Over at Scripture Zealot, Jeff takes issue with the TNIV’s rendering of the Greek adelphoi as “brothers and sisters” at Philippian 4:21 against, let’s say, the NLT’s “brothers.”
Jeff then goes on to quote Col 4:10-14 from the NLT and to emphasize the names of six Christian males who were with Paul at the writing of the his letter to the Colossians:
Aristarchus, who is in prison with me, sends you his greetings, and so does Mark, Barnabas’s cousin. And as you were instructed before, make Mark welcome if he comes your way. 11 Jesus (the one we call Justus) also sends his greetings. These are the only Jewish Christians among my co-workers; they are working with me here for the Kingdom of God. And what a comfort they have been! 12 Epaphras, from your city, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. He always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident of the whole will of God. 13 I can assure you that he has agonized for you and also for the Christians in Laodicea and Hierapolis. 14 Dear Doctor Luke sends his greetings, and so does Demas.
I grant that the mention of six Christian males with Paul in his imprisonment seems to favor a rendering of “brothers,” that is, male Christian companions (“friends,” NRSV; “colleagues,” REB) . But we need to ask a few questions:
Someone might ask: If women were with Paul, Why aren’t their names given? For some reason, Paul may have decided against listing their names, even though he is known for listing the names of women who worked with him (Romans 16; Phil 4:2-3). We just don’t know.
And Paul may have been just referring to Christian male companions…
Some have also suggested that Paul was directly addressing the men who would actually read the letter to the others. Thought you might also be interested in the top 10 things I learned while preparing to introduce Romans to our congregation.
Grace and Peace,
Raffi Shahinian
Parables of a Prodigal World
Raffi, I’ve heard that view before. I’ll check out your link.
Hmmm. From reading the context, it seems the TNIV missed it on that one. No women are mentioned here, though in Paul’s conclusions elsewhere in the NT, it does…
I left some thoughts on Jeff’s post on why i think the TNIV’s translation is fine and maybe more accurate. Unfortunately none of the paragraph breaks went through so it looks like one long paragraph.
Bryan L
Douglas, What specifically in the context of Philippias 4 has led you conclusively to that position?
Bryan L, I’ll check out your arguments on the TNIV’s rendering as the more accurate.
TC, I noted on Jeff’s blog that I like the “friends” rendering of the NRSV – it’s less cumbersome to read often than it is to frequently read “brothers and sisters,’ which occurs a lot in Paul’s letters.
I support this usage but sometimes wonder if there would be as much debate and ado about nothing if we went with the NRSV’s “friends” rendering.
Could the insistence on “brothers and sisters” be a bit of an anachronism from our present cultural issues?
Seems to me like the use of Friends out diffuse much of the problems.
Brian, “Friends” is indeed less cumbersome.
Could the insistence on “brothers and sisters” be a bit of an anachronism from our present cultural issues?
That’s possible. I consulted O’Brien’s work and he said we really don’t know how large a group Paul had in mind.
It could go either way for me. And we know women were Paul coworkers (Phil 4:2-3; Rom 16).
Well, I agree that women were workers of Paul so that “brothers and sisters” is a fair interpretation. Friends is less wordy.
The reason I don’t like “friends” (not the TV show. I love that!) is because it loses the familial aspect of the believers in the church that brothers and sisters communicates.
Plus friendship had a technical meaning in the ancient world that I think is important to understand when interpreting the NT and if you just turn all of these familial metaphors into friendship metaphors then I think it can blur the differences and cause some trouble for coming to understand the dynamics of friendship in the ancient world and where it shows up in the New Testament (such as in Philippians, esp 4:15)
Maybe we could say “kin” or “family” or “siblings” although I don’t think “brothers and sisters” is really that cumbersome.
Bryan L
Well, I agree that women were workers of Paul so that “brothers and sisters” is a fair interpretation. Friends is less wordy.
Brian, “friends” is perhaps less debatable.
Bryan L, “brothers and sisters” work for me.
For example, the TNIV has “dear friends” for agapetoi at Phil 4:1.
Maybe Paul wants the familial concept of adelphoi to ring through – so “brothers”/”brothers and sisters.”
Or “colleagues” and “friends,” depending on how Paul wants us to understand the term.
Something I asked on my blog:
Does the Greek word ἀδελφὴ really mean sister?
Jeff
Does the Greek word ἀδελφὴ really mean sister?
Jeff, yes, when we’re referring to the female gender specifically.
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See, tc, this is why “brethren” works so well…it’s all inclusive (like the Supreme Court – “brethren” means both male and female justices).
I know it’s a little antiquated, but it still works.
Peter M, “Brethren,” one word that captures it all – I love it!