Re: Romans 8:13

From: Jim West (jwest@highland.net)
Date: Tue Jan 13 1998 - 22:24:07 EST


At 01:37 PM 1/14/98 +1030, you wrote:
>Filoi,
>
>Romans 8:13 says (NIV): "If you live according to the flesh, you will
>die."
>
>Now, the "you will die" is MELLETE APOQNHSKEIN, which is literally "you
>are about to die". I think Paul is saying that people who live an
>ungodly lifestyle are on their way to self destruction and will soon die
>(physically and spiritually).
>
>Therefore, I would translate it as "You will surely die very soon".
>
>comments?
>

Your rendering is a tad paraphrastic. The text does not, in fact, say "you
will surely die very soon" it simply says "you will die". The element of
time is left ambiguous by Paul (because he doesn't know when they will die
either) and this ambiguity should be retained in translation.

If you wanted to translate it in another fashion, retain the ambiguity, and
remain faithful to Paul, you could, I think, translate it with "you will
come to die" though this is not very pleasant English.

>cheers,
>Andrew
>--

Best,

Jim

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD
Adjunct Professor of Bible
Quartz Hill School of Theology

jwest@highland.net



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