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[1:1-4] • [1:5-10] • [2:1-2] • [2:3-6] • [2:7-11] • [2:12-14]
[2:15-17] • [2:18-27] • [2:28-29] • [3:1-3] • [3:4-10] • [3:11-18]
[3:19-24] • [4:1-6] • [4:7-12] • [4:13-15] • [4:16-21] • [5:1-3]
[5:4-5] • [5:6-12] • [5:13-15] • [5:16-17] • [5:18-20] • [5:21]
[After the Last Verse]
Epilogue
Historically speaking, not that many people have translated a complete book of the Bible–never mind three. If you’ve come this far you may have now translated all three of John’s epistles. Even if you have “only” translated 1st John, it’s no less of a milestone.
The reason this is a serious accomplishment is because the transition to classroom Greek to reading Greek is profoundly challenging. Instead of working with sentences and clauses, you are working on paragraphs. Instead of focusing on a single tense form, you are confronted with potentially all of them. Instead of supplying a simple gloss to answer an exercise, you have to make a decision as to what a word means–given its lexical range–within the broader context of the passage (or entire book) that you are reading. Instead of sentences wrapped in neat little packages, you have sentences that cannot be resolved fully until you read later sentences. More than that, you are faced with combinations of words that seem to be used in ways completely different from what you may have learned in class.
Koine Greek was a living language that people spoke throughout the world–well, at least throughout all the vast territories of Alexander the Great. And it was used daily to communicate both great and simple things to each other. As a result, writing is a compressed mechanism to convey a message. The message itself is discovered through words, syntactical structures, rhetoric, and the discourse itself. Translating requires you to uncompress the message, and convert it faithfully into yet another language, which is also compressed.
Let’s not forget what you are translating, too! You are not translating a Greek boy’s thank you note to his mother. You are not translating a shopping list. You are translating God’s words. And that is weighty.
You have also heard so often in your Christian walk that “literal” translations are superior to “dynamic” translations. And maybe-like me–you secretly imagined of Greek almost as a cipher for English. Take the Greek word, plug in the perfectly literal English word, and voila! you have translated literally, and faithfully, and perfectly God’s word into English. How hard can that be?
Then you realize how messy–in the best way–reading an ancient tongue can be. It’s messy in the sense that human life, language, and communication is dynamic, varied, unique, and special. You learn that reading Greek is not decoding it. It’s something altogether different. Something altogether better.
After learning that, you will never look at the Greek New Testament the same again.
Congratulations on your hard work, on taking steps toward greater Greek fluency. More importantly, congratulations on adding new depth to your study of the Word.
Preserving your Craftsmanship
Translating is a craft. One of the things, I recommend you do to appreciate your craftsmanship is to actually print, and maybe even bind in a three-ring binder, your translation. You should share it, too! Share it with your spouse, children, your pastor, your Bible teacher, and even your friends from Bible study. Even better, when next your pastor is preaching from 1 John, bring your translation to church with you and read along from it. I have found that a very satisfying experience. In fact, my kids will read over my shoulder. It’s sweet, one assumes mine is correct and tells me what the Church’s translation got wrong. The other assumes the published translation is right and tells me what I got wrong.
Notice your Growth
From decoding Greek to translating it requires a lot of growth. Look back at your work from when you started translating, to the end. What changed? Where did your skills grow, where do you feel “there’s still work to be done?” Enjoy thinking about where you are now, compared to where you were when you started.
Carrying the Text Forward
Do not get too comfortable with your growth. Keep on pushing. The Bible is one of the books–and you already know this–that benefits you from consistent contact with it. Your Greek skills are the same. Spend time reading more Greek. You can go on to do another TBWM. As of right now, Ephesians and Colossians are in the pipeline. Translating those books will build on the foundation you have laid here, and expand your skills all the more.
Inhabiting the Text – Transitioning into Independent Reading
The overarching goal of this apprenticeship is to kindle the fire, build in you the skills, to just read the text in Greek for yourself. I’ve tried my level best to keep my views on controversial issues out so as to not interrupt your ability to make your own decisions, or at least I’ve tried to be upfront about my positions when they couldn’t be avoided.
If the goal you have for yourself–and you are well able to achieve this goal–is independent reading, then keep spending time in the text. In fact, if you’ve translated one of the other Johannine epistles, go back and try to read it (in Greek!). And see if you can just translate it in your head as you go. Look at the places where you stumble, and study up on those issues.
Reading the Letter as a Whole
One last “your turn.” Set your translation aside for a few weeks. Pick up the Greek again and try to read straight through. Don’t stop where you don’t understand. Just keep reading. Maybe you don’t understand because the text is unresolved, but will resolve in the next verse. Don’t be discouraged if you miss a bunch: “Wait! I translated this once, how did I miss it now?” Taking a few backwards steps every now and then is a function of progress.
Previous passage: 5:21
Return to TBWM – I John
See complete translation of I John here.