Comments on: Pew Bible ponderings: 2 Peter 1:3-9

By: ElShaddai Edwards

ElShaddai Edwards — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:45:13 +0000

I used to take my TNIV and ESV to church and do similar comparisons. Now that I’ve acquired a small sized NLTse I’m now taking it and the TNIV to church and doing similar comparisons.

That’s actually what I’m trying to avoid doing… I find that during the time I take to look at multiple translations, the pastor has moved on to the next point of his sermon and I’ve lost the thread of his argument. Plus our worship space is pretty full and managing a pile of books would probably earn me a few looks of “concern”, not the least from my wife.

I will agree that followup study is appropriate, but I’ve just not been able to effectively do that “in the moment” during the sermon. I’ll probably just keep taking my TNIV and save the comparisons for later.

P.S. Did you ever get that package?

By: Nathan Stitt

Nathan Stitt — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:11:44 +0000

I used to take my TNIV and ESV to church and do similar comparisons. Now that I’ve acquired a small sized NLTse I’m now taking it and the TNIV to church and doing similar comparisons. Last Sunday I only took the NLT since they normally use the NIV. Lately the senior pastor has started mixing up his references, but we don’t know exactly what they are because he doesn’t include which translation he’s using. It’s been pretty nice, and definitely has made looking up the scripture references during the sermon much more interesting. Blessings.

By: ElShaddai Edwards

ElShaddai Edwards — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:11:11 +0000

Thanks for dropping by, Nathan. Our pastor is doing a lengthy series built off these verses, so the core comparison remains valid. I took my TNIV last week, so very little difference from the pastoral text – probably HCSB or NLTse next week.

Maybe I’ll try to look at the supporting verses each week and compare those between translations – it was “goodness” this last week.

By: Nathan Stitt

Nathan Stitt — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:14:09 +0000

thank you for this interesting post. i’m interested to hear how things go with other translations (TNIV & NLTse) in future posts. -nate

By: tc robinson

tc robinson — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 04:03:00 +0000

I thought we were using English all along. Sorry about that!

By: ElShaddai Edwards

ElShaddai Edwards — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:03:21 +0000

@TC and CD: when you guys are ready to speak English again, let me know… my eyes are glazed over now. *smile*

By: ElShaddai Edwards

ElShaddai Edwards — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:00:34 +0000

@Andrew: For whatever reason, pew Bibles have never been a part of the culture of the churches I’ve gone to. You listen to the readings, then listen to the homily.

I’ve been down that road, but never feel at home until I hear the pastor say in his sermon, “take out your Bibles and turn to…” That was a big “selling” point when we started at our current church. Most places, taking a Bible was just a big paperweight, a place to stash the bulletin. Now I *know* I’m going to open it and interact with the sermon!

Often I’ll pull out the REB New Testament that lives in my backpack…

Yes, mine lives in my backpack, but my work one – it’s great for the bus or a quick look-up at my desk.

[...] having a different translation, indeed, can often be a help in giving a slightly different perspective.

I agree, I’m just trying to stay focused on the pastor’s perspective *during* the sermon. I’ll often revisit the sermon outline/notes later on Sunday with another translation, but during the sermon I don’t want my mind distracted about translation differences and, heaven forbid, plotting my next blog post based on that…

By: tc robinson

tc robinson — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:29:40 +0000

Thanks for sharing that textual note from the NET. Yes, we cannot successfully deem the aorist participle as attendant, too much syntactical challenges to overcome.

By: CD-Host

CD-Host — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:16:02 +0000

Oh I see tense objection. Well you are right the REB changed tenses their and that tense change seems to have changed meaning.

The NET (which I notice you all don’t tend to discuss much, an excellent translation btw) has a long text note on this:

The aorist participle ἀποφυγόντες (apofugonte”) is often taken as attendant circumstance to the preceding verb γένησθε (genhsqe). As such, the sense is “that you might become partakers…and might escape…” However, it does not follow the contours of the vast majority of attendant circumstance participles (in which the participle precedes the main verb, among other things). Further, attendant circumstance participles are frequently confused with result participles (which do follow the verb). Many who take this as attendant circumstance are probably viewing it semantically as result (“that you might become partakers…and [thereby] escape…”). But this is next to impossible since the participle is aorist: Result participles are categorically present tense.

By: tc robinson

tc robinson — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:37:04 +0000

Drat, TC beat me to the hendiadys. Definitely one of my favourite literary devices, if only for its name.

Andrew, I believe both the TNIV and the NLT made the right decision on bring out the sense of the hendiadys.

CD-Host, the REB has extended the hina clause effect, if you will, to the aorist participle, “having escaped,” so it no longer reads as a past experience but as only a possibility to be had. I’m not sure this is what Peter had in mind.

It seems like his readers had already escape the corruption (see v. 9; the could only forget what they already knew).

I hope this is clearer.