Translation without interpretation is impossible. There may be verses where there is no question as to what the author meant, but there are thousands of verses where interpretive decisions must be made.

Paul tell the Colossians, “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off (ἀπεκδυσάμενοι) the old self (τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον) with its (αὐτοῦ) practices” (ESV, also NASB, CSB, NET, NRSV).

1. “Seeing that” interprets the particle as causal. Paul is looking back at the conversion experience and saying that based on the realities of what happened at that point, therefore, in the present, they should not lie to one another. However, the participles could also be imperatival; the Colossians are to put off the remnants of their pre-conversion selves and not lie. I suspect the former is correct, but the point is that this calls for interpretation. I am a bit surprised that translations claiming to be “literal” did not just say “putting off.”

2. ἄνθρωπον is rightly interpreted as “self.”

Alistair Begg preached a sermon the other day on Truth for Life about 1 Peter 5:6–7. “Humble yourselves (ταπεινώθητε), therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast (ἐπιρίψαντες) all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (NIV).

His question was on the relationship between ταπεινώθητε and ἐπιρίψαντες. In the Greek, as well as the more formal equivalent translations, the answer is obvious. ἐπιρίψαντες is an adverbial participle explaining something about ταπεινώθητε; part of humbling yourself is to cast your anxiety on God. A proud person thinks that they can handle life and wants to stay in control; the humble person realizes that they can trust God to handle the anxious issues of life. So the ESV writes, “Humble yourselves ... casting all your anxieties on him” (see also the NASB and CSB).

Part of the thinking behind more dynamic translations is to shorten the length of the Greek verse, which all translations do to varying degrees, due to English style; it is common to find participles translated as indicatives (NIV, NRSV, NLT).

One of the things I am sensitive to is the difference between an indicative and a non-indicative form. English style often blurs the distinction, but for Greek students it can be important to feel the difference. Often, the difference is one of nuance, but a difference nonetheless.

Look at James 1:18 in the English and tell me what is the main point?

• “He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word” (NLT, see also the NIV).
• “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth” (ESV; see also the CSB).
• “In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth” (NLT).

If you read the NLT or NIV, it feels like the main point is that God made a choice. This is highlighted by the fact that in English we usually start a new sentence here, even though v 18 in Greek is dependent on v 17 (βουληθεὶς ἀπεκύησεν ἡμᾶς λόγῳ ἀληθείας).

Paul is arguing that all the world clearly understands God’s invisible attributes, and therefore they are without excuse for not responding properly (Rom 1:20).

V 21 then begins, “For even though they knew (διότι γνόντες) God, they did not honor him as God.” διότι is a causal connector; Paul is telling us why there is no excuse and why God’s punishment is just. But it is the γνόντες that caught my attention.

Grammatically, γνόντες is an adverbial participle, and contextually we can tell it is concessive. “For even though they knew God” (NASB). “For although they knew God” (ESV, HCSB, NIV, KJV; cf. NRSV, NET).