[B-Greek] EN vs. EIS in John 16:13a - translation question

Eric S. Weiss papaweiss1 at yahoo.com
Mon Sep 21 08:58:34 EDT 2009


John 16:13a (NA-27/UBS 4): hOTAN DE ELQHi EKEINOS, TO PNEUMA THS ALHQEIAS, 
hODHGHSEI hUMAS EN THi ALHQEIAi PASHi....

UBS 4 gives this reading a {B} rating, and lists the variant hODHGHSEI 
hUMAS EIS PASAN THN ALHQEIAN as being that of the Byzantine textual 
tradition, as well as in many other mss. Yet a look at Biblegateway.com 
shows that all the English translations there give some form of "He will 
lead/guide you into all the truth," which looks to be a translation of the 
EIS variant, and not the NA-27/UBS text that has EN + the dative.

It seems to me that hODHGHSEI hUMAS EN THi ALHQEIAi PASHi describes the 
manner or path in which the Spirit will lead/guide the disciples (and 
hence Christians), rather than the goal or end-point of such 
leading/guiding. I.e., the leading or guidance of the Spirit is one 
controlled and directed by Truth - "He will lead/guide you in all [the] 
truth" - rather than "He will lead/guide you into/to the truth." 

If so, why do almost all translations opt for a translation of the EIS 
textual variant instead of the NA-27/UBS 4 text, if that is indeed what 
they're doing (assuming that "into" is not a likely translation of EN in 
this passage)? How would you translate the NA/UBS text of John 16:13a if 
you do not think "into all the truth" is a correct translation of 
hODHGHSEI hUMAS EN THi ALHQEIAi PASHi?


- - -
Eric S. Weiss 


      



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