Admin
|
Why Does the King James Version Translate Ekklesias As "church" In Colossians 1: 18?
Posted : 2 Nov, 2010 07:35 AM
Why Does the King James Version Translate Ekklesias As "church" In Colossians 1: 18?
Bernard
Colossians 1: 18 in the Textus Receptus Greek says: και αυτος εστιν η
κεφαλη του σωματος της εκκλησιας ος εστιν αρχη πρωτοτοκος εκ των νεκρων ινα γενηται εν πασιν αυτος πρωτευων
The King James Version has: And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
The George R. Berry Interlinear Greek-English New Testament.1958, 1980, for Colossians 1: 18 says "And he is the head of the body, the assembly. who is the beginning, firstborn among the dead, that might be in all things he holding the first place.."
ekklesias is the word we want to look at. Ekklesias is plural of ekklesia. Ekklesia is translated as church. But ekklesias is translated as churches in the thirty five other verses in which it appears. For example, in I Corinthians 7: 17 Paul writes in Greek that ει μη εκαστω ως εμερισεν ο θεος εκαστον ως κεκληκεν ο κυριος ουτως περιπατειτω και ουτως εν ταις εκκλησιαις πασαις διατασσομαι
Note that the key word is ekklesias, plural, or assemblies.
The King James translates I Corinthians 7: 17 as: But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches
I don't know why the King James translated ekklesias as church in Colossians 1: 18 but as churches in other verses were the Greek word is the same, ekklesias. Colossians 1: 18 could have been translated as: And he is the head of the body, the assemblies: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
A doctrine saying that God ordained the church as an institution different from Israel cannot be derived from a single translation of ekklesias as church, while the Greek word is plural of ekklesia and could be translated as assemblies or churches.
Reply With Quote
The stealth dispensationalist might say "We are made up of many distinct ekklesias but are one ekklesia(s)." What the stealth dispensationalist wants to do is to push the dialogue - the dialectic, or diaprax in the language of Dean Gotcher - toward the classical dispensationalist claim that God has two very different peoples, the Jews, who are still his chosen, and the capital C "Church."
Charles C. Ryrie (born 1925), a classical dispensationalist, says the
"basic promise of Dispensationalism is two purposes of God expressed
in the formation of two peoples who maintain their distinction
throughout eternity." Charles C. Ryrie, Dispensationalism Today,
1966, pp.44-45.
The classical dispensationalists - John Darby, C.I. Scofield, Lewis
S. Chafer and Charles C. Ryrie - insist that "Israel" in the Old
Testament always means physical Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. With that interpretation of Israel, they then go on to say
that the Christian Church is not found in Old Testament prophecy.
In part their view that "Israel" must always refer to Old testament
physical Israel, both the faithful and the unfaithful Children of
Israel, comes out of their belief that Scripture must always be
interpreted literally.
Paul did not express the idea in Greek that Christians are made up of many ekklesias but are also one ekklesia or ekklesias. I do not see that the Greek word ekklesia(s) is ever used as an abstract concept, which would make it into an institution as the Catholic Church claimed to became. The ekklesias are just meetings of the called out ones. But the dispensationalists want to make the ekklesias, or churches, which are meetings of believers, into an abstract "Church" with a capital C, supposedly an institution God made which is different from Israel.
And I do not think that the King James translation committee believed that God created the church as a group of his people different from Israel. The committee was made up of both Church of England and Calvinist scholars, and we know that traditional Calvinists taught that Christians are Israel. Probably the Church of England scholars believed pretty much the same thing at that time. If Church of England scholars did not all follow the belief that Christians are all Israel, some might have drifted into the Catholic view that the Church replaced Israel, but I have doubts they held that view in 1611. On the Calvinist view see:
http://halfback.inube.com/blog/19563...ns-are-israel/
Paul used the "body," which is the Body of Christ. For example, in Romans 12: 5 he says "So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another."
The body of Christ is made up of all saved people in Christ, and this body is Israel, but Israel reborn in Christ.
There are verses in the King James Version which use "church" in a more abstract way, not referring to specific local assemblies.
Matthew 16: 18 in the King James says "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
In the Textus Receptus Greek the word translated as church is ekklesian.
Its interesting that the William Tyndale translation of 1525 does not translate ekklesian in Matthew 16: 18 as church, but as congregation. "And I saye also vnto the yt thou arte Peter: and apon this rocke I wyll bylde my congregacion. And the gates of hell shall not prevayle ageynst it."
For Colossians 1: 18 Tyndale has: "And he is the heed of the body that is to wit of the congregacion: he is the begynnynge and fyrst begotten of the deed that in all thynges he might have the preeminence." Tyndale translates ekklesian as congregation, which is accurate.
The spelling of Tyndsale's 1525 English is sometimes different than ours, but for most words it is not hard to figure out the modern spelling. "Deed" is dead.
Matthew 18: 17 might in the KJV appear to talk about an abstract church. "And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican."
Here church is from the Greek εκκλησιας, which is plural of ekklesia. A more accurate translation would be assemblies. Tyndale has "If he heare not them tell it vnto the congregacion. If he heare not ye congregacion take him as an hethen man and as a publican."
The KJV for Acts 8: 3 says "As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison." Church is translated from εκκλησιαν. Of course, Tyndale will translated ekklesian as congregation, which, for us, tends to avoid the implication that "church" is an abstraction, an institution different from Israel. "But Saul made havocke of the congregacion..."
For Acts 12: 1 the KJV says ""Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church."
Again, while the KJV may make church appear to be an abstraction and not just a collection of local assemblies, the Greek Textus Receptus has ekklesias, plural, or assemblies.
Then, Acts 12: 5 in the KJV says "Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him." And again, the Textus Rceptus has εκκλησιας, plural, or assemblies.
Acts 20: 28 in the KJV says "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." The Greek word is εκκλησιαν.
Tyndale has "the congregacion of God."
Romans 16: 23 in the KJV says "Gaius mine host, and of the whole church, saluteth you. Erastus the chamberlain of the city saluteth you, and Quartus a brother." "church" is from
εκκλησιας, plural, or assemblies, not an abstract "Church."
The KJV for Galatians 1: 13 says " For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:" Church is from ekklesian.
Ephesians 5: 23 KJV: "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body." Church is from εκκλησιας, and could be translated as assemblies or congregations.
Post Reply
|
