Musings... Dr. Black's BLOG
Comments on Translation Issues Affecting the ISV®
[Introductory Thoughts]
[The ISV Heritage: Where We Got our English Bible]
[The Poetry of the International Standard Version]
[Zechariah 12:10 — Look Upon Me Whom They Pierced]
[The Disciple Whom Jesus Kept on Loving?]
[John 3:16 — God Loved the World So Much!?!]
[John 18:4 — Whom Sweet Whom]
[John 21:15-17 — Sloppy Agape]
[Acts 2:38 — Baptism for Forgiveness?]
[1 Corinthians 13:4-7 — An Ode to Love]
[Ephesians 5:32 — Mustering Mystery out of Musterion]
[Philippians 1:27-30 — Good Citizens]
[1 Timothy 3:2 — "Teachable" or "Able to Teach"]
[Titus 1:12 — On Poets & Liars: When is Poetry Poetry?]
[Hebrews 1:1 — Alliteration in the Bible]
[Hebrews 6:1 — "Press on" or "Be Carried Along"?]
[Hebrews 12:1-2 — Too Much Lettuce?]
[James 1:17 — Good Giving?]
[James 2:14 — Can Faith Save?]
Mustering
the Mystery out of Musterion
What does the Greek word musterion
mean? Well, of course it means "mystery." At least that’s what you’d
conclude by reading the majority of English translations. Actually, there’s nothing
mysterious about a musterion. The word simply refers to something that cannot be
known unless it is revealed, that is, a "secret." This is what Paul was
describing in Ephesians 5:32 ("This is a great secret, but I am talking about Christ
and the church") and in 1 Corinthians 15:51 ("Let me tell you a secret. Not all
of us will die, but all of us will be changed….").
Linguists call the confusion of a Greek
word’s root with its English counterpart "etymologizing"— an evil to
be avoided like the plague. We English speakers should, of course, know this already.
There is no butter in buttermilk, no egg in eggplant, no worms (or wood) in wormwood, no
pine (or apple) in a pineapple, no ham in hamburger.
Why, then, should we be told that the Greek
word agon (Hebrews 12:2) refers to "agony" (it simply describes a
"race"), that dunam" (Romans 1:16) has something to do with
"dynamite" (dynamite was unknown in the first century), and that
&ilaro"
(2 Corinthians 9:7) describes a "hilarious" giver (perhaps we should play laugh
tracks when taking the offering)? Unfortunately, etymologizing is still alive and well in
preaching and teaching.
Isn’t it time to muster the mystery out
of musterion? |
