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THE FUNCTIONS OF THE GREEK VERB
 The principle
of consistency, which the Concordant Version strives to meet, demands that the grammar be
given exclusive and uniform STANDARDS. We cannot translate the
Greek “aorist” as well as “imperfect” by the past tense in
English, as is usually done. We were, therefore, forced to analyze all the forms of Greek
grammar and classify them according to the facts, assigning to each the nearest English STANDARD. In general, our findings confirm the commonly accepted
teachings of grammarians, but in a few important points we were obliged to vary from them.
Deviation from the textbooks could not always be avoided in a version which seeks to base
all on evidence.
In order to determine the proper
STANDARD equivalent for each Greek form, a complete card index of
every grammatical element occurring in the Scriptures was made. These cards were
classified for study, and to each element was assigned an exclusive and uniform
equivalent, as established by its occurrences in the Sacred Text. The two forms which were
usually rendered by only one English form were examined to discover the difference between
them. Thus the past tense was found to be correct for the “imperfect,”
but the “aorist” was found to more closely correspond to the English form called
the “simple present,” which is really often an English aorist, or indefinite
form, referring to a timeless fact.
In segregating the forms we
found that the Greek verb as a whole could be divided into three great classes, (1) those
which are Indefinite, denoting a mere ¯FACT, (2) those
which are Incomplete, an 'ACTION going on at the moment, and
(3) those which are Complete, resulting in a finished ºSTATE.
The “aorist” is in the
first category, and indicates a timeless ¯FACT. In the indicative
mood it is best rendered by the English “simple present,” as God
“loves” (John 3:16). When this cannot be used, a small, high horizontal stroke
(¯) is used to indicate that the verb has this form in the Greek.
The Greek “present” is
in the second category, the incomplete 'ACTION, and corresponds to
the English “incomplete present,” as “I am loving the Father” (John
14:31). Often, however, this is indicated by a short, high vertical stroke (') because
English prefers brevity, and is gradually losing this form.
The Greek “perfect” is
in the third category, the complete ºSTATE, and is best carried
over by our English “perfect,” as, “I have written” (John 19:22), but,
in many cases, it is better English to express it by means of a passive participle, as in
“it is ºwritten” (Matt.2:5).
The so-called “second
aorist” consists of irregular forms, mostly past, which generally belong to other
classifications.
A special pamphlet, The Greek
and English Indefinite, presents, in a more thorough way, a summary of the evidence in
the Scriptures for these adjustments in the grammar of the Greek verb. Additional
information is to be found on page 15 in the CONCORDANT GREEK TEXT, and the entire Concordant grammar is
exhaustively discussed and diagrammed in THE GREEK
ELEMENTS.
THE COMPILATION OF THE
ENGLISH VOCABULARY
God, in
giving us His revelation, did not merely choose human words to express Himself, but also purified
them for this purpose (Psalm 12:6). By the way in which He has used them He has given them
special meaning, and has formed a divine vocabulary for the transference of His thoughts.
The same process recommends itself in the making of an English version. Hence, the
concordant method strives, first of all, to form a scriptural vocabulary which imitates
the inspired Original as closely as possible. The apostle Paul charged us to “Have a
pattern of sound words” (2 Timothy 1:13).
It is our desire to distinguish
clearly between every word used in God’s revelation, and to use the closest
English equivalent for every expression. It was necessary, therefore, to choose our
vocabulary before we could begin to translate. It should be clear that this would,
at the same time, help to keep us from imposing our opinion on any passage, for, once the
vocabulary was determined, we could not easily use another term to suit our own
interpretation, but were obliged to use that one which our research had determined would
harmonize with the contexts of all the other occurrences, as well as the one under
consideration.
WIGRAM’S ENGLISHMAN’S GREEK CONCORDANCE
Wigram’s
ENGLISHMAN’S GREEK CONCORDANCE lists almost every
word which occurs in the Original in Greek alphabetical order, followed by the passages in
which it appears, as rendered in the Authorized Version.
