Translation Discrepancy Question
I was looking at:
Colossians 1:5 (NIV)
5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel
I noticed that none of the other translations have "the faith and love that spring from..." I can't find "faith" or "love" in the original Greek in Col. 1:5. Why does the NIV have these words?
Comments
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Since faith and love is in the previous verse it seems natural for clarity to have been added... much in the same way he might be changed to Jesus to remove all confusion.
-Dan
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Dan Francis said:
Since faith and love is in the previous verse it seems natural for clarity to have been added
I think that's the point. We need to read verses 4 and 5 together. The NIV clarifies (or interprets) something that is left very ominous in many other translations: how do those verses relate to each other and what does Paul want to communicate here.
Many translations put something like "because of the hope" in verse 5 - but how does this fit to verse 4? If worded like that, it normally refers back to the last thing mentioned. This could be the fact that Paul heard (a meaningful sentence in v5 could be "because someone told us" or "because such doesn't remain unnoticed" - is "we have heard....because of the hope..." not meaningful? It doesn't seem so). Or it could be the last thing of those Paul heard. Do the Colossians have love for their brothers because of the hope for heaven? (i.e. and have faith for totally different reasons not explained by Paul). The NIV translators seemingly want to make clear that (in their understanding) the Colossians have both faith and love because of this hope - and to make this clear, they need to reiterate both referent words. And they make it easier to understand how this comes about, by not wording "you have both this faith and love because of the hope" but "the faith and love spring from the hope", turning faith and love into subjects of the sentence and thus taking one level out of the already very complex structure.
Have joy in the Lord!
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Hmm, would encourage moving to the NKJ, especially if you plan to study. I found that the NIV is often not a meat-full translation. When I went to school, they had us use the NASB, later for discipleship, they encouraged us to move to the NKJ.
This is a paragraph thought as outlined in NKJ:
3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; 5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; 7 as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Col 1:3–8.
As far as I understand, some translations often paraphrase (or add words) in order to offer understanding.
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Gary George said:
Hmm, would encourage moving to the NKJ, especially if you plan to study. I found that the NIV is often not a meat-full translation. When I went to school, they had us use the NASB, later for discipleship, they encouraged us to move to the NKJ.
I would encourage moving to the NRSV since the NKJV is based on the faulty Byzantine Majority text. GIGO (Garbage in, garbage out).
george
gfsomselיְמֵי־שְׁנוֹתֵינוּ בָהֶם שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה וְאִם בִּגְבוּרֹת שְׁמוֹנִים שָׁנָה וְרָהְבָּם עָמָל וָאָוֶן
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NB.Mick said:Dan Francis said:
Since faith and love is in the previous verse it seems natural for clarity to have been added
I think that's the point. We need to read verses 4 and 5 together. The NIV clarifies (or interprets) something that is left very ominous in many other translations: how do those verses relate to each other and what does Paul want to communicate here.
This looks more like an interpretation of what Paul means in these two verses than a clarification of the grammar. I guess I can see how someone might find the more usual translation a bit obscure, but I'm not sure I'd describe it as "ominous." In any event, this is a good example of why it can be useful to check more than one translation.
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Tom said:
I was looking at:Colossians 1:5 (NIV)
5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel
I noticed that none of the other translations have "the faith and love that spring from..."
I don't know Greek but a couple other translations have similar language. I don't think either would be considered in the same league as NASB for study purposes, but nice to compare with sometimes.
NET : Your faith and love have arisen from the hope ...
CJB . Both spring from the confident hope ... ("Both" - trust & love in verse 4)
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As some background, the Net bible notes point out that Col 1 3-8 form one long sentence in the Greek text.
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Can also see how perhaps "bringing forth" in verse 6 could be what they were saying with the "springing from" knowing that God is living water. Just a thought.
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