While we have a couple of Greek and Hebrew wordsmiths in residence,
@PaulThomson and
@studier, I don't want to risk the chance of missing the opportunity to ask their opinion (especially as recent as just now seeing that one expressed the wear on him). I'm interested in looking at the phrase regarding salvation "by grace through faith" with special attention to the words "by" and "through" since it is otherwise that, usually, the words "grace" and "faith" that get all the attention.
Hi Mem:
Thanks for flagging me. It looks like
@PaulThomson ("PT") has provided quite a bit of guidance so I'll approach it from a bit of a different angle which will overlap a bit with his work. I'm basically going to show what is involved in the choices a translator must make in determining how to translate just these 2 seemingly simple phrases:
I wish I could simplify this but it's ultimately not so simple and I am always looking and relooking at translations in part because of things the following will show. This will just deal with {by] grace:
NKJ Ephesians 2:8 For [
by] grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God
- I've bracketed [by] because the word is not in the Greek Text. It's been added by the translators. "grace" as PT I think has identified is a noun in what's called the Dative case. From Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, here is a list of what must be considered in regard to how the word is used in the sentence and context the translator needs to consider in adding a word such as [by]. Each one of these classifications has a different word or phrase associated with it to fill in the brackets and even then, the translator can be flexible to get the point across as he understands the author.
Pure Dative Uses
1. Dative Indirect Object
2. Dative of Interest (including Advantage [
commodi] and Disadvantage [
incommodi])
3. Dative of Reference/Respect
4. Ethical Dative
5. Dative of Destination
6. Dative of Recipient
7. Dative of Possession
8. Dative of Thing Possessed
9. Predicate Dative
10. Dative in Simple Apposition
Local Dative Uses
1. Dative of Place
2. Dative of Sphere
3. Dative of Time (when)
4. Dative of Rule
Instrumental Dative Uses
1. Dative of Association
2. Dative of Manner (or Adverbial Dative)
3. Dative of Means/Instrument
4. Dative of Agency
5. Dative of Measure/Degree of Difference
6. Dative of Cause
7. Cognate Dative
8. Dative of Material
9. Dative of Content
The Uses of the Dative After Certain Words
1. Dative Direct Object
2. Dative After Certain Nouns
3. Dative After Certain Adjectives
4. Dative After Certain Prepositions
Here's a bit of basic instruction to help understand how the Dative case is used:
In connection with this, Chamberlain (although he holds to the eight-case system) gives a very helpful exegetical tip:
When the interpreter is confronted with a “dative” form, he should remember that any one of three basic ideas may be expressed by this case-form:
1. The idea of place
2. The idea of the instrument
3. The true dative
A good passage upon which to test this is: τῇ γὰρ ἐλπίδι ἐσώθημεν (
Rom 8:24). Does Paul mean to say “We are saved by hope” (instrumental), “in hope” (locative), or “to” (or “for”) “hope” (dative)? If the case is [pure] dative, hope is, in a sense, personified and becomes the end of salvation rather than a means to that end. If the case is locative, hope is regarded as the sphere in which salvation occurs. If the case is instrumental, hope is considered as a means used in saving men.
The only scientific way in which to decide this sort of question is to appeal to the Pauline viewpoint as reflected in the New Testament.
Therefore, within the five-case system, the dative case may be defined as the case of personal interest, reference/respect (pure dative), position (locative), and means (instrumental).
Whatever the translators (most of whom insert "by") have determined, they are classifying "grace" under the "Instrumental" category. Most simply they are saying the instrument or means God used to save is [His] grace. We may refine the wording a bit. It would be nice if translators specified exactly what they mean with an expanded phrase like "by means of" but these translations rarely if ever get so specific or
commit to such specificity. As you can see, there are several other words we could consider inserting even if we remained under the Instrumental category.
I've underlined a sentence above to show what we're really dealing with. These translational choices ultimately need to fit with the viewpoint of the author and ultimately the AUTHOR of the Text.
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