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Archlute · #16 (**permalink**) 10-17-2007, 02:41 PM

Hello Marty,

Although our English translations uniformly translate 'tois mey upakouousin toi euanggelioi' in 2 Thess. 1:8 with the gloss of 'those who do not obey the Gospel' it can just as easily (and maybe more properly) be understood as a failure of those referenced to fully embrace the Gospel in faith. The distinction here, which would more clearly show the separation between law and Gospel than most who cite this passage would like to see revealed, rests upon the relationship of the participle to the dative of direct object which follows. When 'upakouow' is used in this manner it can take on the meaning of embracing a belief in full surrender to it, or can be used of one accepting a given invitation. This would cause the passage to read "inflicting vengeance upon those who do not know God, and on those who do not embrace (by faith) the Gospel of our Lord Jesus". For me, this also more clearly emphasizes the aspect of God's wrath upon those not covered by Christ's penal substitutionary atonement. The actions of the persecutors are not what brings a special wrath of God, rather, Paul comforts the persecuted that even as the unbelief of the Jews issues forth in their violent actions, so will that root of unbelief be punished.

Some may question this rendering, which is well attested to in the Greek literature of the time, by asking why no English translation has rendered it in this manner. My response is the same as that of my dear Greek prof Steve Baugh who, when queried by students as to what we should do when the English translations all seem to go against a better understanding of a phrase, replied by asking why ministers would be studying Greek at all if they wanted merely to rely on translation committee consensus. It is well known that numerous English translations are basically identical in their wording, not because each committee did a fresh study of each passage, but rather because they took the bulk of a previous translation (RSV to ESV for example) and reproduced it nearly verbatim. The same holds true for much of the Geneva - King James - American Standard - New King James line as well. It is known that when Tyndale changed 'presbyteros' from 'priest' to 'elder' in the New Testament that it was considered a novelty and caused an ecclesiastical tumult. It had nothing to do with whether or not Tyndale had the better understanding of this term, but rather with the fact that a translation tradition, which had made it easy to uphold the idea of the minister as a priest offering up a sacrifice in the eucharist, was placed at stake.

I believe that 2 Thess. 1:8 is best understood in this manner, and find that this fits best with the clear distinction between action and faith in Mark 1:15 as well.