[B-Greek] 1 Cor 14:16 and NET Bible's translation
Harold R. Holmyard III
hholmyard at ont.com
Sun Oct 17 22:48:26 EDT 2004
Dear Mitch,
>EPEI EAN EULOGHiS [EN] PNEUMATI, hO ANAPLHRWN TON
>TOPON TOU IDIWTOU PWS EREI TO AMHN EPI THi SHi
>EUCARISTIAi EPEIDH TI LEGEIS OUK OIDEN
>
>The NET Bible translation has:
>
>Otherwise, if you are praising God with your spirit,
>how can someone without the gift3 say "Amen" to your
>thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are
>saying?
>
>Footnote 3 reads:
>
>3 tn Grk "how can someone who fills the place of the
>unlearned say 'Amen.'"
>
>Can someone share with me how the "how can someone
>without the gift" comes from hO ANAPLHRWN TON TOPON
>TOU IDIWTOU PWS ?
>
>What specifically are the grammatical and syntactical
>(and perhaps even lexical) considerations that permit
>this translation? Please understand I am not
>challenging the translators. I am only trying to
>understand this translation, because it almost looks
>like a "paraphrase" of some kind or another.
>Commentaries I have referenced (admittedly not many
>though) had a hard time with TOU IDIWTOU, so I suspect
>the "without the gift" must relate to this some how.
HH: It seems like a paraphrase to me, too. You should read the BAGD
entry on IDIWTHS. I will basically quote it. The entry distinguishes
the IDIWTHS from the APISTOS, saying that the IDIWTHS is neither a
full-fledged believer nor an APISTOS. Rather he obviously stands
between the two groups as a kind of proselyte or catechumen, perhaps
"inquirer." In religious associations the term is used for
non-members who may participate in the sacrifices. The closer
relation which an IDIWTHS held with the Christian group, in contrast
with an APISTOS, is clearly shown by the fact that he had a special
place in the room where the Christians assembled.
HH: I myself wonder whether there was really a section in the
assembly earmarked for such people. Perhaps somebody more
knowledgeable in Greek could address this issue. It seems that hO
ANAPLHRWN TON TOPON TOU IDIWTOU could be an idiomatic way for saying
"the person there who was an IDIWTHS." It has the idea of filling a
seat of course, but does the phrase really require a special seating
section for such people?
HH: Anyway, the NET translation seems to have sacrificed some of the
specific information of the Greek in order to get a more basic idea
across. The issue one might take with the NET translation is that the
Greek seems to be connoting something of an outsider. A believer who
regularly attended, even if he could not understand, might have the
general Christian understanding to say the amen at the end, but such
speech could be alienating to a visitor. To say "someone without the
gift" seems too broad in the sense that it includes all the
Christians, too, except a gifted few.
Yours,
Harold Holmyard
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