"Doctrine", "Heresy", and "Truth"
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2016 11:05 pm
I'll put this out there if anyone's interested and would like to comment or steer me in the right direction.
My premise is that the KJV translation contributed to the overconfidence of English-speaking theologians over the centuries while it was the only English translation that most people knew. Certain words were either badly translated or else came to be widely misunderstood because of theologians and preachers. For example, you're familiar with the KJV use of the word "mansion". Apparently, either the KJV translated the Greek poorly or theologians and preachers changed the meaning over time for some reason.
My thesis is that the same thing is true for the following three words:
"doctrine" - didaskalia (LSJ) or didaché (LSJ) - To most people, "doctrine" means "theological opinion". But I would argue that those Greek words meant simply "teaching" or "instruction" (nouns), such that, strictly speaking, I myself don't have any doctrine, since there is nothing that I teach or instruct (b/c I'm no teacher).
I think I've heard Steve G. and others point this out, and although "doctrine" still appears in newer translations, it is not used nearly as often as in the KJV. How many uses of those aforementioned Greek words in the NT clearly refer to what most people think of as "doctrine"? Those remain to be counted up.
"heresy" - hairesis (LSJ) - Again, to most Christians, "heresy" means "really wrong/bad theological opinions", or in other words, "really bad doctrine". And a "heretic" (hairetikos, LSJ) is a person who has those really bad opinions, and is therefore not even saved.
The use in the NT however is much less clear. It is usually translated with some form of "sect" or "faction/division". It looks to me like the emphasis is always on the dividing up into cliques and factions. Does it ever refer to just wrong opinion?
"truth" - alétheia" (LSJ) - (This is much less of an issue.) We usually think of "truth" as synonymous with "facts". Again, this emphasizes a persons opinion, since that's mostly what you do with facts (esp. theological facts/truth); you have opinions about them.
But the NT occasionally (how often?) speaks of obeying the truth or practicing the truth and the like. That is odd wording - we don't normally speak like that - if "truth" only refers to facts and opinions about facts. This needs more review.
That's the gist. If you have answers to any of the questions, I'd be interested. If there are blogs or lectures that cover this sort of thing, I'd be interested.
My premise is that the KJV translation contributed to the overconfidence of English-speaking theologians over the centuries while it was the only English translation that most people knew. Certain words were either badly translated or else came to be widely misunderstood because of theologians and preachers. For example, you're familiar with the KJV use of the word "mansion". Apparently, either the KJV translated the Greek poorly or theologians and preachers changed the meaning over time for some reason.
My thesis is that the same thing is true for the following three words:
"doctrine" - didaskalia (LSJ) or didaché (LSJ) - To most people, "doctrine" means "theological opinion". But I would argue that those Greek words meant simply "teaching" or "instruction" (nouns), such that, strictly speaking, I myself don't have any doctrine, since there is nothing that I teach or instruct (b/c I'm no teacher).
I think I've heard Steve G. and others point this out, and although "doctrine" still appears in newer translations, it is not used nearly as often as in the KJV. How many uses of those aforementioned Greek words in the NT clearly refer to what most people think of as "doctrine"? Those remain to be counted up.
"heresy" - hairesis (LSJ) - Again, to most Christians, "heresy" means "really wrong/bad theological opinions", or in other words, "really bad doctrine". And a "heretic" (hairetikos, LSJ) is a person who has those really bad opinions, and is therefore not even saved.
The use in the NT however is much less clear. It is usually translated with some form of "sect" or "faction/division". It looks to me like the emphasis is always on the dividing up into cliques and factions. Does it ever refer to just wrong opinion?
"truth" - alétheia" (LSJ) - (This is much less of an issue.) We usually think of "truth" as synonymous with "facts". Again, this emphasizes a persons opinion, since that's mostly what you do with facts (esp. theological facts/truth); you have opinions about them.
But the NT occasionally (how often?) speaks of obeying the truth or practicing the truth and the like. That is odd wording - we don't normally speak like that - if "truth" only refers to facts and opinions about facts. This needs more review.
That's the gist. If you have answers to any of the questions, I'd be interested. If there are blogs or lectures that cover this sort of thing, I'd be interested.