phrase of 1 John 4:13 has
>puzzled me for almost a year, so much so that it has brought me out of
hiding.

Well, that in itself may be justification for the verse!

>In 1 John 4:13, hOTI EK TOU PNEUMATOS AUTOU DEDWKEN hHMIN, with few
>exceptions, is rendered “because he has given us of his Spirit.”  The
>implication of this translation seems to be that what we have been given is a
>“measured portion” of His Spirit. 

I read this as "from his spirit he has given to us", not that he has given
us a measured portion, but that his spirit is the source of what he has
given to us, and the nature of what he has given to us.

>By the way, I am truly seeking help in understanding this.  I doubt that a
>little Greek like myself could pick up on a translation error that scholars
>for centuries have missed.  (That is theoretically possible, of course, but
>not probable in this case.)  I’m just hoping that some of you can point
out to
>me what I’m missing here.  Thanks in advance.

I think that's generally a safe assumption. Most translations are pretty
good. But every once in a while we bump into something....

Jonathan
___________________________________________________________________________

Jonathan Robie		jwrobie at mindspring.com

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