Wednesday 7 March 2012

Galatians 1:15

῞Οτε δὲ εὐδόκησεν ὁ θεὸς ὁ ἀφορίσας με ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου καὶ καλέσας διὰ τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ

ὁτε - when
δε - connecting word, if translated should be but or and
εὐδοκησεν - he was pleased
ὁ θεος - God
ὁ - the
ἀφορισας - having separated
με - me
ἐκ - out of
κοιλιας -cavity or hollow, here it means womb
μητρος - of mother
μου - my
και - and
καλεσας - having called
δια - through (when followed by the genitive case)
της χαριτος αὐτου - his grace

With my very literal understanding of Greek the word ἀφορισας 'having separated' seems to refer to the process of giving birth and to me implies that God brought Paul into the world. Translators seem to take the separation as being a calling ie that God separated Paul for his work from the time of the womb. Perhaps this shows the Calvinistic, predestination bent of some translators? Or perhaps it shows a better understanding common Greek usage!

My preferred translation for the moment:
When God was pleased (the one having separated me out of my mother's womb and having called through his grace) 

2 comments:

  1. Hi...I am now in the third semester of learning greek and the scary part is I can read it.
    ὅτε δέ εὐδοκέω ὁ ἀφορίζω ἐγώ ἐκ κοιλία μήτηρ ἐγώ καί καλέω διά ὁ χάρις αὐτός
    I got more or less the same.
    But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace
    regars
    Simon

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is cool! I am so out of touch with Greek at the moment, but I will have time to get back into it later, hopefully.

    ReplyDelete