RE: Acts 2:38 Which translation?

From: Bill Ross (wross@farmerstel.com)
Date: Wed Dec 22 1999 - 23:56:44 EST

<Ken>
>Williams' translation states:

"Peter said to them, "You must repent - AND AS AN EXPRESSION OF IT,* let
every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ - that you may have
you sins forgiven;..."

* These five words implied from context and usage in the Early
Church.-Williams' quote.

However, Beck translates,

"Peter answered them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name
of Jesus Christ so that your sins will be forgiven,.."

Williams was a Southern Baptist and Beck was Lutheran. Is it only a
DOCTRINAL
preference whether Acts 2:38 teaches sin remission through repentance and
baptism, or just repentance? I'm assuming faith is involved in either case.

<Bill>
I hope this is appropriate for this list...

Both Williams and Beck seem to be offering PARAPHRASE rather than
TRANSLATION:

* The words "AND AS AN EXPRESSION OF IT" are not present (admitted in the
footnote);
* "forgiveness" [AFESIN] is a noun, not a subjunctive verb
* "into" [EIS] is a forward looking preposition, toward an object, not a
description of an antecedent

Acts 2:38 PETROS DE PROS AUTOUS METANOHSATE [FHSIN] KAI BAPTISQHTW EKASTOS
UMWN EPI TW ONOMATI IHSOU CRISTOU EIS AFESIN TWN AMARTIWN UMWN KAI LHMYESQE
THN DWREAN TOU AGIOU PNEUMATOS

Once denominational affiliation, "usage in the Early Church" or "it seems to
mean to me..." dictate the text of Scripture, all is lost. I urge all
concerned about correctness of translation to just translate the words as
they are, then discuss the meaning in the Sunday School class or wherever.

Rather than be an interpreter, if there is an idiom, I suggest translating
the words as they are and then putting a footnote to explain the idiom. It
is enriching to the reader, not impoverishing.

Bill Ross 

---
B-Greek home page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/bgreek
You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu]
To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-329W@franklin.oit.unc.edu
To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:40:51 EDT