[B-Greek] Romans 8:17

A. J. Birch AJBIRCH at terra.es
Sun Jun 5 17:54:16 EDT 2005


Regarding Romans 8:17:

"EI DE TEKNA, KAI KLHRONOMOI; KLHRONOMOI MEN QEOU, SUNKLHRONOMOI DE CRISTOU..."

I think there is a simple explanation here, which has as much to do with English as with Greek: the two phrases are indeed exactly parallel: 'On the one hand, heirs of God, and on the other hand, co-heirs of Christ.' The difference which gives rise to the way (most) translators have handled this is due to the fact that whereas to be somebody's heir is not to be an heir with that somebody, to be somebody's co-heir IS to be an heir with that somebody. Let me give a simple illustration of what I mean: I am my father's heir and my brother's co-heir (or joint heir). But the latter part of the sentence means that I am co-heir (or joint heir) WITH my brother. Presumably, many translators have felt that 'co-heirs' WITH Christ sounds slightly more natural English than 'co-heirs' OF Christ', and the meaning is identical, so they went for the 'better' English. This is another way of saying that the prefix "SUN" (in "SUNKLHRONOMOI") makes enough difference (from "KLHRONOMOI") to justify a 'dative / ablative' translation (into English), instead of a (more literal) genitive one.

Andrew J. Birch
Palma de Mallorca, Spain


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