Today’s Bible Translation Design and Photo: Steve Webb Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 4-5 GNT
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Thoughts Most of us who are serious about Bible study know that reading from more that one translation is a good thing, especially if we’re going to be teaching or preaching. Today’s reading is an excellent example of why this is a good idea.
One Approach To Bible Study The translation we’re using this week is the Good News Translation (GNT). Chapter 4, verses 4 and 5 in the GNT says: “Each of you should know how to live with your wife in a holy and honorable way, 5not with a lustful desire, like the heathen who do not know God.”
As I read that, it seemed just a little “off” to me. Not that there’s anything wrong with living “with your wife in a holy and honorable way”, but tying this thought with “not with a lustful desire, like the heathen” just didn’t sit right with me, because sexual desire between a husband and wife is a gift from God. I decided that I should look at how other translations rendered this passage.
Comparisons Here are some examples of verse 4:
The English Standard Version says: “…that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor…”
The NIV says: “…that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable…”
And for good measure, the KJV says: “That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour…”
The ESV and the NIV agree on the translation the “body”. But as you heard, the KJV said “possess his vessel”. None of the three referred to the “wife”.
I read this verse in several other translations: the NASB, Young’s Literal Translation, the Holman Christian Standard Bible, New Living Translation. All of them agreed on the “body”.
The God’s Word translation, and Contemporary English Version used “wife” in one way or another.
Digging Deeper So what to do? How should this verse be properly translated? We need to go to the original language. Thankfully, we don’t need to take a complete course in Greek, which is the language used in the New Testament. The first thing I do is consult what is called an Interlinear New Testament.
An interlinear New Testament shows the complete text of the New Testament in English, with the Greek words appearing either directly above or below the English words, so you can see which exact Greek word is used. That’s the first step.
The next step, if you don’t know Greek, is to use either a Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance or Young’s Analytical Concordance. Today, I used Young’s. Both Young’s and Strong’s use the KJV, so I looked up the word “vessel”.
I found that there are two Greek words used in the New Testament that are translated into the English word “vessel”. One of them is used only twice, in the book of Matthew. In this case, the word means “vessel, or utensil”. The other Greek word is used eighteen times and it means “vessel, utensil or instrument”, and this is the word in our reading today.
Conclusion In my opinion, the thought that Paul wanted to convey to us is this: our bodies are the vessel or instrument that contains our souls, and we should not allow our vessels to be controlled by lust, as do those who do not know God.
There is no mention of husbands or wives in the original language, and I therefor do not think that it should be included in the text of the verse. In defense of the translations that do include it, the argument can be made that Paul implied the thought of husbands and or wives, because sexual desire is only proper in the context of marriage. Since he was teaching against what the KJV refers to as fornication, or what we would today call sexual immorality, he would be saying that sexual desire should only be for your husband or your wife.
So that’s a look at how I sometimes do Bible study.
The post LSFAB0210: 1 Thessalonians 4-5 first appeared on Lifespring! Media.
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