Link BDAG
I have made BDAG my primary lexicon and usually when I double click on a word it goes there. However, I'm trying to click on "causes" in Romans 8:28 and it won't link. When I hover over the word I get a box that gives the Strong's number, however, when I hover over other words it gives the Greek word and the Strong's number. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks, Andrew
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The word "causes" has been supplied by the translators and doesn't occur in the Greek text, so there is no word for it to look up in BDAG.
Οἴδαμεν δὲ ὅτι τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν τὸν θεὸν πάντα συνεργεῖ εἰς ἀγαθόν
A literal translation would be something like, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for (or to) good." Without getting into theology, the translators of your version have sought to ensure they make it clear that it is God causing the things to work together for good as a result of their loving God.
If you come across things like this it's worth checking a Text Comparison to see what other versions have, or to use the Interlinear view to see if it is a word supplied by the translators.
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Thanks Greg, that helps.
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Andrew Ward said:
I have made BDAG my primary lexicon and usually when I double click on a word it goes there. However, I'm trying to click on "causes" in Romans 8:28 and it won't link.
"causes" is a somewhat strange translation in that verse - of the many English language bibles I own in Logos, only those from the NASB tradition (plus NLT and the Complete Jewish Bible) have it that way: "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God".
Other translations have that different (LEB has "And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God") and the Reverse Interlinear e.g. in NASB95 will show dots under "God causes" which means there are no Greek words translated "God causes", but the NASB translators choose this to reflect what is a theological meaning they saw in the sentence: Things don't work for good by themselves, it is God who makes them. Paul would probably agree to the thought, but he didn't actually write that. NIV even puts more emphasis on that and has "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him".
The Strong's number I see belongs to the verb synergeo which means "work together"Andrew Ward said:When I hover over the word I get a box that gives the Strong's number
Hope that helps
EDIT: I see that I was much too slow to post that - thanks, Greg, for getting to it in better timing! /EDITHave joy in the Lord!
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Thank you, I appreciate your reply. I read note attached to the NASB in Logos that says "One early ms reads all things work together for good." I took that to mean that there's just one early manuscript that eliminates "God causes." Do you know what this is about?
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Metzger has:
Although the reading συνεργεῖ ὁ θεός (𝔓46 A B 81 copsa (eth) Origen gr2/5) is both ancient and noteworthy, a majority of the Committee deemed it too narrowly supported to be admitted into the text, particularly in view of the diversified support for the shorter reading (א C D G K P Ψ 33 614 1739 Byz Lect itd, g, 61 vg syrp, h copbo arm Clement Origengr3/5, lat Eusebius Lucifer Cyril-Jerusalem Chrysostom Augustine al). Since συνεργεῖ may be taken to imply a personal subject, ὁ θεός seems to have been a natural explanatory addition made by an Alexandrian editor.
Bruce Manning Metzger, United Bible Societies, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition a Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (4th Rev. Ed.) (London; New York: United Bible Societies, 1994), 458.
This is saying that the "God works together..." wording was in a couple of ancient manuscripts, but is not present in a wider range of reliable manuscripts. The counter to that is that the word for "work together" normally has a person as its subject, hence the reason why some readings have God working things together. I know when I first came across it, it was a case of careful exegesis ruining a good sermon!
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Thank you for that. I love the comment about careful exegesis ruining a good sermon.
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Andrew Ward said:
I read note attached to the NASB in Logos that says "One early ms reads all things work together for good." I took that to mean that there's just one early manuscript that eliminates "God causes."
It appears that in the Greek, there are variants that include an additional ho theos in the sentence, which means God - if that was the original, the translation should probably be "God works" like in the NIV (that's also what the Lexham Textual Notes say: "Most manuscripts, both early and late, have “all things work together,” but a few manuscripts have “God works all things together.” The difference is the inclusion of God as the subject, instead of “all things.”) - the aspect that God causes the things is somewhat unique to NASB, but is not based on manuscripts, let alone the majority of them.
From the Apparatus in NA28, the Greek text for most modern versions it seems that this is correct (and what Lexham calls "most manuscripts" includes the Majority Text i.e. the basis for the Textus Receptus and the KJV reading, which is identical to LEB ESV and many other modern English versions):
The blue box is those manuscripts that have the additional ho theos, the green box those who have the text as it is in e.g. the NASB reverse interlinear (the old-German-looking M stands for the multitude of Majority Text manuscripts). I understand this to mean the green box has what the NASB-footnote writer call "one manuscript" - draw your own conclusions on that. I don't see any manuscript listed that has an additional word that could mean "causes" - which doesn't make NASB's translation wrong, but special.Have joy in the Lord!
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I see more clearly. Thank you
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