Words are the basic building blocks of sentences, therefore of paragraphs.
PAY ATTENTION TO WORDS THAT ARE DIFFERENT:
You should always compare more than one translation. Romans 7 is a good time to consider doing word studies stimulated by such a comparison.
7:18 (NIV) – “For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.”
7:18 (NASV) – “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.” (Compare the similar differences in 7:25).
You can do some study in the original language when it comes to word studies, even without knowing the language. You just have to have time, patience, and a willingness to do some research. If you go to biblegateway.com and look up the verse in question, say Romans 7:18, use the “Mounce Reverse Interlinear New Testament.”
The English version is the ESV and underneath the English version is a transliteration of the Greek word for “flesh”: sarx. If you click on that, a passage from Mounce’s Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament comes up. At the top, you have a number assigned to this specific word, Strong’s #: G4561. That was an old way of tagging words so that non-Greek students could find the word in Greek sources. But there were problems with that so a new system was developed and that number is given as well – GK#: G4922. Those numbers can be used to learn even more about these specific words.
But underneath that, you have several definitions of this Greek word. You can also see at the bottom that Mounce will give you, on his own personal website, “Everywhere sarx appears in the New Testament.”
My point in bringing this to your attention is that the word sarx does not carry within it the inherent idea of “sinful.” I would be adamant that we are not born with a “sinful nature” as the NIV translates this word. That teaches that babies are born in sin, born sinful. No, the word does not mean sinful nature; it means human nature, as opposed to divine nature. We sin because we do not know everything and do not always listen as we could and should. But that’s not inherent in some way in our nature so that we cannot do what is right. The word should be translated either as “human flesh/nature” or simply “flesh,” which is better it allows me, the Bible student, to decide the connotations of the word.
Let’s use another example. I mentioned in a previous Daily Droplets, when we studied verb forms, that there is no imperative, no command, in 1 Corinthians 11 relative to wearing the veil. We’ll talk more about the veil soon when we consider the historical/cultural background to the text. But, we’ve got an important word to consider here in our text, found in verse 16:
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NIV – “If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.”
NASV – “But if one is inclined to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor have the churches of God.”
NKJV – “But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.”
Which is it? “No other practice” or “no such practice”? They are completely different, are they not? How do we decide? Go to biblegateway.com and look up Mounce’s Reverse Interlinear NT…
First, we observe that the ESV agrees with the NKJV: “But if anyone is disposed to be contentious—we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.“ Then, we also observe the Greek word is “toioutos.” We click on it and Mounce gives us a few definitions: “such, such like, of this kind or sort, so great, etc.” We go to Bill Mounce’s website and find more information:
The word is used 57 times in the NT. Take the time to scan through all 57 instances, in the ESV, and you see this word is never translated “other” in any other passage. I did not check the NIV but it is not translated “other” in any other passage in the NASV. It would not be hard, since Mounce gives us all the verses that use that word, to check your own translation.
The ESV and the NKJV seem to be “with the program” – the word means “such” or “such like.” Whatever else we can say about the veil and wearing it, we know two things now: 1.) Paul does not command the wearing of the veil in this text; and 2.) in verse 16, Paul concludes the whole discussion by saying, “We have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.”
More on word studies…
–Paul Holland
