Saturday, December 01, 2012

What it takes...

καὶ εἶπεν· Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν μὴ στραφῆτε καὶ γένησθε ὡς τὰ παιδία, οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν.

And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3 NIV)

<idle musing>
Not sure I like "change" as the translation of στραφῆτε here...it usually has more of a connotation of turning—sort of like שוב (shub) does in Hebrew, which is probably the word that Jesus used... So, how about this for an "Englished" version: "unless you turn away (from your current practices) and become..."

 By the way, I know that it is passive, but according to A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 1 b, it can be (and frequently is) passive with active force. An interesting note under 5: "The Eng. term 'conversion' could suggest a change from one religious persuasion to another, which is not the case in these pass[ages]" citing both Matt. 18:3 and John 12:40!
</idle musing>

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