by Ptr. Art Calaguas
Shalom.
The 136 hostages are still in Gaza captivity, including women, elderly, a child and a baby; as well as corpses. Israeli authorities are saying that around 50 of them are actually dead or have died already in the long period of more than 4 months since Hamas launched its October 7, 2023 attack into Israel. The war between Israel and the Hamas continues and the abductees, alive or dead, are all held by Hamas for an unequal exchange – hostages for jailed prisoners with a pause in the fighting. The negotiations going on for the release of the remaining hostages are being mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and France. The Israelis are now mopping up Khan Younis as their troops move further south and prepare to attack Rafah along the Gaza border with Egypt. We should continue to pray for the immediate release of all hostages, and Red Cross medical attention for them. We should also pray for Palestinian Christians to share the Gospel to the Hamas before they are killed in combat. The Hamas is no match for the Israelis; their only choices now are to surrender or die. Their only real hope is our Lord Jesus Christ. The IDF regulars and reservists are likewise lost without our Lord Jesus. God asked us to love not only his chosen people but also our enemies. And we can express this as prayer for their salvation, even as we persist in praying for a just end to this war. Let us continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6-7).
We had previously seen the use of the Greek New Testament (NT) words διπλᾶ (dipla) and διπλοῦν (diploun), both from the adjective διπλοῦς (diplous); and διπλώσατε (diplosate) from the cognate verb διπλόω (diploó). Earlier, we had studied the Hebrew words כִּפְלַ֖יִם (kiphlayim) from the underlying כֶּפֶל (kephel); and מִשְׁנֵ֤ה (mishneh) from the Old Testament (OT). These are the specific words enumerated and analyzed by the late evangelical scholar Dr. Meredith G. Kline which he says need a retranslation in the specific contexts where their meaning is best rendered as “matching” or “equivalent” instead of “double,” “two-fold,” or “twice.” Previously, all the contexts of the OT and NT passages where these words were used revolved on punishments and judgments by a righteous and just sovereign God. In the last NT verse cited by Dr. Kline which we will now take up, the context is not one of negative judgment but of positive recognition and praise. Still, he says that the word used should not be translated as “double.” This is found in 1 Timothy 5:17 where an inflected form of the Greek adjective διπλοῦς (diplous) is used.
The context of 1 Timothy 5:17 is about the Apostle Paul’s instructions to his disciple Timothy, now the young overseer of the church in Ephesus. Scholars say that this letter was written after Paul’s 1st Roman imprisonment documented in Acts 28 and during his 4th missionary trip (not covered in Acts). The whole 1 Timothy epistle of the Apostle Paul dealt with false teaching versus sound doctrine and the calling of the church to spread the Gospel message of salvation as well as the advancement of godliness as evidenced by proper church leadership and behavior of church members. Chapter 5 takes off from the previous chapters 3 and 4. It contains instructions about the treatment of widows and elders/overseers. The SBL GNT verse of 1 Timothy 5:17 is given below:
17Οἱ καλῶς προεστῶτες πρεσβύτεροι διπλῆς τιμῆς ἀξιούσθωσαν, μάλιστα οἱ κοπιῶντες ἐν λόγῳ καὶ διδασκαλίᾳ·
The translation of the highlighted Greek word διπλῆς (diples) is in question. It is a form of the same adjective διπλοῦς (diplous) we saw earlier used in Revelation 18:6 and Matthew 23:15. A survey of 1 Timothy 5:17 English translations shows it has been translated as “double” or “twice” by 30 out of the 32 Bibles in https://biblehub.com/1_timothy/5-17.htm. An example of the majority, the New American Standard Bible (NASB), renders the verse this way:
17The elders who lead well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.
The New King James Version (NKJV) also translates it this way:
17Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.
The New International Version (NIV) renders the verse this way:
17The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.
The Contemporary English Version (CEV) has a different take as it drops “honor” in exchange for a payment of value:
17Church leaders who do their job well deserve to be paid twice as much, especially if they work hard at preaching and teaching.
The Good News Translation (GNT) is close to the CEV’s trajectory:
17The elders who do good work as leaders should be considered worthy of receiving double pay, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.
The International Standard Version (ISV) also follows this track:
17Elders who handle their duties well should be considered worthy of double compensation, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.
