Romans

In this second of seven weekend videos, Dr. Plummer compares the Greek text of Romans 3 with an English translation of the same verse(s). This week, he compares the Greek text of Romans 3:20 with the New Living Translation.

[@MatthewMcknight]

This is such a cool idea to compare an English translation to the Greek! Thanks for sharing!

[@wittwfiii]

Thank you. Lost in translation creates a destructive result. KJV is out of date and newer translations are slaves to the KJV. What is the meaning of the word? If we agree on our definitions we can begin to communicate.

[@Viral_Tiksandshorts77]

T H A N K S GOD BLESS YOU

[@Ka66ir]

I was surprised you didn’t touch on the word “simply,” which to me sounds like a limiting of the scope of the law, as if to say its only purpose is to show us our sinfulness.

[@HearTruth]

Re the Law tells us how sinful we are.. well I'd say Jer 17: 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Gen 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

[@ZiggyTawadi]

Yup. In Jeremiah's verse, the "who can know it?" implies that human eyes are veiled. Unillumined folks are too busy "being like god" in their personal spheres.

[@KingoftheJuice18]

Many Christians are very selective in their attention to biblical verses regarding God's commandments and their capacity to uplift and purify, gladden and sanctify human life. Note all 176 verses of Psalm 119 for starters.

[@KingoftheJuice18]

The deeper problem is that here (and in so many places) Paul attempts a sleight-of-hand with respect to where the Torah comes from. You'd be forgiven for thinking that there's something called "the law" that's ordering people around, when in fact the Creator of the Universe gave his gracious and holy commandments as a loving gift.

[@shawngillogly6873]

Nope. Paul is very clear where the Law comes from. He's also very clear that it's purpose as a covenantal guide is fulfilled in Christ. James was also clear about this in Acts 14.

[@KingoftheJuice18]

@@shawngillogly6873 See, there you go again. It's not some sort of "covenantal guide," or mere set of rules, or disembodied law code-it's God's own commandments. Obviously you can please God by doing what God himself commands. There's nothing clearer in Israelite Scripture than this. (Btw, I don't see James in Acts 14.)

[@nerdyengineer7943]

NLT differs from the Greek in more than just nuance or flavor. Dr. Plummer: when will you draw the line and say, "mistranslation"? My beef is with the NLT specifically. It does this in other places. For instance, in this passage, it CHANGES the meaning from "comes knowledge of sin" to "shows us HOW SINFUL we are". Its a material change in the meaning, not a loss of nuance. The translator changed it from coming to know the existence of a thing to coming to know the degree of that thing. NLT does this in other places. I have a specific passage in mind where the translator literally expounds his theology instead of simply translating a single word.

[@fluffysheap]

I think this is fine. The connotation of sarx in the first sentence, weakness and inherent sinfulness, is moved to the second sentence. All the meaning is still there. It's a paraphrasing translation, so this is fine.

[@nerdyengineer7943]

@@fluffysheap That connotation is one that you inferred from sarx. That word doesn't necessarily imply that - it's a theologically inferred idea. It's better to faithfully translate what it says. Furthermore, it doesn't matter if it did imply it or not, what I said is still true.

[@JeremyThielman]

Your points are enough revelation to show nlt is trash. Nlt shows nothing of what an allusive "get right with God' means. Losing what justification means and the parallel verses that warn believers what happens when they return to works, human effort and the law; like Gal 5:24. The reader has no connection words or points like justification to reference. Then arbitrary 'no one' rather than the flesh. The flesh does have a hope despite no hope; Ro7, that it may be presented blameless before God. No hint of that in the nlt.

[@qwerty-so6ml]

One Gospel: The Gospel of Reconciliation. Jesus Christ came into THEIR kingdom to reconcile fallen angels unto Himself. We are the fallen angels (ELOHIM) kept in DNA chains of darkness. If you do not confess being a fallen angel in Lucifer's kingdom, then you are an unbeliever. Unbeliever = those that claim to be made in the image of ELOHIM(gods). REPENT FALLEN ANGELS.

[@robert-skibelo]

I'm no fan of "modern" English translations. "Made right" is hopelessly vague. If you dumb down of course you lose any subtlety or precision of meaning.

[@fluffysheap]

Ok, but it's a paraphrasing, easy to understand translation. You aren't allowed to use theology jargon because the whole point of the translation is for people who don't understand that. Is there some better phrase or word?

[@robert-skibelo]

@@fluffysheap I'm not arguing for specialised theological terminology. I'm just arguing for normal good English. I can't say what a better word or phrase would be because "made right" is hopelessly unclear. "Reconciled" would be one thing it might be supposed to mean. Appeasement is another possibility perhaps: "no one can ever appease God". If these are wrong that just demonstrates how unsatisfactory "made right" is. Obviously one has only to look at this verse in other translations to find out what the Greek actually means.