Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Happy Entrails...

I was looking this morning at a Greek word in 1 Peter 3:8--eusplanchnos. You've heard of "happy trails"? I think a fine translation of this word would be "happly entrails." :-)
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10 comments:

Paul Tillman said...

How often does "bowels" get translated "heart" in the NT, to make allowance for what we consider to be the symbolic center of emotion? If we consider the mind/brain to be the emotional center does the translation become "soft headed?"

2:42 PM
Ken Schenck said...

Looks like splanchnon appears 11 times in the New Testament. The verb splanchnizomai, something like "I feel it in the bowels" :-) appears 12 times.

2:52 PM
Kyle said...

Hey Ken -

This is random, but I wonder if you've read any of the arguments for universal reconciliation from a biblical perspective by people like Thomas Talbot? Evidently, there is a movement growing among evangelicals to embrace UR, or universalism.

In my study, I have found that biblical cases are usually far from airtight. There is ambiguity, and this can make it tough. But I don't find biblical cases for universalism to be all that compelling.

2:55 PM
Allan R. Bevere said...

Ken,

I find your suggestion hard to digest.

4:03 PM
Ken Schenck said...

I don't think you can argue universalism from the Bible. I haven't read this literature you mention, but I have a hunch it quotes passages like 1 Corinthians 15--in Adam all died; in Christ all will be made alive. I don't think there's much of a chance that Paul meant anything of this sort.

One might have a better chance of arguing for the annihilation of the "wicked," I suppose. There's a line often attributed to Karl Barth although I'm not sure if he actually said it or not: "I'm not a universalist, but perhaps God is." I also have a friend who calls himself a "hopeful universalist," by which he means that he cannot find any biblical or Church historical support for it, but wouldn't be disappointed if God decided to show mercy on everyone just because He is God.

What I feel very confident is that God will do the right thing, whatever that happens to be!

4:42 PM
Ken Schenck said...

So Allan, does that mean you at least have swallowed the suggestion?!

4:44 PM
Brian Small said...

I think you should suggest your translation for the new NIV. :-)

7:22 PM
Allan R. Bevere said...

Ken,

Actually, I am still chewing on it.

10:57 AM
Kyle said...

Hey Ken,

I'm confident of that, too. Your hunch was right, by the way. These fellows quote 1 Cor 15, as well as Romans 5:12 and Philippians 2 (every knee will bow, every tongue confess). It does seem like they are straining here in my opinion.

I wonder if evangelicals often try to push biblical passages into a kind of propositional text book format? Paul often broadens the canvass and speaks rhetorically, and it's hard, in my opinion, to single out certain passages like these and say "ah ha! Here is Paul's universalism."

1:59 PM
Kyle said...

So you think the biblical case for universalism is weak on the basis of such passages? The two most popular treatments so far are "Universal Salvation? The Current Debate" and "The Evangelical Universalist."

2:01 PM

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