James 5:16

[Larry Kelsey]

Larry_Kelsey "James 5:16"
Mar-04-2003 at 08:53 PM (GMT3)

Shlama Akhay,

Well, I don't know if this is actually a 'smoking gun' for Aramaic primacy

,
{I wasn't sure at the time I posted this back in March, but I'm absolutely positive about it now }

but the Greek texts differ on a word in James 5:16 that makes for an interesting study in relationship to the Peshitta.
James 5:16 starts with "Confess your faults one to another..." The Textus Receptus of Stephens 1550 and Scrivener 1894 as well as the Byzantine Majority text have paraptwmata while the Alexandrian text has amartiav.Strong's defines 'paraptoma' as a side-slip (lapse or deviation),i.e., (unintentional) error or (wilful) transgression. This lines up with the corresponding word in the Peshitta very well.

Word Number: 14408
Pronunciation: (Eastern) SaK,LOaT,K,uON (Western) SaK,LOoT,K,uON
Meaning:: error, foolishness, transgression, trespass, wrong-doing, sin

The word in the Alexandrian text, hamartia also lines up very well with the Aramaic word 'sakh-lowth-khon.' Here's Thayer's entry for 'hamartia':

1) equivalent to G264
1a) to be without a share in
1b) to miss the mark
1c) to err, be mistaken
1d) to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong
1e) to wander from the law of God, violate God's law, sin
2) that which is done wrong, sin, an offence, a violation of the divine law in thought or in act
3) collectively, the complex or aggregate of sins committed either by a single person or by many

I'll repaste the SEDRA entry and highlight where 'hamartia' and 'sakh-lowth-khon' line up the best.

Pronunciation: (Eastern) SaK,LOaT,K,uON (Western) SaK,LOoT,K,uON
Meaning:: error, foolishness, transgression, trespass, wrong-doing, sin

So we have two Greek words springing from one Aramaic word in James. How did I do this time, akhay?

Shlama w'Burkate, Larry Kelsey

[drmlanc]

You did well. Even though the two different Greek words mean kinda the same thing, it is still valid. In fact, we would EXPECT much of this "synonym variants" among Greek mss, if it was translated from another language.

After failing to find significant Greek variants for agape/phileo and life/salvation, I am very happy you found a "synonym split word"! <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/happy.gif" alt="" title="Happy" /><!-- s -->