The Problem with English

Unfortunately, the English language has many inadequacies, especially when translating from the original languages of the Bible. For example, one of the most commonly known shortcomings is with the word 'love'. The Greeks had four words for 'love', all of which had a particular meaning that would give a clearer indication of the speaker's or writer's intent. In English, we have to judge from the context, and if that is not possible, we are left in the dark as to the nuances of the intended meaning. Take, for instance, Jesus' words on the shore of Galilee when He restoratively asked Peter, "Do you love me?" In the Greek, Jesus used 'agape' in His first two queries but then changed to 'philos' in His third. This change illumines our understanding of Peter's heart and his reticence to characterize his 'love' as sacrificial and all-encompassing. If we had to rely on English, we would never fully grasp the subtle, yet monumental, difference. And we would not see our own reticence to commit our lives fully to Christ, as reflected in the apostle.

The same type of problem arises in Ephesians 6:4, "And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord." The English word 'training' (NKJ), is wholly inadequate to communicate the import and force of Paul's second command in this passage. (I'll get to the first command in a later post) In other English translations, this word is also translated as 'nurture', 'discipline', 'chastening', and 'instruction'. All of these renderings fall far short of the Greek 'paideia'.

Paul's audience would have understood 'paideia' to be far broader in scope than Sunday worship, youth group meetings, family devotions and educational curriculum. It connoted a complete cultural immersion that certainly included those things, as well as what Deuteronomy 6:7-9 describes as diligent discussion when sitting, walking, lying down, rising up, and which is to be posted on your hand, your forehead, the doorway and the fence gate. In other words, no mixed messages...a singular teaching at every hour of the day regardless of posture or location.

"Further, the point of paideia was to bring that culture about. To find a word of comparable importance to them, we would have to hunt around for a word like 'philosophy.' To find a word of comparable importance in our culture, we would have to point to something like 'democracy.' The word paideia was as central to the thinking of the Greeks as the idea of the proletariat is to a Marxist, or cash to a televangelist. It was not a take-it-or-leave-it word like whatever the original Greek word for shoelaces was" (Douglas Wilson, The Paideia of God, p. 11).