The Amplified Bible being more verbose, certainly tries to make things really clear, as it also adopts the majority “double” view:
17The elders who perform their leadership duties well are to be considered worthy of double honor (financial support), especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching [the word of God concerning eternal salvation through Christ].
The New Living Translation (NLT) is one of the two translations that avoids the explicit “double” view:
17Elders who do their work well should be respected and paid well, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching.
The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) is the other translation that also dispensed with the explicit “double” view and like the NLT, also swapped out “honor” for a payment of value:
17The elders who are good leaders should be considered worthy of an ample honorarium, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.
As we can see, the CEV, GNT, ISV, NLT and HCSB all tie up recognition to some form of monetary compensation. It may be due to the following verse 18 which quotes Deuteronomy 25:4 (“You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain”) and Luke 10:7 (“The laborer deserves his wages”). Both are treated as Scripture by Paul. While this verse 18 can imply financial support and generous provision for verse 17, the “double” compensation may not have been meant by the author nor heard as such by his hearers and readers in their cultural context. The NLT and HSCB dropped the explicit use of the word “double” or “twice” but in so doing, may have excluded an original important point intended by the apostle Paul. We may say it got lost in translation!
On the use of the traditional translation of “double” or “twice,” Dr. Kline questions this on the basis that it can artificially create and treat 2 different classes of elders. The preferred group are those who lead well and especially, preach and teach and they deserve “double” honor while the other group does not lead well nor preach and teach. This comparative notion of “double” honor and “regular” honor sounds strange to Dr. Kline. But this “problematic and speculative” thought would disappear if διπλῆς (diples) which comes from διπλοῦς (diplous), is translated as “equivalent” in the sense of a “commensurate (not extraordinary, double) measure of honor, honor matching the elders’ labors.” This certainly sounds simple and makes good sense.
Adding to Dr. Kline’s analysis, we may ask if the “double portion” verses found in Deuteronomy 21:17 and 2 Kings 2:9, not cited by him can be factored into our discussion. Deuteronomy 21:17 deals with the Mosaic law protecting the less-favored wife and birthright inheritance rights of the first-born son. Here the first-born son of the unloved wife gets a “double portion” of his father’s possessions. 2 Kings 2:9 (which was part of our Sunday reading) on the other hand, narrates Elisha’s request for a “double portion” of Elijah’s spirit before he is taken up to heaven. The Hebrew words for “double portion” are the same for both verses: פִּ֣י שְׁנַ֔יִם (pi shenayim). Note that it is different from the words כִּפְלַ֖יִם (kiphlayim) from the underlying כֶּפֶל (kephel), and מִשְׁנֵ֤ה (mishneh) we saw earlier. The LXX translations for these 2 OT verses use the same word διπλᾶ (dipla) derived from διπλοῦς (diplous) used above in 1 Timothy 5:17 and previously in Revelation 18:6 and Matthew 23:15. The next question to ask is do these words really mean “double” in their contexts?
The Hebrew word שְׁנַ֔יִם (shenayim) means “double” or “twice.” The Jewish Study Bible notes that the Jewish practice of Deuteronomy 21:17 literally means two-thirds of the inheritance goes to the first-born; one-third to the other son. The father has his possession, so by the ancient law of inheritance the first-born gets double share of what the father has and the other son the remainder of that same possession. This can be expressed in fractions: 2/3 (first-born’s portion) and 1/3 (other son’s portion) equal 1 (whole inheritance). It is a double portion.
For the 2 Kings 2:9 account, it meant double as well. Commentators say it is recorded that Elisha had twice the count of the miracles and supernatural acts that Elijah did. Even Elisha’s bones enacted a 2nd resurrection from the dead (2 Kings 13:20-21); one more than Elijah!
As a final note, we can see that the Biblical words and their context play a huge role in the translation values one can use for specific verses. Dr. Meredith Kline precisely identified certain words and passages where the context and our knowledge of God’s character dictate a more nuanced translation. Hence, my formal equivalence translation of 1 Timothy 5:17 now follows:
17The elders ruling well (are) to be counted worthy of matching honor, especially the ones toiling in (the) word and teaching.
We will continue with another Bible study topic next time.
God bless us all.