Original Research

Some more translation headaches in Romans

Andrie B. du Toit
Verbum et Ecclesia | Vol 31, No 1 | a385 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v31i1.385 | © 2010 Andrie B. du Toit | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 06 April 2010 | Published: 21 September 2010

About the author(s)

Andrie B. du Toit, Research Fellow New Testament Research Unit, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract

Following on a previous article, three more problematic lexical items which occur repeatedly in Romans are discussed: [foreign font omitted] and [foreign font omitted]. Typical of the old, etymological approach, translators are often inclined to attach too much weight to the preposition [foreign font omitted] in [foreign font omitted] In Romans 8:16, for instance, it would be more appropriate to translate [foreign font omitted] in the sense of ‘affirm’: ‘[t]he Spirit of God affirms to our spirit that we are God’s children’. Despite all objections, rendering [foreign font omitted] as ‘Gentiles/Gentile nations’ still remains the best option. In certain contexts in Romans, it would be advisable to translate [foreign font omitted] as ‘I realise/am convinced’. Thereafter some ad hoc problems in Romans 12:6–8; 14:4 and 15:17 are discussed.

Keywords

Bible translations; charismata; commentaries; etymological fallacy; gentiles; translation equivalents; witnessing

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