Misplaced comma ?

Not that it makes much difference to me, but my curiosity is peaked and I would like to see what others think about this topic. Since the early Greek manuscripts had no punctuation and relied on a scribes, is it possible that the comma in the vs. Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” may have been intended to be placed after 'today', I wonder this in light of Jesus went to go preach the gospel to the those in prison, peter 3;19 & Matt 12;40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. If this is the case either Jesus went to heaven and then left to do this preaching, or this took place at another time which doesn't make to much sense to me. Do you think this comma was placed where God intended it to be? Is there any typical style of writing used by Greek's that would dictate where punctuation would be used? Could grammatical and punctuation errors really mess with infallibility of scripture?

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Permalink Reply by Colby Chase on June 19, 2011 at 10:25am

Can a misplaced or omitted comma, or other grammatical errors, affect the meaning of what we read? Absolutely, without a doubt!

With regard to the example you cited from Luke's Gospel: As with other English language versions, the NIV places the comma in Luke 23:43 before "today." Here's how the KJV renders this verse: "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." On this, that the comma comes before "today," there is apparent unanimity on the part of Biblical scholars and translators over time, regardless of whether they are conservative/evangelical or liberal theologically, or are rendering a thought-for-thought or word-for-word translation, that this is the correct rendering of the Greek text. That said, I'm sure that we can find other verses that are rendered differently by different English-language versions of the Bible. In fact, there are numerous Websites that provide such comparisons, highlighting differences in translation.

By the way, and I'll leave this aside for now, many have speculated on what Jesus meant by "paradise" in this instance. Was he speaking of heaven?

I think you raise a profoundly important question here, which goes well beyond the placement of a comma in a verse from Luke's Gospel. It gets to the very issue of how we understand the Bible and its authority.

Let me say at the outset that I am handicapped by the fact that I have not studied the Greek language, let alone the Greek language as it was used in Biblical times. I have not dedicated my life to scholarly linguistic and Biblical research that would make me an authority on this subject.

Many Christians believe that the Bible is the infallible and inerrant Word of God. If you look at the Websites of many Christian churches on the Web, you are likely to come across a statement of faith that includes this or similar language, especially among "Bible-believing" evangelical churches.

Before going any further, however, we need to have clarity and mutual understanding about the meaning of the words infallible and inerrant, particularly in relation to the Bible. It is also common to hear Christians talk of Biblical writings as having been inspired by God.

Biblical inerrancy, in short, is the view that the Bible is completely free of error and accurate in every detail. Some would say that while this is true of the original writings (of which none exist today--what we have are copies of copies), it is possible that as the texts have been copied by scribes and translated numerous times from their original writings into English that errors of grammar and punctuation have crept into the Bible.

Not only that, but translation from one language to another is not an exact science. It is an art. It becomes complicated by differences in grammatical structure and punctuation, idioms, words for which there is no precise or exact match. Anyone that is fluent in two or more languages understands this. A literal word-for-word rendering may not make sense for this reason.

In translating from the original languages into English, is it possible that the translators have imposed their own thoughts and interpretations on the text such that the original intent of the authors may become obscured or altered in places?

This is arguably most likely an issue where the translation has been done using a thought-for-method (e.g., The Message) or literal or word-for-word .... The most popular and widely used English-language Bibles strive for balance, falling somewhere in between the two extremes, striving for dynamic equivalence in translation, relying on a panel of learned Biblical scholars to ensure accuracy.

Some Christians believe that inerrancy extends only to the original manuscripts (no longer extant) while others believe it extends to the King James Version ("KJV-Onlyism"), which they believe to be the only accurate and reliable English language version, free of error. For them, the KJV is the gold standard against which all other English language translations can be compared to determine their accuracy and reliability. However, over the past 500 years, the English language has undergone gradual and significant changes, making the KJV difficult for many to read and understand. It is like reading a different dialect of English from the distant past. Language is continually evolving. New words have come into the language and others have fallen out of use; still others have changed their meaning over time.

Biblical infallibility, which has a broader meaning, is the claim that the Bible is reliable and trustworthy. If there are any errors in the Bible, they are minor and inconsequential, the result of human error in copying and translating from original texts no longer extant. Regardless, the Bible is the repository of Christian faith; the final arbiter in all matters of faith and doctrine.

Those who believe the Bible to be inerrant also believe it to be infallible. Those who hold to Biblical infallibility do not necessary believe it is inerrant, but they do believe the Bible to be trustworthy and reliable.

When we say the Bible is "inspired by God," (2 Timothy 3:16) do we mean that the authors were like acting as mere scribes who jotted down every word as dictated to them by God, or was it inspiration in the wider sense of essential concepts? In other words, do the writings also reflect to some extent the personalities and experiences of the human beings who wrote them (2 Peter 1:21)? Do we see, for example, differences in style or emphasis of the writings of the Apostles of Peter and Paul, or between the authors of the four Gospels? If not, why would God have inspired four distinct Gospel accounts of the earthly ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ?

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Permalink Reply by Colby Chase on June 19, 2011 at 11:18am

Mike,

In my long missive in response to your post, I neglected to answer your last question directly.

You asked, "Could grammatical and punctuation errors really mess with the infallibility of scripture?"

The answer is "no." I hold that the Bible is the infallible repository of Christian faith; which is to say, it is reliable and trustworthy.

The basic and simple distinction we need to make here is between Biblical infallibility and inerrancy. The original manuscripts no longer exist, but assuming that they were free from error, we can acknowledge that errors of grammar or punctuation have crept into scripture through human translation. While this may call into question a blanket claim of Biblical inerrancy, the Bible is still infallible. These human errors do not call into question the essentials of the Christian faith and the central theme of scripture that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

The Bible to me is like a statute of limitations. That is, the Bible contains all knowledge that is necessary to salvation. It is the final authority on all matters of faith, doctrine and practice.

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16).
"As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed" (Galatians 1:9).
"Test everything. Hold on to the good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

That last piece of advice from the Apostle Paul is something we all need to take to heart. The more we read the Bible, the more we see how it all holds together.

Not all English-language translations are created equal--a case in point being the New World Translation, which has deliberately altered the scripture in places to remove or obfuscate biblical claims concerning the divinity of Jesus Christ, to support the peculiar doctrines of the Jehovahs Witnesses. This kind of "error" shouldn't be confused, however, with a spelling or grammatical error you or I might make in posting a response to a discussion on LIBAW or in a college term paper. Innocent (and arguably careless) errors that, I might add, do not detract from the truth or reliability of what we are saying even if they may rankle the sensibility of a college English instructor.

Colby

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Permalink Reply by Mike Sparrow on June 20, 2011 at 7:18pm

Thanks again Colby, Love 1 Thes. 5:21, I pretty sure Jesus was speaking about Abraham's bosom, like the rich man and Lazarus. What do you think of the thief being with Jesus in paradise that day in light of Pet. 3:19 & Matt. 12:40.

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Permalink Reply by Tammy_LIBAW on June 19, 2011 at 12:20pm

I would like to think that nothing I read is misplaced. The way I see it is if we look into fault with a comma, what next? We'll be able to place a "to" there, take out an "and" here, replace a period with a semi-colon. I had this discussion recently. I know my God is powerful & sovereign enough to keep His Word perfect. I believe to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. This could make for a good long discussion. I know many feel when we die, we will "sleep" until The Day. Now, we're getting into the end times. lol. See, it could make for a good long discussion.