[B-Greek] XWRIS hMARTIAS in Heb. 4:15

Iver iver_larsen at sil.org
Fri Oct 10 04:57:47 EDT 2003


> 
> 	In an article by Dr. Wallace, I have a question about the 
> phrase XWRIS hMARTIAS in Hebrews 4:15, commonly translated "yet 
> without sin." The "yet" is often in italics.


> 	Dr. Wallace said -> 
<snip> It seems, on the surface at least, a bit unnatural 
> to translate the text, as so many do, 'yet without sin.' One 
> would expect DE or ALLA (conjunctions) or perhaps even MONOS 
> (adjective). There is no disjunctive force here (though there 
> certainly may be on the larger contextual level, requiring the 
> use of a disjunctive in English).

This seems to be essentially a translation question. The word "yet" in English functions primarily at the pragmatic level. If the context is negative, it indicates that a possible inference which the reader might have drawn from the context is in fact not the case.
I would consider it a misunderstanding of translation principles to translate back into Greek and say that "yet" is "unnatural", because there is no DE, ALLA or MONOS in the Greek text. Greek does not have a word which corresponds to the English "yet". As all translators know, words do not match from one language to another. A word-for-word translation will in most cases be a misrepresentation of the original text. Dr. Wallace says that it is only on the surface that is seems unnatural to use "yet". By "on the surface" I assume he refers to a word-for-word translation mode.

To illustrate this point, I looked at the gloss in an interlinear English version. The gloss occurred 85 times, sometimes in square brackets. It occurred under the following Greek words the following amount of times. I am not saying that the word "yet" necessarily has to be in an idiomatic English translation at these points:

OUPW - 25 times (not yet)
OUDEPW - 4 times (but not yet)
MHPW - 2 times (not yet)
MHDEPW - 1 times (but not yet)
ETI - 19 times (meaning "still", one of the basic senses of "yet")
ALLA - 6 times (meaning "nevertheless", another basic sense of "yet")
DE - 11 times
KAI - 11 times
hEAUTOS - 1 time
GE - 2 times
KAITOI - 1 time
ARTI - 1 time
CWRIS - 1 time (Heb 4:15)

I am not saying that the English "yet" corresponds to any or all of these words, but that "yet" was used in the translation of these passages and the gloss was put under these particular words, since it has to be somewhere in an interlinear word-for-word gloss.

If we leave aside the negative expression "not yet", the most common way of saying "yet" in the GNT is by using ETI (if the sense is "still"). ALLA is used if there is focus on the contrast or contra expectation. DE and KAI are equally common.
How can the sense of "yet" come from KAI or DE? Well, it cannot, but it comes from the context. There is a tendency to have this "denial of a possible wrong inference" being expressed explicitly in English, even when it is implicit in the GNT. This is also the case with CWRIS. The word itself basically means "without", but a "yet" may be justified in English, based on context, as Dr. Wallace says.

Let us look at the text. V. 14 says that we should hold on to our confession(faith) because we have Jesus, the Son of God, as our great high priest. V. 15 then continues:

OU GAR ECOMEN ARCIEREA MH DUNAMENON SUMPAQHSAI TAIS ASTENEIAIS hUMWN, PEPAIRASMENON DE KATA PANTA KAQ' hOMOIOTHTA CWRIS AMARTIAS

Why should we hold on (implied: not yield to temptation to sin)? Because our example and Lord is a great high priest (we have a high priest...). then comes two participial clauses that modify and describe this high priest:
1. he can fell with us in our weaknesses
2. not only (DE) can he sympathize with our weaknesses, but he has been tested/tempted in every (thing) in a similar (way) without sin(ning)

Greek has only one word for what in English is expressed by "test" or "tempt". It seems to me that the "yet" in English is a result of choosing "tempt" rather than "test". The word "test" is neutral as to outcome. I can say that Jesus was tested in every way without sinning, and I don't see a need to add "yet", because the outcome is not implied in the word for testing. 
However, if I say "Jesus was tempted in every way" the intent of such tempting is always to entice the person to sin. This is part of the meaning of English "tempt", something which is not part of the Greek word, but must be understood from context (so the crucial question is who does the testing/tempting. God tests, Satan tempts). The text says that Jesus did not sin, which means that the outcome of the temptation was not as intended. It is from this that the word "yet" is both defendable and natural, IMO. But I am not saying it is indispensable. The sense can be derived from context without the word "yet". It is just more natural to make this aspect explicit in English after the word "tempt" than leave it implicit. From the quote above it is clear than Dr. Wallace agrees that a word like "yet" is required (or at least admissible) in English, based on the context.

Iver Larsen 






More information about the B-Greek mailing list