Yes LORD (Part 2)

We have it easy today. You can login to Amazon and buy your favorite Bible translation in English, Spanish, Korean, Arabic... you name it. That wasn't always the case. A long time ago, reading the Hebrew Scriptures meant reading them in, well, Hebrew.

Legend has it that one day a guy named Ptolemy II (the P is silent) thought he would build a vast library of the world's most important books. He decided that the Hebrew Scriptures deserved a spot on the shelf and had them translated into Greek, the popular language of the day. This happened somewhere around 250 BC and they eventually called it the Septuagint. By the way, that's a great word to use with your friends and family if you want to sound like a pompous know it all.

Translating old books into new languages isn't always easy. Heck, translating basic signs into English seems to be troublesome at times.

I guess this could be happening. Maybe.




I think that would only aggravate the situation.

No thank you.

One issue that came up was how to translate yahweh, the divine name of God. Eventually, the Septuagint chose to use the Greek word kyrios. Kyrios is a lot like the Hebrew word adon, which we talked about last time. It can mean lord, master, owner, and sometimes God, so we can kind of see why they chose this word. Unfortunately, this was probably the beginning of treating "Lord" as if it was God's name.

And then along came the New Testament. Sometimes the New Testament likes to use kyrios for God. In Luke 1:6, the parents of John, the cousin of Jesus, are described as "observing all the Lord's (kyrios) commandments and regulations blamelessly." But kyrios isn't just used for God. It's also used for Jesus. Lots of times in the Gospels, kyrios is used to address him, kind of like saying "sir." This isn't the only way it's used, but check out John 4:11 and 4:15 where kyrios is translated "sir" in many English translations. The letters of Paul frequently use kyrios for Jesus, but not simply as an address. Jesus is more than sir to Paul. Philippians 2:5-11 is a great example. In this passage, Paul describes the humble attitude of Jesus, who gave up everything for humanity yet found himself exalted. The passage culminates in verses 9-11 (NIV):

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is kyrios,
to the glory of God the Father.

More than sir. More than someone simply held in honor. For Paul, Jesus Christ was Lord.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Knowing your ABC's

Image
When I was a kid, I remember one of my teachers helping the class with a gift for our mothers. It was an acrostic based on the word "mother." I'm sure you know what an acrostic is and you probably even remember making one a time or two as a child. It's when the first letter of each line of a poem spells out a word. I'm sure mine went something like this: Marvelous Outstanding Terrific Hey mom, I'm not very creative Errr, can we work on something else instead? Recess must be coming up soon, right? Seriously, here's a lovely acrostic I found online based on the word "mother." There's one for you, mom. Love you. You get the idea. The Hebrew Bible is no stranger to acrostics. Unfortunately, they aren't readily apparent in our English translations. They're literally lost in translation, because the Bible wasn't written in English . Sometimes, the Hebrew Bible uses acrostics on a rather grand scale. Th
Read more

When I think about you, my bowels are refreshed.

Image
Splagchnon (pronounced something like splongkh -non) is my favorite word in the Greek New Testament. It doesn't show up much, but it's still my favorite. Splagchnon is a body part that often metaphorically represented the seat of emotions for Greek-speaking people. Kind of like heart for us. Only it wasn't the heart for Greek speakers. It was the entrails. Yep. I promise I'm not making this stuff up. Think about how that would change emojis on our smart phones. Splagchnon shows up in Acts 1:18 when Luke describes the death of Judas. He says that Judas burst open in the middle and all of his splagchnon spilled out. Ewww. The NIV says all his intestines spilled out. The NRSV says bowels. So gross. I love it. I remember watching George A. Romero's Day Of The Dead when I was a teenager. Whenever I read Acts 1:18 I think of this scene from the film . (You probably don't want to click that.) When splagchnon shows up in the New Testament, it's often
Read more

There is nothing new under the sun... including the Holy Spirit.

Image
The Gospel of John is my least favorite gospel. There. I said it. I probably like Luke the best. Maybe Mark. But John? Meh. Relax. It's a fine gospel. It's just the one I like the least. Maybe you have your favorite and your least favorite too, though you may never have said so to anyone. We don't like them all equally. It's human nature. That's why we have four, with all of them written in such different styles. Some will like Matthew, others Mark, others Luke or John. If it makes you feel better, I will tell you that my two favorite stories about Jesus are in John. But honestly, lots of times I don't know what he's trying to say, or I think he's taking way too long to say it. And then sometimes, I just think, "John! Seriously? Why would you say that?" There's a great example in John 7:37-39. Jesus is teaching some folks about a time that was coming but was not yet, and John says (according to the NIV), "Up to that time,
Read more