The reader who considers
carefully the various King James renderings of each word may wonder how one Greek word can
be stretched to cover such contradictory thoughts as pour out and fill. (The
CONCORDANT VERSION renders both occurrences
“blend.” He might question the necessity of using seven different expressions (without
blame, without blemish, unblameable, without spot, without rebuke, faultless, without
fault) when one, “flawless” (used in the CONCORDANT
VERSION), can be used throughout. He will likely question the use of both immortality
and incorruption for the same Greek word, especially if he is aware that another
term in the Original actually denotes immortality. He will probably acknowledge that natural
and sensual are too far apart to represent a single Greek word. Furthermore, why
use remission, forgiveness, deliverance, and liberty when
“forgiveness” and “pardon” will cover all cases? Why use coming
when BESIDE-BEING clearly denotes “presence”? On the
other hand, why not use two words to distinguish between the occurrences of DOWN-CHANGE (“conciliate”) and FROM-DOWN-CHANGE
(“reconcile”)? Finally, is it necessary to change the word “sabbath,”
in the same context, to week? Such questions as these led to an exhaustive
investigation of the whole divine vocabulary in order to find the single most exact
English equivalent for each Greek word; one which will not only fit each context in
which the word appears, but which is not needed for any other Greek word.
THE USE OF CONCORDANT, ENGLISH ALTERNATIVES
At times
English usage does demand that the same sense be expressed by different terms
according to the context. Thus, a pot that is REPLETE (the literal
uniform STANDARD equivalent) with water is “full to the
brim,” a sponge is “soaked” with vinegar, panniers are “crammed”
with fragments, and a temple is “dense” with smoke. We give this example to show
that the principle of uniformity is not carried to unreasonable lengths in the Version
when our language demands variety and the sense is not altered.
Our principles compel the use of
a few words in a rather specialized sense. “Doctor,” for example, is used for a
learned man. Through the years we have failed to find better exclusive words.
CONSTANT, EXCLUSIVE EQUIVALENTS
Not only
should each Greek word be translated uniformly when practicable, but, to achieve the best
results, each English word should be the constant and exclusive representative of only a
single Greek word. There are subtle distinctions and instructive nuances which escape us
otherwise, and sometimes these are the vital keys to great and precious truths.
Consider that the AUTHORIZED VERSION uses the same English word to
represent many entirely different Greek words. In Wigram’s English Index there
are thirty-two Greek words listed under “come.” Four of these are forms of the
verb “be.” For the others, the CONCORDANT VERSION
has the following basic idiomatic forms: “step up,” “come
away,” “step off,” “become,” “hither” [singular],
“hither” [plural], “pass through,” “enter,” “go
out,” “be present” [time], “come out,” “come on,”
“step on,” “go on,” “come,” “stand by,”
“arrive,” “arrive at,” “come down,” “come along,”
“present” (be), “present” [verb], “come to,” “come
together,” “carry,” “outstrip,” “contain.”
In a similar way the CONCORDANT VERSION also distinguishes each of the Greek
forms listed on this page by giving them their own standard and distinctive English
equivalent. Where in the AV, “depart” does duty for about twenty Greek words,
the CONCORDANT VERSION uses a special term to
distinguish each one.
PROBLEMS OF CAPITALIZATION
In the oldest
Greek manuscripts, all the letters were capitals. Words occurring frequently, such
as GOD, CHRIST, JESUS, LORD, SPIRIT, etc. were even
abbreviated by showing only two or three letters of the respective Greek term. We are used
to giving prominence to certain words by capitalizing the first letter, especially when
referring to God or to Christ. When either one of them is in view, we also capitalize the
respective pronouns, such as Thou, Thine, He, His, Himself, Who. Thus we are actually
going beyond the Original, where no such distinctions were made.
Our Lord was occasionally
addressed in an irreverent manner. In such cases, the pronoun “Thou” seems out
of place, as in Luke 20:2, where the religious leaders of the Jews ask Him, “Tell us,
by what authority are you doing these” things, “or who is giving you this
authority?” On the other hand, we have capitalized the possessive pronoun in
Matthew 7:22 where Jesus is dealing with the workers of lawlessness. Here we say
“Your name,” since there is no irreverence intended, even though there is no
obedient faith. Some other translators have also done this.
