Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jonathan Robie <jonathan AT texcel.no>]

At 03:27 PM 3/30/99 +0200, Rolf Furuli wrote:
 
>In relation to Colossians 1:15 there is a theological motive behind the
>search for a meaning other than "the one who is born first".

I am uncomfortable with terms like "theological motive", "bias", "search
for a meaning", etc. There is an implication in your messages that you are
unbiased and whoever you are attacking is biased, and I personally think
most of us are blind to our own biases. In fact, the best way to get beyond
this blindess is to accept and express what our biases are. I'm suspicious
of anyone who claims to be objective.

>Is it not
>strange that in all other instances PRWTOTOKOS is translated by "firstborn"
>but in this case different kinds of circumlocutions are sought? Behind this
>is not lexical semantics but rather theology!

I'm somewhat uncomfortable with getting into this level of detail on a New
Testament passage in a forum devoted to the Hebrew Scriptures, but I think
there is a valid issue related to translation in general, so I'll go into
it this once.

The most literal word-for-word translation, is, of course, "firstborn". I
just did a quick look at the translations I have with me, and almost all of
them do, in fact, translate PRWTOTOKOS as "firstborn", including: KJV,
NASB, NRSV, NAB, NJB, Luther, Zürich, Segond. I assume that the New World
Translation also translates it this way, judging by the messages of several
people here who are advocates of that translation. 

Revised English Bible translates "his is the primacy over all creation". I
think the issue here is that there are several statements in verses 15-17
that need to be reconciled:

Colo 1:15(NASB) And He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of
all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, [both] in the heavens
and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers
or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He
is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

This naturally raises some puzzles. If all things were created by him -
including things in the heaven and invisible things, how can he belong to
the class of created things, as verse 15 seems to imply? I imagine that the
translators of the REB decided that the context shows that the main theme
here is the primacy of Christ, and that they considered the use of the
genitive, which has a fairly broad class of possible meanings, and
concluded that this meant "firstborn over all creation", in the sense of
the birthright of kings, where the firstborn inherits the right to rule.

Now you may complain that this is a theological argument, but if a
translator wants to convey the intended meaning rather than woodenly
translate each word, then the translator must grasp the meaning of the word
in context, and Colossians 1:15-17 poses a puzzle which inherently involves
guessing about some theological presuppositions of the original writer and
readers. Certainly it is legitimate for a translator to produce a
translation that reflects this particular understanding of the verse - and
any reader is well advised to consult several translations if they are
studying a passage in depth and do not know the original language. Many
verses can legitimately be translated in more than one way. Each
translation is only one translation, and no translation is the original. 

But does the fact that this translator's understanding of the passage
disagrees with yours a proof of theological bias?

Jonathan