[B-Greek] question

Polycarp66 at aol.com Polycarp66 at aol.com
Wed Dec 24 13:34:44 EST 2003


In a message dated 12/24/2003 1:25:05 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
brian_magnuson at juno.com writes:


> Why is a transliteration used for the greek word "poimen" to pastor in
> Ephesians  4:11? I've noticed that odf the 18 times poimen is used in the
> New Testament, it's only translated pastor once. And if it should be
> transliterated(?), why isn't Jesus the Chief-pastor instead of
> Chief-shepherd in     Peter 5:4?

________

Pastor is not a TRANSLITERATION of the Greek word POIMHN.  It is cognate to 
the Latin pastor meaning "herdsman."  While it wouldn't be a problem is someone 
chose to use "chief-pastor" instead of "chief-shepherd", it is simply a 
matter of tradition and style in English.  English happens to be the richest 
language in vocabulary there is since it has borrowed from so many sources.  It 
therefore has many synonyms which can be put to good use in varying the 
phraseology and adding interest to a writing.

gfsomsel



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