The Samaritan woman at the well
is an enlightening example, showing the gradual recognition of the Lord as Messiah. She is
speaking in unbelief when she says, “Whence, then, have you living water? Not greater
are you than “our father Jacob” (John 4:11,12). A measure of true faith is
underlying the reverence which is evident from her confession in verse 19, “Lord, I
behold that thou art a prophet.“ Her next step toward recognizing Christ is indicated
by capitalizing the pronouns in verse 25, “We are aware that Messiah is coming, Who
is termed ‘Christ.’ Whenever He should be coming, He will be informing us of
‘all things.’ ”
There is a similar difficulty in
connection with the word SPIRIT. To this problem, the compiler and
his assistants have paid much attention during the past seventy years. Yet a solution
which would be entirely satisfactory to everyone has not presented itself. In the Greek,
of course, the equivalent for SPIRIT is always written and
abbreviated in capital letters, even when the human spirit or evil spirits are in view.
Anyone who takes the time to go
through all the occurrences of SPIRIT in the New Testament will
find that, in addition, there is such variety of usage, that the line of demarcation
between the DIVINE SPIRIT and the manifestation of spiritual
qualities in a believer is not always easily recognizable.
Pneuma, the Greek
equivalent, is described as the “power of the Most High” (Luke 1:35), and is
used of [THE] SPIRIT OF GOD (Matt.3:16), THE HOLY
SPIRIT OF GOD (Eph.4:30), THE SPIRIT OF YOUR FATHER
(Matt.10:20), CHRIST’S SPIRIT (Rom.8:9), THE
SPIRIT (Matt.27:50), [THE] SPIRIT OF [THE] LORD (Luke 4:18),
[THE] SPIRIT OF SONSHIP (Rom.8:15), [A] SPIRIT OF
WISDOM AND REVELATION (Eph.1:17), FERVENT IN SPIRIT (Acts
18:25; Rom.12:11), and others.
In our English-Greek KEYWORD CONCORDANCE we have spelled “Holy Spirit”
with a capital “S,” and the Version has “vivifying Spirit” (1
Cor.15:45), to match “the second Man” and “the Celestial” One. But
elsewhere, we would rather leave it to the reader to decide for himself which aspect of SPIRIT is in view at a given occurrence. We cannot imitate the Original
and capitalize the whole word in all its occurrences, since such a procedure would give
far too much prominence to the human spirit and to evil spirits. On the other hand, why
print “The words . . . are spirit” (John 6:63), and
“fervent in spirit” (Acts 18:25; Rom.12:11) with a small “s,” as has
been done in some versions? In Romans 8:10, “The Spirit is Life,” we find
capitalization in the King James Version, while other translators prefer to render it
“The Spirit is alive.” Thus it becomes apparent that there exists no consensus
with regard to these borderline cases. Hence we decided to keep our personal concept out
of the controversy by not capitalizing the word spirit in its various occurrences.
This should not be taken as a symptom of irreverence toward GOD’S
HOLY SPIRIT but rather as a sign of our own incompetence to deal with the problem
in a satisfactory manner, without injecting our own opinion, and thus detracting from the
laud of His glory.
THE PUNCTUATION IS NOT INSPIRED
The Original
contained no conventional marks of punctuation, such as periods, commas, colons, question
marks, exclamation points. These are not inspired, but have been added by the translator,
hence are not infallible. It is not always possible to determine whether a sentence
is a question or not. Quotation marks have been used only where there is clear evidence of
a citation. All of those taken from the Hebrew have been carefully compared, and only
those put in quotation marks which agree closely. For instance, in Mark 1:3 the words of
Him are not quoted because they are not in the Hebrew.
LEXICONS AND CONCORDANCES
Since the
Version has been issued, the question has often been asked, Why was not this Greek word
translated so-and-so? With the exception of occasional idiomatic usages, each English word
in the CONCORDANT VERSION does exclusive duty for a
single Greek word. Hence a word absorbs no false nuances, no deceptive coloring from alien
concepts, but stores up the evidence of each passage to enrich the thought in all the
others.
