[B-Greek] Interlinear Scripture Analyzer [Should lay-people be given such tools?]
Eric Weiss
eweiss at gte.net
Mon Oct 13 11:37:24 EDT 2003
A perfect example (or maybe I should say a "good" example) of how a
little Greek (e.g., someone who just knows Strong's and an interlinear)
can be dangerous occurred the other day when I was discussing the lesson
with one of my Greek students. They're learning prepositions and as part
of another discussion the issue came up about how to interpret Acts
2:38. I used it to show him the issues with translating the simple and
common preposition EIS. I mentioned what I'd heard about Mantey's
"causal EIS" and asked what would be a common meaning of EIS that you
could use both in Acts 2:38 and just a few verses earlier in Acts 2:25
if you operate on the inviolate principle that a Greek word should
consistently be translated by the same English word every time. I also
mentioned how in Koine times EIS and EN were often interchangeable,
meaning "in." I also discussed the translation of CWRIS in Hebrew 4:15
that was recently on this list as an example of how, to some people,
theology might affect one's translation, as well as how context, both
immediate a work as a whole, might need to be used to determine how to
translate or understand a word or phrase.
Interlinear tools are like a two-edged sword, and perhaps a dull one at
that (i.e., they don't help the user who knows little else to "rightly
divide the word," but cause him to make mincemeat instead).
Just my 3 cents.
- - -
Eric S. Weiss
eweiss at gte.net
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