Matthew 6:12
Joe A. Friberg
JoeFriberg at email.msn.com
Tue Sep 21 01:28:51 EDT 1999
----- Original Message -----
From: Kevin Smith <kgs at iafrica.com>
Sent: Monday, September 20, 1999 3:57 PM
> I am mystified as to why UBS4 does not even list the variant readings for
> AFHKAMEN, namely, AFIEMEN and AFIOMEN. In his Textual Commentary, Metzger
> (1994:13) says, "... a majority of the Committee preferred AFHKAMEN,"
> thereby implying that the editors of UBS4 themselves were not unanimous.
>
> I certainly agree that AFHKAMEN is the more likely reading, but I would
have
> thought the variants should at least by cited, especially if the editors
> were divided.
The UBS4 is aimed especially/primarily at translators, so the variants
deemed of special interest in the translation task are its focus. For those
variants it lists, it gives a more complete critical apparatus than does
NA27.
Variants omitted are apparently not deemed important for translation
purposes; I suppose this is either because:
1. the variants do not carry significant weight to be seriously considered.
2. if they do carry significant weight, they may not alter the meaning of
the passage significantly enough to merit inclusion.
I guess the AFHKAMEN variants might fall under this second reason: the
difference is Present vs. Perfect tense. The context prescribes logical
precedence of 'my forgiving' before 'God's forgiving' by the comparison
introduced by hWS. Chronological precedence is added by the Perfect tense
reading, but may still be implied in the Present tense reading.
Of course, such decisions about inclusion are always a judgement call. It's
good to use both UBS4 and NA27!
God Bless!
Joe Friberg
Arlington, TX
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