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NASB | John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 1:12 But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name-- [Is 56:5] |
Subject: Why include "even" in John 1:12 |
Bible Note: Greetings flinkywood! In order to be saved, we must first believe in Jesus Christ. Here are some of those other Scripture references for that: John 3:14-17, Matthew 18:3, John 5:24, John 6:47, Acts 4:12, 1 Cor. 1:21.. I apologize, I believe that I have misunderstood you, my friend! :-) Truthfully, the word "even" does not exist in the original Greek and it is italicized in the NASB, ASV and KJV. However, I believe that this is the best way to translate this verse, by including 'even' within the text, because (in my opinion) it explains who the children of God are a little more clearly in English. I realize that we may be talking about 'heads or tails' here, since by either including or excluding the word "even", we are still able to comprehend what John is trying to tell us in John 1:12. True, if you take out the word "even", then what you have is a genuine prepositional phrase in 'to those who believe in His name' that follows the noun "children", which is followed by its own descriptive phrase "of God." But as we follow the sentence, it goes on through the next verse (v.13), continuing to describe the "children of God." So in conclusion, I believe that the word "even" is added here as a 'transitory word' that introduces the next prepositional phrase and all of those that follow in the next verse. "Even" acts as a transitory word that separates the "main thought" in verses 11 and 12a from the description of that "main thought" in 12b and 13. Without that transitory word, then it may run together (according to the sentence structure that the translators used). But it is interesting that the more "formally equivalent" a translation is (like the ASV, NASB, KJV), the better chance that they will "deal" with the transition in the middle of this sentence here by putting "even" in the middle of it. However, if you have a more dynamically equivalent translation (like the NIV or HCSB), then you can see where they have tried to "smooth" out the flow here rather than rendering it exactly word for word. I, however, like the inclusion of the word "even." But I am not saying that everyone must accept this rendering, and I am not saying that the dynamic equivalent translations are "wrong" here, either. So either way you go, we can still determine what John was trying to communicate in John 1:12. Blessings to you, Nolan |