[B-Greek] Eph 1:15 Provisional Translation

Carl W.Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Wed Apr 20 15:37:59 EDT 2005


On Apr 20, 2005, at 3:13 PM, Jim West wrote:

>
>
> David Bielby wrote:
>
>> Ephesians 1:15- DIA TOUTO KAGW AKOUSAS THN KAQ UMAS PISTIN EN TW 
>> KURIW IHSOU KAI THN AGAPHN
>> THN EIS PANTAS TOUS AGIOUS
>>
>> I have a provisional translation as this. Eph 1:15   "So when I heard 
>> about
>> your confidence in the master Jesus and affection for all his devoted
>> followers,"
>>
>
> I'm not sure "confidence" carries the full weight of "pistis".  Have 
> you at hand a copy of TDNT?  The article on the "pistis" group is 
> excellent in terms of offering assistance in just the task you are 
> undertaking.  When I hear "confidence" I think "here's somebody I can 
> tell a secret to who won't blab it".  "Pistis" is a bit different.  I 
> would try "complete trust".

I have no objection to "complete trust," but I like "faithfulness" for 
PISTIS here, especially inasmuch as the evidence in terms of concrete 
behavior of the "faithfulness" of this congregation is what the author 
is most likely to have heard about.

> "master" i like.  "Lord" is pretty much empty of meaning to we moderns.

I agree that "Lord" carries fundamentally the sense of a proper name. 
On the other hand, "master" probably has connotations that aren't 
appropriate (that would be an interesting focus of discussion in 
itself, I rather think); I'm not altogether serious, but I wonder about 
"boss" or "chief" or "commander."

> Likewise, your rendering of "agape" with "affection" seems a weakening 
> of the intention.  "agape" isn't mere affection.  Indeed, it surpasses 
> that by 10 fold.  And again, TDNT is terribly helpful with offering a 
> semantic field that will assist you.  I would suggest something along 
> the lines of "unreserved love".

I've played in the past with alternatives to "love" for AGAPH and have 
previously adopted "loving kindness," knowing that different contexts 
might call for different English equivalents (if there really IS an 
English equivalent); I sometimes think "devotion" or "commitment" might 
serve very well for it.

> "devoted followers" - I like that too.  That gets to the very heart of 
> "agious".

I'd question that assertion; I think that hAGIOI as used here refers 
rather to the status of members of a believing community as somehow 
"set-apart" and "holy." This isn't very good, but I'd suggest something 
like "God's special people."

Probably this whole exercise would be more appropriate to the 
B-Translation list, but it probably does us well to give thought from 
time to time to the unthinking assumption that conventional equivalents 
for PISTIS and AGAPH and hAGIOI carry much resonance with ordinary 
English readers.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/




More information about the B-Greek mailing list