CT Russell - No Need to study Bible languages to know the Bible

by VM44 11 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  BluesBrother

  I remember this quote of CTR. It was used by the WTS to support their own authority to dictate on the use and meaning of Greek and Hebrew words, even though they were not scholars

  In theory it may sound ok, but consider the use of English today. I have a decent Oxford Dictionary, published in 1988. Its entry under the word "gay" reads :-

  1. light hearted and cheerful , happy and full of fun . 2] Brightly coloured, dressed or decorated in bright colours.3] homosexual {colloq} of or for homosexuals..

  Just think how much the modern meaning of the word has changed in less than tweny years! An on line dictionary now gives the homosexual meaning as primary, of course.

  By referring to a dictionary one gets a definition, but not necessarily an understanding of the word and how it was used at a particular time. I believe that is the difference.

  By simply looking it up in a book, can they really be sure whether "stauros" should be cross or stake? or parousia should be coming or presence?
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  TD

  
  

  I think the problem goes far beyond simply knowing what words meant. No language translates word for word into another language.

  Ancient Greek has verb conjugations that simply have no English equivalent in mood and tense. Also, a fair number of English prepositions and substantives are subsumed by Greek noun cases.

  Further, all languages have idiomatic expressions where the meaning is not contained within the definition of any single word. Idioms and other figures of speech consistently defy "dictionary logic" and ancient Greek in all its dialects is rich in idiomatic expression. For example, one of John's pet expressions was, en toutw, which when translated literally, is "In this thing" or "In this one." However as John used the term, it meant, "Hereby" or "Herein."

  Greek also contains a number of grammatical idiosyncrasies that will foul up a dictionary attempt at translation. The attributive vs. predicative use of adjectives is one simple example. (e.g. The good Apostle --ho Apostolos ho agathos vs. The Apostle is good --ho Apostolos agathos.)

  Another grammatical oddity of Koine Greek is when a neuter plural subject has its verb in the singular. For example, hoti ta pneumata humin hupotassetai... ---So that the spirits (neuter plural) are subjected (singular) to you.

  Last but not least, humans 2000 years ago had an entirely different way of regarding the world around them. In English for example, we think of water that moves as "running" whereas in Greek they thought of it as "alive," as "living." For this reason, different puns would occur to us than, say, John, to whom puns (not for the sake of humor) were a basic mode of teaching.