Monday with Mounce

The KJV gives us an unfortunate translation of the genitive in Galatians 2:7, which can be easily misunderstood as teaching that there are two different gospels. One gospel is for the Gentiles, while the second gospel is for the Jews. Speaking of the leaders of the Jerusalem Church, he says, “They saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision (τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς ἀκροβυστίας) was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision (τῆς περιτομῆς) was unto Peter.” (τὸ εὐαγγέλιον is assumed from the previous phrase.)

Because Greek is an inflected language, the grammar contains meaning that often is lost in translation. This is why translators have to add in words at times. They aren't adding to Scripture; they are trying to convey the full meaning of the grammar. The use of the word “all" in the NIV of Romans 3:24 is a good example.

We just finished recording a 20-hour class on Isaiah by Dr. John Oswalt. What an amazing lecturer, and what an amazing book. The class will be available on BiblicalTraining.org in about 6 months. But John pointed out an interesting passage where concordance was not kept.

Sorry I have been absent for so long. Between finishing the third edition of Greek for the Rest of Us, the laminate sheet, the workbook, building a pole building (that will house the new studio for BiblicalTraining.org) and bedroom addition, and moving to the cabin and trying to sell our home -- life has been a bit crazy. I won’t start M w/ M back up until September, but I do want to continue the discussion I began in Why I Trust the Bible. So the rest of that discussion will continue on Mondays.

Every once in a while I come across a phrase that makes no sense in English, even in the NIV. I expect it more with translations like the NASB and ESV, but not the NIV. When this happens, it is often in a traditional and well-known passage.