[B-Greek] Meaning of EIS in Galatians 6:8

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Tue Jun 29 10:44:54 EDT 2010


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From: <bgreek at global4.freeserve.co.uk>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 29. juni 2010 14:26
Subject: [B-Greek] Meaning of EIS in Galatians 6:8


> When Paul writes:
>
> OTI hO SPEIRWN EIS THN SARKA hEAUTOU EK THS SARKOS QERISEI FQORAN
> hO DE SPEIRWN EIS TO PNEUMA EK TOU PNEUMATOS QERISEI ZWHN AIWNION
>
> SPEIRWN EIS is translated in most Bibles something like 'sows to'.
>
> But apart from this use in the Bible, I would not generally use the expression
> 'sows to' in any other context, so I don't really know what this means.
>
> What would make more sense to me, given the context of the rest of the letter 
> would be if this
> could be translated:
>
> For the one who sows by means of the flesh (i.e. trying to be justified by the 
> law).....
> will reap destruction.... the one who sows by means of the Spirit (i.e. trying 
> to be justified by faith)
> ....will reap eternal life
>
> For this to be valid, it would be necessary to translate EIS as 'by means 
> of' - I had a quick
> look at BDAG this morning, and although there is a very broad scope for this 
> word, I am not
> convinced that it will stretch to 'by means of' or 'with the agent of' etc
>
> Is EIS ever used in this way in Greek?
>
> Many thanks
>
> Adrian Clark

Yes, you are right. "By means of" is not a possible translation of EIS.

If you look at the planting and harvesting metaphor as a whole, it makes good 
sense to "sow in the (field of) flesh" and then to harvest ruin/destruction from 
that kind of sowing. It is a short recap of Gal 5:19-21.
Similarly to "sow in the (field of) s/Spirit" and then harvest eternal life is 
the opposite and is a recap of Gal 5:22-25. The topic here is how to live rather 
than means of justification.

It is correct that "sows to" does not make sense in English, but you cannot 
expect literal versions like the KJV, RSV and NIV to make sense of difficult 
passages. Try to look at some other translations to see the options for 
translating in a more meaningful way, especially the New Living Translation and 
the Contemporary English Version.

Iver Larsen 




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