Paul begins his letter to the Romans by introducing himself: Παῦλος δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ, κλητὸς ἀπόστολος ἀφωρισμένος εἰς εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ, “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, a called apostle set apart for the gospel of God ….” One would think that this would be a rather difficult verse to misinterpret, but nearly anything is possible [...] Read more »
“Sabbath” or “Week”? When Words Mean More Than One Thing
One of my commenters has asked an excellent question about Matthew 28:1 (and several other verses), centering on the fact that the Greek word σάββατoν (sabbaton, “Sabbath” or “week”), which occurs twice in the verse, is translated differently each time. He observes that the same word (Strong’s reference number 4521) seems to be translated several [...] Read more »
NIV Update 2011 – “Flesh” and Other Translation Issues
Haven’t had much chance to blog lately as I’ve been feverishly preparing for my preliminary exams (took my Greek prelim on Monday, with my four main subject exams coming the week after Thanksgiving), but lots has been happening out there and I can’t stay away entirely. One notable bit of news is that the updated [...] Read more »
Female Reporters in Men’s Locker Rooms
Spanish reporter Ines Sainz (former Miss Spain 1997) was reportedly “harassed” (by this they mean players in the locker room were making comments about her) in the Jets’ locker room, and now there’s all sorts of controversy. First of all, Sainz herself has posted a picture on Twitter of what she was wearing that day [...] Read more »
“Flesh” is not “Human effort” in Gal 3:3
Stephen Carlson has put up a good post on why the translation of σάρξ as anything other than “flesh” in Gal 3:3 is “weak tea.” Carlson observes that Paul is making a point concerning literal flesh—the foreskin—but many translations unfortunately treat Paul’s language as metaphoric, translating σάρξ as “human effort” or other related phrases. I’ll [...] Read more »