ARTICLE VII.

REMARKS ON RENDERINGS OF THE COMMON VERSION (IN THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS).

BY H. B. HACKETT, PROFESSOR IN NEWTON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.

THE object in the following remarks is not to revise the translation of this epistle, in course or minutely; but to point out some of the more obvious changes, which are regarded by interpreters as due to the sense, or to a clearer representation of the sense, of the original text. It may not be out of place to take occasion, in a few instances, to uphold the received rendering against a different view of the meaning from that adopted in our English version. Some of the changes, in the corrected translation, it will be seen, are required by the progress in textual criticism which has taken place during the two hundred and fifty years since the earlier English versions were wrought over by the revisers of A.D. 1611. An attempt has been made, in the corrections suggested, to disturb the familiar phraseology of the English scriptures as little as possible. In what follows, the current translation of the passages to be examined is presented first; and the altered form is then given, with brief explanations. The Greek has been cited, to some extent; but the force of the remarks may not always be understood without referring to the Greek Testament.

CHAPTER I.

Verse 6. Imarvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel (ovτw ταχέως μετατίθεσθε ἀπὸ τοῦ καλέσαντος ὑμᾶς ἐν χάριτι Χρισ. τοῦ εἰς ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον). ‘I marvel that ye are so soon removing from him that called you in the grace of Christ, unto a different gospel.' In this passage μeraτideo de means are removing, turning aside (lit. transfer oneself); and implies, first, that the change was voluntary on their part; and,

secondly, that the defection was not yet complete, but in progress, and might be arrested. This form, as middle, was in common use to denote the act of renouncing one set of views and feelings for another, or of passing from one political party or philosophical sect to another party or sect. For this usage, see Wetstein, Nov. Test. vol. II., p. 216, and Kypke, Obs., vol. II., p. 273. The examples are abundant, and need not be adduced here. Hence the greater familiarity of Greek readers with this sense of the expression, and the manifest pertinence of the thought, require that we so understand it in this instance. The passive form, are turned aside, or removed, implies that they acted not so much from their own choice as from the instigation of others, and thus suggests an apology for their conduct. But such an exculpation is not only at variance with the general tone of the epistle, but especially out of place just here, at the outset of the discussion. The common version makes the present act a past one, and confounds the middle with the passive. In the grace of Christ” (ἐν χάριτι Χριστοῦ) denotes the medium through which God extends to men the blessings of the gospel. See Rom. iii. 24 – 26. The ground of the call, which makes the believer an heir of salvation, is found in the love of the Son who was sent, as well as of the Father who sent him. The other rendering, 'unto the grace,' can be justified only as called you to be partakers in the grace, etc., which is needlessly periphrastic. Besides, we have commonly not ev, but eis or Tepi, after this verb in speaking of the privileges to which Christians are called; see v. 13; 1 Cor. i. 9; 1 Thess. ii. 14; 1 Tim. vi. 12; 1 Pet. ii. 9, 21; v. 10. Again, we should translate εἰς ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον, unto a different gospel, i. e. different from that which he preached. The change of the pronouns (see d ovк čσTI äλλo in the next verse) cannot be accidental, and the translation should notify the reader of the variation. Scholars agree in this force of erepov, whether they express it by another, or different. Compare the use of repov in Mark xvi. 12 and

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Luke ix. 29.

Verse 8. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach

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any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you any other gospel contrary to that which we preached.' Kaì táv is even if; not although, which would be ¿àv kal, or ei kai (compare Mark xiv. 29). See Klotz, Devarius, II., p. 519; and Hartung, Lehre von den Partikeln, I., p. 139. The supposition is viewed as one but remotely possible. The translation of evayyeλiğntai should mark the future contingency involved in éáv with the subjunctive. Ιη παρ ὁ εὐηγγελισάμεθα, the preposition has the stronger sense, and not the weaker, as denoting what is merely additional or supplementary. It is worth mentioning that, at the time of the Reformation, the Protestants contended for the latter meaning, and declared that those incurred the anathema pronounced in this place who insisted upon traditions, decrees of councils, and the like, in addition to the written word; while the Catholics replied that the passage forbids nothing except what can be shown to set aside or contravene the teaching of holy scripture. The aorist of the verb goes back to the time when Paul was among the Galatians.

