"good" or "better"

B. Ward Powers bwpowers at optusnet.com.au
Thu Jun 20 18:42:03 EDT 2002


At 12:34 PM 020620 +0200, Iver Larsen wrote:
>(snip)
>
> > (e) In 7:1 he says it is better for a man not to have sex with a GUNH. In
> > 7:2-5 he says each man should "have" his own GUNH (and vice versa), and
> > maintain an ongoing sexual relationship with her (any interruptions being
> > temporary and by agreement).
>
>It is questionable to translate KALON here as "better". The word can be
>translated as "better" if there is a clear and explicit comparison in the
>text, and that is not the case in 7:1. Just looking at a glossed NT, I found
>87 times where KALOS was translated "good" and 9 where it was translated 
>"better". In these nine cases there was either a following MALLON and/or H 
>or a similar explicit comparison. Only one of these was in Paul, that is 1 
>Cor 9:15 which has both MALLON and H.
>Of the 87 times where KALOS means "good" as a description of a situation 
>or a thing, five of them occur in 1 Cor and no less than four of these are in
>this very chapter.


Iver,

It may well be questionable, as you say, to render KALOS here as "better" 
rather than "good". The record which you cite of its use elsewhere indeed 
supports this. As does the fact that the various translations are agreed in 
saying "good" or "well" for it.

There are instances though of a positive adjective being taken as having 
comparative force even without MALLON or H. One such instance, for example, 
is Luke 5:39: hO PALAIOS CRHSTOS ESTIN, which numbers of translations 
(including the KJV and NIV) render as "the old is better". Or perhaps they 
are accepting a textual variant CRHSTOTEROS (though Metzger's  Textual 
Commentary labels this as "probably a scribal emendation introduced in 
order to make the comparison more apparent".

I was inclined to think that here in 1 Corinthians 7:1 there was an implied 
comparison with what a man might do otherwise.

However, quite possibly the meaning of 1 Corinthians 7:1 should be rendered 
with "good" rather than "better": "It is good for a man not to be having 
sexual relations with his wife."

Regards,

Ward






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