Excerpt from Wuest Word Studies From The Greek New Testament
UNTRANSLATABLE RICHES FROM THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT
Preface
When one has read all the various translations, each of which brings out some different shade of meaning from the inexhaustible richness of the Greek text, there still remains a large untranslatable wealth of truth to which only a Greek student has access. The reason for this is that in a translation which keeps to a minimum of words, that is, where one English word for instance, is the translation of one Greek word, it is impossible for the translator to bring out all the shades of meaning of the Greek word. It sometimes requires ten or a dozen words to give a well-rounded, full-orbed concept of the Greek word.
For instance, the words “thankworthy” and “acceptable” in I Peter 2:19, 20 are the translation of a Greek word which means, “that which is beyond the ordinary course of what might be expected, and is therefore commendable.” Here sixteen words are needed to bring out the total meaning of the one Greek word. What we have in our Authorized Version is an excellent “one-word” translation, and correct. But one misses some of the richness that lies hidden beneath the English word. Again, no translation can bring to the English reader the fact that this Greek word is the one translated “grace” when the writer is speaking of God’s grace. And no translation can bring out the richness of meaning in the Greek word “grace” as it was used even in pagan Greece.
Or, take the case of the two words translated “love” in I Peter 1:22, the first one meaning “a love that is called out of one’s heart by the pleasure one finds in the object loved, and which is nonethical in its nature, an affection, a liking for someone or something,” the second, meaning “a love called out of one’s heart because of the preciousness of the object loved, and which is sacrificial in its nature, a love conferring blessings upon the object loved.” In the first instance, it takes thirty-three words, most of which would appear in a translation that would do justice to the total meaning of the word, to translate the word adequately, and in the second case, thirty words. The single word “love” used to translate these two different Greek words, is a correct rendering and perfectly proper in the ordinary translation. But the English reader would never suspect that there was so much rich material still in the Greek text.
This is the justification for such a book as Untranslatable Riches from the Greek New Testament for the English Reader and its three companion volumes, Golden Nuggets from the Greek New Testament for the English Reader, Bypaths in the Greek New Testament for the English Reader, and Treasures from the Greek New Testament for the English Reader. Where a Greek word treated in this book is presented in a fuller or complete way or in its every occurrence in the New Testament in the other volumes, a footnote will direct the Bible student to the page or pages where the material can be found. Thus, the reader can make a further study of the word should he so desire.
The indexes of all four books are presented in one index in Untranslatable Riches, thus enabling the student of the English Bible to quickly find the material he wishes. The four volumes can thus be used as a reference work. The English reader with no knowledge of the Greek can obtain help from the Greek text in the case of approximately 1150 places treated in these books.
K. S. W.
Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 20 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 10–11.
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