Verse 9. As we said before,... if any man preach any other gospel contrary to that which ye have received. As we have said before (πроεɩρýкаμеv) ... if any one (Tɩ only in the Greek) preaches to you any other gospel contrary to that which ye received.' Wiclif, Coverdale, and the authors of the Rheims version, render the perfect correctly here. I suppose the apostle to repeat the asseveration in the previous verse; but we must render the verbal form in the same way, if, according to others, we understand that he would recall a declaration made at the time of his last visit. As Ellicott suggests, we must change preach' to 'preaches,' in conformity with the different moods in the original. The apostle deals here with the concrete case, which had arisen among the Galatians. The aorist in Tapéλaßeтe refers to the definite time when the readers of the letter professed to believe.

Verse 10. If I yet pleased men. If I were still pleasing (йρεσkov) men.' We have here a marked instance of the con

tinuative imperfect. The tentative sense, was seeking to please, is out of place here. The apostle, before his conversion, had actually gained as well as desired the applause of men; and ei eri supposes the case of his doing over again what he had formerly done.

Verse 12. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it. For I also (ovdè éyw, i. e. as little as the other apostles) did not receive it from man, nor was taught it.' Some would express the same contrast by neither did I any more than they. See Wieseler's remark (Brief an die Galater, p. 57), and Jelf's Gram. § 776, Obs. 5 (ed. 1861). See, also, the elaborate note in Buttmann, Neutest. Sprachgebr., p. 315. The change of oure to oudé is unwarranted.

Verse 14. And profiled in the Jews' religion above many my equals. And went forward in Judaism beyond many companions of the same age.' The etymology of pρоÉKOπтOV (to strike or cut forward, make one's way by blows, press onward) might seem to justify a stronger phrase; but usage weakened the meaning, and effaced nearly all trace of the original figure. Compare Luke ii. 52; Rom. xiii. 12; 2 Tim. ii. 16; iii. 9, 13. If we say 'profited, as in the common version (after Wiclif, the Genevan, and Rheims versions), we are led naturally to think of some superiority, on the part of Saul, as a scholar or teacher; whereas the participial clause which follows (περισσοτέρως . . παραδόσεων) states in what field it was that he gained such pre-eminence. This rendering presupposes or favors the false view that 'Iovdaïopós denotes Jewish learning and theology. Tyndale and Cranmer, with a nearer approach to accuracy, say 'prevailed. Evvnikuotas which our translators render my equals' (found here only in the N. Test., and rare in the classics, but no doubt ovvýXikes), denotes those of the same age, and especially those who at the same time live together, or associate with each other. See the examples in Wetstein, Nov. Test., Vol. II. p. 217. All the lexicons give 'comrade' as one of the senses. The apostle refers in all probability to those near his own age, with whom he was brought into contact as fellow-pupils in the school of Gamaliel (πapà Tous Tódas Ta

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συνή

μaλinx teπaidevμévos, in Acts xxii. 3), who, from the nature of the case, must have been numerous (πоλλoús), and earnestly devoted to the support of Judaism. He does not say (be it observed) that he surpassed many of his contemporaries of that class, as if some of them might have excelled him, but that among his many youthful associates at that period, he had absolutely no superior in his fanatical zeal for the law. If now we say "many equals" simply (as in the common version), one might be led to think of nothing more than a parity of rank among them; or (which is a marginal reading, and nearer the truth) if we say "equals in years," we might think of the age as the only respect in which they were equal, without the idea of a personal association. The opinion entertained by many critics, that πολλοὺς συνηλικιώTas were all the Jews in Palestine during the apostle's youth, his contemporaries in that wider sense, can not well be correct; first, because the construction would naturally have been πολλοὺς τῶν συνηλικιωτῶν; and secondly, because the statement merely that he surpassed many of his countrymen, or many countrymen (if so hard an expression could be used), would fall short both of what was true in the case, and what his argument would make it so pertinent that he should say. Our version depends here on the Rheims (A. D. 1582). It may be well, therefore, to replace essentially the vernacular rendering of the earlier periods. Tyndale, Cranmer, the Bishops' Bible (1584), and the Genevan have many of my companions, and Wiclif, many of myn eune eldis, probably with the same import.

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Verse 18. Iwent up to Jerusalem to see Peter. I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas.' There is no doubt here as to the meaning of ioTopĥoal. It is neither simply ideiv, to see, nor eπionéfaodai, to visit; but implies, in addition to what these words express, that the parties met and became known to each other for the first time. Though used of things more commonly, it could be applied to a person also; as in Joseph. Jud. Bel. VI., 1, 8, οὐκ ἄσημος ὢν ἀνὴρ ὃν ἐγὼ κατ ̓ ἐκεῖνον ἱστόρησα τὸν πόλεμον. See Dr. Robinson's N. T. Lex. s. v. The best authorities