Lectionary Year A
December 29, 2002
Galatians 4:4-7

Initial Acquaintance/Rough Translation

(JFC) A. COMPARISON OF TRANSLATIONS

Here is a comparison of the Contemporary English Version (CEV), the New Living Translation (NLT), and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Verse	CEV	NLT	NRSV
4	time was right	time came	fullness of time had come
	and a woman gave birth to him	born of a woman	born of a woman
	His son obeyed the law	subject to the law	born under the law
5	so he could set us free from the Law	God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law	inorder to redeem those who were under the law
	and we would become God's children	so that he could adopt us as his very own children	so we might receive adoption as children
6	Now that we are his children	and because you Gentiles have become his children	and because you are children
	into our hearts	into your hearts	into our hearts, crying
	and his spirit tells us that God is our Father	and now you can call God your dear Father	"Abba! Father!
7	You are no longer slaves	Now you are no longer a slave but God's own child	you are no longer a slave but a child
	You are God's children	And since you are his child	and if a child
	and you will be given what he has promised	everything he has belong to you	then also an heir, through God

"Abba" is an Aramaic term for "father."

(JFC) B. TEXTUAL CRITICISM

In verse 6, several witnesses would omit the words, "ho theos to pneuma" and the later "ho pater" Many more prefer to retain the text as received. Received is good and probably closer to the originally intended elucidation to such a message that addresses the departures from the norms for the recipients of the epistle and its promptings.

Later in that same verse (6), we read, in Metzger, that "early and diversified witnesses" prefer the first person pronoun rather than change it as would "several later uncials and most minuscules to conform the person of the pronoun with the earlier verb "este".

In the next verse, 7, two witnesses would omit the word "ei". However, the sentence remains clearer if the verb is retained. Many would alter the final phrase in that verse, "dia theou" copyists, according to Metzger, suggested alterations due to the infrequency of the phrase, "dia theou". Some would change it to "theon" or "Christou", others to "Iesou Christou", others to " men Theou sugkleronomos de Christos". The final possibility seems the only one worth considering. Such a phrase might have been original. It does add some explanation to the designation to being heirs of God, fellow heirs with Christ. Metzger cites Romans 8:17 as a similarity. There, we find no variants.

(JFC) C. ROUGH TRANSLATION

4 But while came the fullness of time, sent God the son of his, being born by a woman, born under the law, 5 so that those under the law might be redeemed, so that the adoption we might receive. 6 But because you are offspring, has sent God the spirit of the son of his into the hearts of yours crying, "Abba, Father". 7 Now no longer are you a slave but a child; but since a child, also an heir through God.



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