Idioms

Lynn Trapp rltrapp at bluebunny.com
Mon Oct 23 11:13:50 EDT 2000


Wayne,
It seems to me that the expression "from first to last" (virtually
equivalent to "from beginning to end") would at least suggest the idea of
totality. I wonder if others on the list know of other English idioms that
might serve as alternatives to the "first to last" possibility.

Lynn Trapp   :-)
Access Developer
Wells' Dairy, Inc.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wayne Leman [mailto:wleman at mcn.net]
> Sent: Monday, October 23, 2000 9:57 AM
> To: Lynn Trapp; Biblical Greek
> Subject: Idioms
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > Wayne,
> > Just a question about one of the idioms--"..from faith to faith..."
> (Romans
> > 1:17). What would you say is a good translation of that 
> into English. The
> > NIV has attempted by the phrase "...by faith from first to 
> last..." Do you
> > think this is adequate or is there some other possible 
> English idiom that
> > would be a closer equivalent.
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> > Lynn Trapp  :-)
> 
> Lynn, since this may be off-topic for the B-Greek list (but 
> on-topic for the
> Bible translation list), I'll just answer briefly and try to 
> slip it by
> Carl's keen eyes (!). The NIV rendering seems OK to me, as long as the
> reader understands that its English idiom refers to believing 
> completely,
> all the time. I don't think the focus is on boundaries of the 
> time (first,
> last) when one believes but, rather, on the necessity for 
> total belief,
> throughout one's spiritual life. As long as this is correctly 
> understood
> from the NIV rendering, it is an accurate translation. 
> Whether or not it is
> correctly understood is determined through fieldtesting of 
> the translation
> with average fluent speakers of English.
> 
> Wayne


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