Re: Mk 8:35-37, YUCH

From: dixonps@juno.com
Date: Mon Dec 20 1999 - 16:58:08 EST


On Mon, 20 Dec 1999 11:21:49 -0600 Steven Craig Miller
<scmiller@www.plantnet.com> writes:

> << whoever desires to save his life (eternally) shall lose it
(temporally)
> and whoever loses his life temporally on account of me and the
> gospel, shall find it eternally. >>
>
> I assume you realize that that is not a translation but an
> interpretation.

That is what I said it was. Please re-read the post.

> Furthermore, I would suggest that it is not the most natural
> interpretation. Robert H. Gundry [1993] writes: "Saving your present
> life results in losing your eternal life. Losing your present life for
> the sake of Jesus and the gospel results in saving your eternal life."
And I
> think that Gundry hits on the most common interpretation.

I did not know what Gundry had said, but it sure looks like we are saying
the same thing. I am shocked my written words could be interpreted
otherwise.
Should we be any less amazed at the various interpretations of scripture?

<snip>

> What is a paradox, you asked? A paradox refers to a statement that s
> superficially contradictory and yet has a deeper (non-contradictory)
> meaning. On the surface what the Markan Jesus says is just nonsense.

Yes, and it probably was a ploy by Christ to get our attention so that we
might
wrestle with the true meaning.

> It is impossible to lose one's life and yet "save it." That is the
> paradox. One, of course, resolves the paradox by finding its deeper
meaning.
> But to resolve the paradox in one's translation is to destroy the
paradox
> of the saying. And thus, IMO, it would be an improper translation.

And that is why I initially questioned the translations where YUCH was
rendered
differently in those verses. If the Greek uses the same word, then why
shouldn't
the English translations use the same word? Let the resolution be a
matter of interpretation.

About do it?

Paul Dixon

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