[B-Greek] PARAKLHTOS

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Jun 8 12:03:59 EDT 2006


I think that this was intended for the list rather than for me  
personally.

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Edward Andrews" <edandrews at adelphia.net>
> Date: June 8, 2006 9:18:53 AM EDT
> To: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] PARAKLHTOS
>
> Carl:
>
> I am new to B-Greek. I thought I might jump in here and share a  
> thought or two on the Greek word pa·ra´kle·tos. True enough, Jesus  
> promised another pa·ra´kle·tos. In TDNT (pp. 803-04) that term was  
> applied to a person who served as “a legal adviser or helper or  
> advocate in the relevant court.” Nevertheless, in the Bible the  
> word “seems to have the broad and general sense of ‘helper.”’ Some  
> Bible versions translate the word as “Comforter,” “Advocate” or  
> “Counselor,” Many modern Bible translations render pa·ra´kle·tos as  
> “helper.” I agree with your assessment that that "the one to be  
> sent is a sort of "stand-in" for Jesus in his absence." Jesus  
> Christ used the holy spirit or "helper" after his departure to help  
> the birth of the new Christian congregation to understand God's  
> will and purposes as well as His Word. The “helper” also helped  
> them to speak in foreign languages facilitating the spreading of  
> the good news; it helped those who took the lead to explain God's  
> Word more fully and to inspire the Christian Greek Scriptures. In  
> addition, the “helper” was used to inspire prophecy. Yes, we can  
> see God's holy spirit substituting for the physical absence of  
> Christ, thus the rendering “helper” seems to best suited.
>
>
> NASB Helper
>
> ESV Helper
>
> NW Helper
>
> AT Helper
>
> NIV Counselor
>
> HCSB Counselor
>
> ASV Comforter
>
> KJV Comforter
>
>
> Ed Andrews
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
> To: "Iver Larsen" <iver at larsen.dk>
> Cc: "BG" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 6:36 AM
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] PARAKLHTOS
>
> >
> > On Jun 8, 2006, at 6:35 AM, Iver Larsen wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>> I am working on a Portuguese New Testament translation and looked
> >>> for a long
> >>> time for the ideal word for PARAKLHTOS. We have the  
> transliteration
> >>> "paracleto" in Portuguese.  I could use a footnote and explain the
> >>> term, but
> >>> preferred to use the word "mentor". I seems to covers all
> >>> possibilities for
> >>> PARAKLHTOS. A mentor encourages, counsels, instructs, guides,
> >>> defends, etc.
> >>
> >> I have been working on a modern, communicative translation into
> >> Danish. We have the same problem. It is not easy to find
> >> a good word for PARAKLHTOS.
> >>
> >> The traditional Danish translation is "talsmand" which means
> >> "spokesman". But in the language of today it is used
> >> narrowly for political spokesmen or a spokesman for a group or
> >> workers in relation to the management. So we rejected it.
> >>
> >> We ended up with "advisor" which is very similar to mentor. I
> >> didn't think about using "mentor", but it may be
> >> possible. The main problem I have is that it implies someone who
> >> has been doing a particular job for a long time, has
> >> lots of experience and is now "handing over" to those he mentors.
> >> For those reasons, I prefer the more general
> >> "advisor". My daughter has an MA supervisor, but in Danish he is
> >> not called a supervisor, but an advisor (vejleder). An
> >> advisor (in Danish at least) is expected to encourage, instruct,
> >> guide, counsel and even defend.
> >>
> >> I am not sure whether the best word in English or Portuguese is
> >> "advisor", but it seems to work fairly well in Danish.
> >> (We put a footnote giving alternative renderings.) In the case of 1
> >> John 2:1, we are using a word that talks about
> >> intercession rather than advisor, which is used in the four
> >> instances in John's Gospel.
> >
> > I must say that I feel some of the same mixed feelings about  
> "mentor"
> > as a proposed equivalent to the GNT word PARAKLHTOS; there's
> > something very attractive in the conception of the "experienced and
> > trusted advisor." The etymology of the word is itself  
> interesting, as
> > it unquestionably derives from the Homeric figure of Athena  
> incarnate
> > in an elderly guardian/tutor figure in the early books of the
> > Odyssey, the spiritual catalyst of the maturation-process of
> > Telemachus as he grows into a true son of Odysseus. That seems  
> pretty
> > close to the characterization of the PARAKLHTOS in the few texts in
> > the Johannine Farewell discourses that enunciate his/its nature and
> > functions. It occurs to me that a similar conception attaches to the
> > Greek word PAIDAGWGOS, which Paul in Gal 3:24 uses metaphorically of
> > the Torah/NOMOS -- PAIDAGWGOS EIS CRISTON. In 1 Cor 4:15 he uses
> > PAIDAGWGOS EN CRISTWi in the sense of "spiritual mentor."
> >
> > Clearly the problem of translation of PARAKLHTOS is closely bound up
> > with the sense, precise or not so precise, that one assigns to the
> > word. It seems to me that the word is employed to be suggestive
> > rather than precise, and the word first appears in John 14:16 with
> > the epithet ALLOS, indicating that Jesus himself has been a
> > "paraklete" and that the one to be sent is a sort of "stand-in" for
> > Jesus in his absence.
> >
> > One is (or should I say; I am) inclined to think that the evangelist
> > was not unaware that this word was destined to make heads shake.
> >
> > Carl W. Conrad
> > Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
> > 1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
> > cwconrad2 at mac.com
> > WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
> >
> >
> > ---
> > B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
> > B-Greek mailing list
> > B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek




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