Lost in Translation: Language Matters Quiz

Answer: Hail

Two verses are referred to above. Luke 1:28 states, "And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." John 19:3 reads, "And they began to come up to Him and say, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' and to give Him slaps in the face."
"Favored one", in Luke 1:28, is a translation of the Greek word "charitoo".

In Greek, the greeting to Mary reads, "Chairo, charitoo." The similarity of the two words is not coincidental. The word "chairo" (rejoice) is the root for "charis" (grace), which is, in turn, the root for "charitoo" (favored one).

Answer: God's riches at Christ's expense

"God's riches at Christ's expense" is a well-known acrostic for grace that stresses the particular gift of eternal salvation made available through Christ's sacrifice. However, it seems that Paul's greeting includes not only this sense of the word, but also those contained in the other definitions that Thayer supplies.

In "The Message", Eugene Peterson translates Paul's standard greeting, given in I Corinthians 1:3, as follows: "May all the gifts and benefits that come from God our Father, and the Master, Jesus Christ, be yours."

Answer: All of these

In English, when we use a word with two definitions, we sometimes mean both of them. When we describe our hostess as gracious, we are not asked whether we mean courteous or kind, both of which are dictionary definitions for gracious. We are not asked which we mean because we mean both of them, and our listener understands this. Where other translators of Luke 6:32-4 picked one word which they felt had the best "fit", Peterson chose to use three different words, each conveying a slightly different sense of the one word used in the original manuscript.

Answer: It is also ambiguous in the original language.

Greek grammar allows for two options when using "that" with an antecedent. One option is for the author to have the case and gender of "that" agree with the antecedent. Since "grace" and "faith" are in different cases, had "that" been in the case of one or the other, it would have made the reference unambiguous.

However, there is a second option, which was the one chosen in this verse. The author placed "that" in the neutral nominative-accusative case, and this allows it to refer back to either one or both of the antecedents. John Calvin's decision to interpret "that" as referring to both, strongly influenced his theology.

Answer: free gift

Free gift is a translation of the Greek "charisma". The Greek word "charisma" is from the Greek verb "charizomai" - which means to grant, forgive or freely give. The emphasis in some contexts is on the absence of cost. In other contexts "charizomai" seems to have the same force as the English "forgive". Finally, "charizomai" can be used in the sense of delivering one person into the hands of another.

Answer: expect

The Greek verb "elpizo", translated "hoped" in the verse above, has a different shade of meaning than the English word "hope". "Elpizo" is at times translated as "expect" or even "trust". Generally, our use of the word "hope" implies more uncertainty than did the first century Greek use of the word "elpizo".

Answer: justified

First century Greek had many noun-verb pairs with identical roots. The Greek verb "dikaioo" is generally translated "justified", while the Greek noun "dikaios" is generally translated "righteous". In translation, we lose the exact correspondence that exists between the verb we translate "justify" and the noun we translate "righteousness".

Answer: 0

The Greek noun "pistis", which is the word almost invariably translated "faith", shares a root with the verb "pisteuo". "Pisteuo" is generally translated as "believe". As is the case with the verb "justify" and the noun "righteous", the intimate linguistic connection between the verb "believe" and the noun "faith" is lost in translation.

Answer: fortunate

Using "blessed" to translate "makarios" emphasizes that there is a source for the emotion the happy person feels, but this emphasis of the source of the emotion comes at the expense of de-emphasizing the emotion itself. "Happy", on the other hand, captures the emotion but lacks the emphasis on there being an outside cause for the emotional state.

Answer: prosperity

The greeting Paul uses is his letters, "Grace and peace to you from God our Father, and the Lord, Jesus Christ," is fraught with meaning the translation does not carry. "Grace" subsumes every blessing from God that brings joy, pleasure, sweetness and delight. "Peace" implies peace with God and man; prosperity is thrown in for good measure.