To What "Place" did Judas Go? (Acts 1:25).
Sometimes, in an attempt to make a translation understandable, functional equivalent translations can lose clues as to meaning, the very thing they are trying not to do. In the case of Acts 1:24, the NIV loses the double use of τόπος.
Functional equivalent translations like the NIV place a high view on being understandable. It was therefore surprising to find it omitting the key to understanding Judas’s “place” in Acts 1:25.
The Apostles have picked two replacements for Judas and are now asking God to chose one of the two. Judas had a place of ministry and apostolicity (τὸν τόπον τῆς διακονίας ταύτης καὶ ἀποστολῆς), but instead he went to his own place (εἰς τὸν τόπον τὸν ἴδιον).
Most of the translations maintain the concordance of the two occurrences of τόπος but still produce something less than understandable. “... to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place” (NRSV, see also NAS, ESV, NET).
