Living Theology
in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod
Evangelical Lutheran
Church In America
Volume 7, Number 2
Christmas 2002
In Praise of Languages
Wolf D. Knappe
Die Sprachen sind die Scheide darinnen
das Messer des Geistes steckt.
M. Luther
(The
languages are the sheath containing
the
sword of the Spirit)
Since
my retirement on January 1, 2002 I have had the privilege seldom accorded to an
active pastor: I’ve been able to worship from the pew, being an active
participant but not a leader.
I
could listen to others preach and in general have been pleasantly surprised at
the quality of the preaching. The
sermons I heard were scriptural, following the pericopes, and they made God’s
Word relevant for me.
However,
there have also been sources of irritation and frustration when I heard a
pastor expound with great conviction a fact that simply is not there in the
text—not in the original language!
Two
examples may suffice.
1.
On the day of the Transfiguration of our Lord (Feb. 10) the text was Matthew
17:1-9. The pastor in his sermon
referred back to the preceding chapter, the story of Peter’s Confession. In a
rather dramatic way he retold how Jesus had asked the disciples: “Who do people
say that the Son of Man is?” And after listing their answers, he continued:
“And then he pointed straight at Peter and said: But who do you say that I am?”
But
is that what the text says? Even in NRSV v. 15 reads: “He said to them” (not to Peter, even though he was
the one that became the spokesman for the others.)
It’s
even clearer when you look at the Greek text.
“Who do you say...” reads in Greek: ύμείς
δε`... The “you” is plural, not singular (σύ).
Of
course, it’s easy to make this mistake in English, where “you” can be either
plural or singular. In most other modern languages there is a difference. The same verse in my German Bible has “Ihr”
(not “Du”), in my French Bible “vous” (not “tu”) and in my Spanish Bible
“vosotros.” But one doesn’t have to
look at all these modern translations to get the right meaning. The Greek text would be sufficient.
2.
The other sermon I heard while on vacation in Florida. This was in a church of the LCMS. The text was John 4, the story of the woman
at the well. Again, it was a good
sermon, the pastor took great pains to paint the background of this woman who
had had 5 men, and the one she was living with was not her husband. He pictured here as the town
prostitute. And then he continued: “When
she finally went back to town she told the men
of the town about Jesus. Of course she
talked to the men, because she had probably been intimate with most of them...”
Again,
this was saying something that simply is not in the text. Even NRSV translates (correctly!): “she said
to the people...”, for the word is
άνθρωποι, not άνδρες.
There
are some things you just don’t get by reading a translation, no matter how good
or accurate. I would like to give an
example from the Old Testament. This is
from my private reading, not from listening to a sermon. I try to read a chapter in Hebrew and a
chapter in Greek every day and in my reading of the Old Testament I am
currently in Deutero-Isaiah.
A
few days ago I read that beautiful passage in Is. 60: “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the
Lord has risen upon you...”
Who
is addressed here? It’s hard to tell in English, but it is quite clear in
Hebrew. For the imperative “arise” is
not masculine, but feminine. It is not
םוק but
ימוק and not
רוא but
ירוא.
Who
is the lady that is being addressed
here? In the preceding verses we read: “He will come to Zion as Redeemer...”
In
40:9 Zion is called the תרשבמ, the (lady-)herald
of good tidings, and so is Jerusalem.
Both Zion and Jerusalem are feminine.
So one could legitimately translate Is.
60:1 this way:
“Arise,
Lady Zion, shine, Lady Jerusalem…”
It
does give new insight into this text, does it not?
It
always fills me with great sadness when I see how few pastors are using their
Hebrew Bible or their Greek New Testament.
I attend a weekly pericope study group.
Out of the 10 or 11 pastors that are regulars, I am the only one that
brings his Hebrew Bible or Greek NT.
The others seem to appreciate it, but somehow cannot bring themselves to
find the time to keep up what they once learned in Seminary.
I have also taught both Greek and Hebrew in a
number of seminaries (including LSTC and Mt.
Airy), but always found that for most students this course did not have
a high priority. Yet I can testify that
using the original languages over the years has helped me more in preparing
sermons than dozens of commentaries.
Nothing wrong with using commentaries.
But to really know “what is written there” one must look at the
original.
Perhaps
these ruminations will encourage at least some readers to blow the dust off
their Greek and Hebrew Bibles and to rediscover the wonderful languages in
which God’s Word was delivered to us.
The
Rev. Dr. Wolf D. Knappe
Retired pastor