09-21-2014, 10:31 AM
Joh 1:3 Everything existed by his hand and without him not even one [thing] existed [of] that which existed. 4 In him was life and the life was the light of men. (Joh 1:3-4 MGI)
Basically, this is how English translations today translate this verse, whether from the Greek, or from the Aramaic, which I have here.
I discovered though, that the earliest believers in the East after the apostles did not render these verses this way, and it makes quite a difference.
One thing I appreciate about the MGI (Magiera's translation of the Peshitta) is that she puts words in brackets that are not actually in the text, but that she believes makes for proper or smooth English. Notice that there are two words here in brackets...'thing' and 'of'. In Aramaic, the letter dalet serves as a prefix to indicate the idea of 'of' or 'that of'. You can see it in the last word which is literally 'of men'.
The word for 'that' is medem and it does not have the prefix dalet. This is important because this is where the early believers understood this passage different than is done today. She added the 'of' in brackets because she understood these verses in the way that most today do, and needed to add it to make sense of it in English. Take out the bracketed word and verse numbers and let's see where they punctuated these verses at.
Everything existed by his hand and without him not even one [thing] existed. That which existed in him was life and the life was the light of men. (Joh 1:3-4)
Compare this with the way it is today:
Everything existed by his hand and without him not even one [thing] existed [of] that which existed. In him was life and the life was the light of men. (Joh 1:3-4 MGI)
The earliest understanding of these verses is consistent with the eastern churches understanding of the entire universe being in God, held together and sustained by his Son. His life has always been the life that truly exists in all his creation.
One example of this can be found in Cyril of Alexandria's commentary on John, where you can find the quote in these two places, noting how he renders it:
https://archive.org/stream/CyrilOfAlexan...3/mode/2up
https://archive.org/stream/CyrilOfAlexan...1/mode/2up
Ronen
Basically, this is how English translations today translate this verse, whether from the Greek, or from the Aramaic, which I have here.
I discovered though, that the earliest believers in the East after the apostles did not render these verses this way, and it makes quite a difference.
One thing I appreciate about the MGI (Magiera's translation of the Peshitta) is that she puts words in brackets that are not actually in the text, but that she believes makes for proper or smooth English. Notice that there are two words here in brackets...'thing' and 'of'. In Aramaic, the letter dalet serves as a prefix to indicate the idea of 'of' or 'that of'. You can see it in the last word which is literally 'of men'.
The word for 'that' is medem and it does not have the prefix dalet. This is important because this is where the early believers understood this passage different than is done today. She added the 'of' in brackets because she understood these verses in the way that most today do, and needed to add it to make sense of it in English. Take out the bracketed word and verse numbers and let's see where they punctuated these verses at.
Everything existed by his hand and without him not even one [thing] existed. That which existed in him was life and the life was the light of men. (Joh 1:3-4)
Compare this with the way it is today:
Everything existed by his hand and without him not even one [thing] existed [of] that which existed. In him was life and the life was the light of men. (Joh 1:3-4 MGI)
The earliest understanding of these verses is consistent with the eastern churches understanding of the entire universe being in God, held together and sustained by his Son. His life has always been the life that truly exists in all his creation.
One example of this can be found in Cyril of Alexandria's commentary on John, where you can find the quote in these two places, noting how he renders it:
https://archive.org/stream/CyrilOfAlexan...3/mode/2up
https://archive.org/stream/CyrilOfAlexan...1/mode/2up
Ronen