I learned a few years ago that the word "for" (Greek "γάρ") in our Bibles can have one of three different meanings. This has completely changed the way that I read the Bible.
1. It most often means "because" and indicates a cause of the previous statement.
2. It can sometimes mean "as evidence" or "to prove this" making it a proof of the previous statement.
3. It can also mean "to explain" and be simply an explanation of the previous statement. (I understand that the reason this is typically translated with the word "for" is because it is the only English equivalent that can have all of these 3 meanings like the Greek γάρ.)
Since learning this, I constantly look at Greek morphologies when I read Scripture in order to find which use of the word is meant in any given circumstance. This becomes a little tedious though, and I find myself creating visual filters or making highlights so that I can see the differences more naturally as I read the text. (So much of the meaning is lost with the word "for", which means little more than the word "and" to most readers.)
I would love to find a Bible translation that actually translates the morphology of this word into the appropriate English word (or words; something like these three: 1. "because" 2. "as proof" or 3. "to explain") so that the reader has a clearer sense of what the author was trying to communicate. It seems that a translation that did this would hugely increase the average Bible readers comprehension of what was being said.
Does anyone know of an English Bible translation that actually does this consistently? I have several translations that sometimes translate it "because", sometimes "for", but the translation "for" doesn't have a consistent meaning, it can still mean "because".
Thanks all-
(I understand that I could just continue to use morphologies, but it seems to me that they are pretty often wrong and that some are made without much wrestling with the text. Also, the words "because" "as proof" "to explain" sometimes need a different expression that makes them fit into the context that a visual filter can't really provide. A translation would be the best solution.)
