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Translating κατὰ ἀνθρώπους (and κατὰ θεὸν) in 1 Peter 4.6?

Posted: July 25th, 2013, 9:39 pm
by Stewart Felker
1 Pet 4.6: ...εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ νεκροῖς εὐηγγελίσθη ἵνα κριθῶσι μὲν κατὰ ἀνθρώπους σαρκὶ ζῶσι δὲ κατὰ θεὸν πνεύματι.

NRSV: "...for this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh [as everyone is judged], they might live in the spirit κατὰ θεὸν."

The understanding of κατὰ θεὸν as "in accordance with God" at first seems warranted, in light of parallels like 2 Cor 7.9-11, where "sorrow" κατὰ θεὸν can only mean "sorrow in accordance with God" (="godly sorrow").

Yet does κατὰ ἀνθρώπους have the same import? Of course, it must be understood somewhat differently (no matter how minutely), because while it might be possible to translate ζῶσι κατὰ θεὸν πνεύματι as "live in the godly spirit," it wouldn't seem acceptable to translate κριθῶσι κατὰ ἀνθρώπους σαρκὶ as "judged in the manly/human flesh" (despite σάρκα ἀνθρώπου in LXX Ex 30.32). Nor would "judged in the flesh according to the will of man" make sense (cf. NASB, "live in the spirit according to the will of God").

The translators of NRSV, NASB, ESV, etc. understand κατὰ ἀνθρώπους to mean something like "as men [are judged]" ("as is fitting for men to be judged"?). I'm curious if anyone knows any (Hellenistic) Jewish or Christian texts that talk about what humans 'deserve', or just other instances where κατά similarly modifies a verb in the sense of 'as is fitting for [object]' - particularly in regards to judgment. Of course, I've considered things like (ἀποδώσει ἑκάστῳ) κατὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν αὐτοῦ (Mt 16:27) and Rom 2.6, (...ὃς ἀποδώσει ἑκάστῳ) κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ. But, although at first seeming like parallels to the first rendering, these are also different – for example, it would be unacceptable to say that people are rewarded “as works are.”

So is there a single rendering (in English) that could genuinely render the parallel construction of the two passages? I feel like if we were to resort to something like “according to,” it would be too vague/awkward on both accounts: “judged in the flesh according to man” and “live in the spirit according to God.”

Lest anyone think I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, what I'm really wondering is...while an alternate rendering of κατὰ ἀνθρώπους may complicate our interpretation of the verse(s) as a whole, would it not be equally (or even more) natural to translate this clause as something like "[though they had been judged] by men" (in the estimation of men)? Cf. 1 Cor 9.8, μὴ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον ταῦτα λαλῶ ἢ καὶ ὁ νόμος ταῦτα οὐ λέγει.

Perhaps we need not think that the two clauses, though identical in construction, are as parallel as they seem. Or perhaps, if we let this alternate rendering of κατὰ ἀνθρώπους guide our interpretation of the latter as well, we can see both as “in the estimation of...” (cf. 1 Pet 3.4, “a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.”).


SF

Re: Translating κατὰ ἀνθρώπους (and κατὰ θεὸν) in 1 Peter 4.

Posted: July 26th, 2013, 12:18 am
by Stewart Felker
Is there no edit button around here? I meant to say that texts like Mt 16:27 (ἀποδώσει ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν αὐτοῦ) and Rom 2.6 are different due to the presence of personal pronoun[/u].