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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] |
Bible Question: The word "even" in this verse is confusing. Almost as if "receiving Him" was not completely necessary, but atleast believing in Him...? I see receiving and believing as one in the same, but the word "even" seems to distinguish between them. Any comments? |
Bible Answer: As you probably know, whenever you see italics in a verse it means that the word or phrase was inserted by translators at some point. Usually they get it right. Sometimes the thought of a manuscript is basically there, but a word is missing in a verse and they flesh the verse out. Sometimes they get it wrong. Here is an example. Ephesians 4:7-8 set up a context of Christ giving "gifts to men". The grace spoken of in verse 7 is not the universal grace offered by God through Christ's death to all who would accept its saving potential, but simply grace as in "favor" or "blessing". So, we have Christ giving gifts to men in 7 and 8 and in 9-10 we have a paranthetical statement (which the translators do well to bracket in parantheses). In other words, Paul breaks his thought in 9 and 10 and then returns to it in 11. But the translators insert "as" into verse 11 instead of "to", which is obviously ungrammatical and tends away from a proper interpretation of these verses (which is another story I'd love to tell). As for John 1:12, the insertion of "even" is an emphatic, i.e., they could easily have left it out. It's like they take it one step further to emphasize, or increase the force of, the statement. They were fitting it into an old convention of speech that has a different spin on "even" than we have today. Think about Philippians 2:8. It says Jesus was humbled "to the point of death, even death on a cross". Both are referring to Christ's death, right? Same thing in John. Both refer to two aspects of the same thing--the salvation of those who would receive him. I'm pretty sure the translators were trying to duplicate the feel of Philip. 2:8 in John. As you have noted, it is completely unnecessary. I find translators' insertions quite often that I don't feel are necessary, either. Hope this helps, Keith Davis springelhaus@yahoo.com |