Language Studies

Aramaic Thoughts

Idioms in the Bible - Part 10

Burgon’s defense of the last twelve verses of Mark was largely ignored in his day, as most New Testament scholars accepted the conclusions of Westcott and Hort. In the last half century, however, there has been more and more discussion about the basic principles of New Testament textual criticism.[1] This has resulted in differing views among scholars about how to evaluate the evidence regarding the conclusion of Mark. In April of this year, Southeast Baptist Theological Seminary hosted a conference titled: “The Last Twelve Verses of Mark: Original or Not?” Unfortunately, transcripts of the discussions do not yet seem to be available, though perhaps recordings of the sessions may be available from the seminary. The Wikipedia article on Mark 16 gives a useful brief discussion of the issues.

That brings us to a discussion of the clause “they will speak in new tongues.” As noted last week, modern charismatic and Pentecostal believers hold that these “new tongues” are angelic languages or special “prayer languages.” These views have perhaps affected the views of many evangelicals. However, such an understanding of the phrase in not an accurate representation of the New Testament language. For example, Acts 2, commonly used by charismatics in their theology, says of the apostles that they spoke “in other tongues.” What this meant is explained later in the chapter (verse 8) as “in his own native language.” In other words, the apostles were speaking, not gibberish or some sort of unknown prayer language, but human languages they had not previously learned. Though charismatic interpretations abound of the 1Corinthians passages regarding “tongues,” again Paul seems to be speaking there of human languages learned miraculously or even, perhaps, by ordinary means. Thus, when Lamsa says the phrase means, “You will learn foreign languages wherever you go,” he is essentially correct.

Luke 1:69 speaks of “a horn of salvation.” This is a phrase perhaps without meaning to most modern readers. The horn is an Old Testament symbol for strength and power, and Lamsa rightly says that horn means “strength and power.” Thus the Revised English Bible renders the phrase “a strong deliverer,” and both the New Living Translation and the Contemporary English Version render it “a mighty Savior.” In a certain sense, there’s nothing problematic with these renderings, but they do remove the figurative language from a poetic text, thus lessening its rhetorical and poetic power.

In Luke 3:5, however, Lamsa misses the mark. Luke 3:5 says, “every valley shall be filled” which Lamsa says means, “wrongs righted, injustices removed.” The passage is a quote from Isaiah 40:3-5. The imagery is that of preparing for the coming of a king. In that situation in the ancient Near East, roadways would be improved so that the royal procession would not be hindered by having to go up and down hills. The roads were leveled out. Thus it is not a statement about moral changes, but an image of the people preparing for the coming of their king.

[1] For those unfamiliar with the term, textual criticism is the task of determining the proper original text of the New Testament. It can be a complicated and difficult task, involving not only knowledge of New Testament Greek vocabulary and grammar, but practice reading the ancient manuscripts. It involves as much art as science, and not all textual critics agree on all things.

Copyright Statement
'Aramaic Thoughts' Copyright 2024© Benjamin Shaw. 'Aramaic Thoughts' articles may be reproduced in whole under the following provisions: 1) A proper credit must be given to the author at the end of each story, along with a link to https://www.studylight.org/language-studies/aramaic-thoughts.html  2) 'Aramaic Thoughts' content may not be arranged or "mirrored" as a competitive online service.