The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-04
"SEARCH THE sCRIPTURES."
A Critical Discussion of tho Translation of
the Greek Text.

To THE EDITOR OF THE SuN-.Sir: There re-
| Gently appeared In the correspondence col
umns OF THE Sun MAY 2l n letter entitled
Search the Scriptures in which the state
ments are 80 at variance with the teaching OF
recognized authorities that beg to be allowed
to present the truth as to the matter.
The author says that the grammatical char
acter OF the verb =" is to he determined by the
| context" whereas the object Of grammar Ia to
enable us to determine the correct meaning OF
| the text,
Referring to John. ". 30. Bloomfield Sidney
| College. Cambridge. than whom there Ia no
| higher authority. says: 1T has been q matter
| OF debate whether eretInate should be taken as
| an imperative or an indicative. The former
method Is adopted by all tho ancient and
great part OF the modern commentators" All
! arguments in favor OF the use OF the indicative
| here rest upon merely theoretical expediency
| Taking the Greek text as 1t stands and dIsre-
| gardnE all theological theory. the use OF the
| imperative Is strictly required; for. as Whitby
and Wetstein assert, Tho indicative would
| require hunleis to be preaIed." Bagster's
Analytical Greek Lexicon" defines ereunate
as found In John. ". 80. to be the ID pers
pl. pres. imperative OF ereunao."
As to John. vii. 81. the author 10 equally erro-
neous. for In no manuscript arc the words the
Scriptures" interned The authorized version
correctly renders the Greek text. and the pas
ds The the@s s ss SeareS wHe s'y yoa w
en s,,s behold that tr6 no prGPhet sr.eth out Of
hav. WRsShy 81 the Of
who says: Commentators are perplexed to
reconcile this with the fact that Galilee had
most Of them resort to tho expedient OF ascrib-
Ing this to the Ignorance and forgettuness OF
@' ae3a IS 81 anss B1
or the birthplace OF Is writer's cannot. with any
probability. be imputed to the Sanhedrlm; and
| the, other method is not quite satisfactory.
Perhaps the difficulty may be best removed by
availing ourselves OF the latitude in which the
preterite admits Of being taken, and which
| sometimes refers to what is customary during
period not very long past. Tho prophets OF
tne 9d 6 in question had al LIVED mn
been usually the case at a omparativeiy recent
oi ss9Ge the country had borne the
Furthermore. we find that the Douay Bible
version as to. the reading, search the Scrip
lures !" and is thus quoted by an eminent
dee9 ah n in h sbe %9s
published in Thu SUN on May Is
| lures Is no less erroneous in his statements
THEsvSo!I May q, Referring to A$tsa XVII, II,
the Greek text contains two woris that deter
nine mn Its sense to be expressed by the English
rends esd .mas { m R0 IF bsGs
tive pronoun and indicates THE sort OF per-
son" Compton. " Rudiments o. Attic Construc-
ton and idiom"l. Second-7o Kdtd: Donneean
says to. taken adyerbIally. that is 'on this
account" and Ldde and Scott define the ad-
verb "kata," according as. " The two together
can convey no meaning other than that sepa-
rately Indicated
With reference to this matter OF Scripture
translation It is worth while to heed the obit~,
dtctnn OF s.. jerome. that distinguished
scholar and divine of the fourth and NTH cen
turtles. to whom all succeeding generations
have owed so much and whose only rival in
Bible Interpretation was the marvellous Ori-
gen /" Herbert. Trinity College, Cambridge
Speaking OF TRANSMITTING. Jerome says: Il
not only confess. but | freely profess that In
transating Greek authors. with the single ex.
ceptIon OF the Holy Scriptures. In which even
the order OF The words Is mystery e. Abiqu,
| SdnctiS ScriDtWis. ubi Fl rorbO'rirn Ordo ms.
teriurn es,"). l do not render them word hy
word. but express in the one the sense OF the
| other" We may well adhere to this dctum OF
st. Jerome when translating the Scriptures
and render the text exactly as 1t reads. wore
by word" G.. q. TAUGHT.
| PHILADELPHIA, May 81.