We do not depend on our
definitions to produce a perfect impression of the signification of words. This will come
subconsciously to those who read and study the Version. Every time we read a given word in
its proper context, we subconsciously correct any misapprehension we may have, until
finally the full force of its inspired thought pervades our mind. The constant use of an
English-Greek concordance will certainly enhance the value of the CONCORDANT VERSION to its reader and enable him to check the
consistency of any given rendering.
Wigram’s Concordances for
the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek languages have been published by Samuel Bagster and Sons,
Limited, London, England, ever since 1840. They give “a verbal connection between the
Original and the English translation” [in the King James Version]. Bagster’s ANALYTICAL GREEK LEXICON is another indispensable basic
tool. James Strong, in his unabridged edition of THE
EXHAUSTIVE CONCORDANCE OF THE BIBLE, and Robert Young, in his ANALYTICAL CONCORDANCE TO THE BIBLE, enable the student to
identify the Original words behind the English words as found in the King James Version.
Ethelbert W. Bullinger’s A CRITICAL LEXICON AND
CONCORDANCE TO THE ENGLISH AND GREEK NEW TESTAMENT is of similar value. There are
many worthwhile reference books available to aid biblical studies in diverse areas, such
as specialized concordances, dictionaries, lexicons, grammatical helps, etymological
studies, and exegetical analyses.
THE KEYWORD CONCORDANCE
The need for
a small-size concordance, designed to explain the vocabulary of the CONCORDANT LITERAL NEW TESTAMENT, and, at the same time,
serve to locate passages, led to the compilation of the KEYWORD
CONCORDANCE in 1947. The usual concordances which give a line for each occurrence,
are large and expensive, so we have omitted the references to such words as have little
practical value, and have given only so much of the context as is necessary to recall each
passage. Although the English keywords are arranged according to the English alphabet,
this is actually a Greek concordance, for it gives the Greek word in Latin characters, and
records its occurrences, regardless of how it may have been rendered in English. In
addition, for helpful comparison, the renderings of the AUTHORIZED
VERSION are listed.
A TENTATIVE EDITION
While the CONCORDANT GREEK TEXT with its literal English sublinear has
remained practically unchanged since 1926, when it was first published, the English
version of it has always been “a tentative translation.” The first tentative
installments of this translation of the New Testament appeared in 1914 under the
title–CONCORDANT VERSION. These were withdrawn
the following year because they did not reach the standard of quality desired. In 1915
A. E. Knoch chose a new title, STANDARD VERSION.
This title was to reflect the use of word standards. However, the publishers of what is
popularly called the AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION voiced
objection, and Mr. Knoch reestablished the title as CONCORDANT
VERSION.
From 1919 until 1926 the CV was
issued in parts. A pocket edition was printed in 1927. The 1931 edition, like the first
edition, included Greek text and notes, but also had the LEXICON
AND CONCORDANCE and THE GREEK ELEMENTS. It
retained the title–CONCORDANT VERSION: THE SACRED
SCRIPTURES. The fourth edition appeared in 1944 and followed the publication of a
Concordant Version in Germany in 1939. (The current German edition has the title KONKORDANTES NEUES TESTAMENT.) The corresponding English
version was then called the “Revised, International Edition.” The revision
printed in 1966 was designated “The Memorial Edition” in honor of the compiler,
Adolph Ernst Knoch, who was put to repose on March 28, 1965. At this time the translation
was given a new title–CONCORDANT LITERAL NEW TESTAMENT.
The sixth edition was issued
exactly fifty years after A. E. Knoch published the first complete edition. His
work on this Version spanned over half a century as he endeavored to make improvements in
the translation. Early in 1916 he had written: “no one reading the inspired Original
dreams for one moment that any translation is inspired by God.” The Version is
still regarded as tentative; that is, suggestions for improvement will always be
considered.
Back to Part One of “The Concordant Method
of Translation”
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