Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Jim is Right

Jim West writes concerning Romans 10:15:
Romans 10:15b is an interesting text and it’s usually translated ‘how beautiful are the feet of those preaching the good news’ or some such.
Here’s the phrase- Ὡς ὡραῖοι οἱ πόδες τῶν εὐαγγελιζομένων τὰ ἀγαθά.
It appears to me, however, that the addition of ἀγαθά at the end of the verse impels translations to be more forceful, since ‘preach good news’ is already contained in ‘εὐαγγελιζομένων’.
Hence I would suggest that Romans 10:15b should be rendered ‘how welcome are the feet of those who preach the good news well’. The advantage of this translation is that it takes the last two words seriously and doesn’t allow them to be swallowed up in εὐαγγελιζομένων.
I agree. The lack of attention given to τὰ ἀγαθά is strange, especially considering that Paul wrote this letter with false teaching in mind.

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