Tuesday, June 14, 2011

"Rabbis and Fathers and Teachers! Oh, My!"

Chris Wright - Disciples First from Bill Kinnon on Vimeo.

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "...Don't let anyone call you 'Rabbi,' for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. And don't address anyone here on earth as 'Father,' for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. And don't let anyone call you 'Teacher,' for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be a servant." (Mt 23:1,8–11, NLT)
Here is the original text:
Τότε ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐλάλησεν τοῖς ὄχλοις καὶ τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ λέγων·...ὑμεῖς δὲ μὴ κληθῆτε· Ῥαββί, εἷς γάρ ἐστιν ὑμῶν ὁ διδάσκαλος, πάντες δὲ ὑμεῖς ἀδελφοί ἐστε· καὶ πατέρα μὴ καλέσητε ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, εἷς γάρ ἐστιν ὑμῶν ὁ πατὴρ ὁ οὐράνιος· μηδὲ κληθῆτε καθηγηταί, ὅτι καθηγητὴς ὑμῶν ἐστιν εἷς ὁ χριστός· ὁ δὲ μείζων ὑμῶν ἔσται ὑμῶν διάκονος.
And here is my (improvable) translation:
Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples and said: "...But as for you all: Don't have anyone1 address2 you as 'Rabbi,'3 for you all have One Teacher, and all of you are brothers and sisters.4 And don't call anyone1 on earth your 'Father,'5 for you all have One Heavenly Father. Nor are you to be called 'Instructors,'6 because you all have One Instructor,6 The Christ.7 [Unlike these religious leaders8], the one who is the greatest among you must be9 as your servant."

1 "anyone" is implied by the Greek.
2 Or "call".
3 I.e., Master Teacher.
4 Translating the common-gender noun ἀδελφοί.
5 "Father" is emphasized in the Greek text, which is literally: "And 'Father' not you-should-call your on the earth...."
6 "Instructor(s)" is used to differentiate this word (καθηγητής) from the word that is translated in this passage as "teacher" (διδάσκαλος).
7 I.e., The Messiah.
8 See Matthew 23:2-7, which I omitted from the above excerpt: "The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called 'Rabbi.'" (NLT)
9 Translating the future as an imperative as the NLT does. See BDF §362. (Blass, F., Debrunner, A., & Funk, R. W. (1961). A Greek grammar of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (183). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.)

1 comment:

  1. "call no one your father" is a Hebrew idiom for "call no one your superior in a human hierarchy". See Joel Hoffman.

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