11-23-2011, 05:22 PM
Shlama Akhay,
I was reading Andrew Gabriel Roth's 'Ruach Qadim:Aramaic Origins of the New Testament' and wanted to share his observations concerning the huge difference in expression between the Greek and Aramaic Peshitta Text.....
{QUOTE} THE BURDEN OF PROOF This last passage in Romans speaks to another reason why the Aramaic could not have been translated from the Greek - the presence of a clarifying statement that is not found in any other tradition.
Lamsa - Therefore be friendly and bear one another's burdens, just as Messiah also brought you close to the glory of Elohim.
(English half of Greek Interlinear NT, UBS 4th) - Wherefore receive one another, as also Messiah received you to the glory of Elohim.
As we have seen, there are times when an omission of text in the Peshitta (e.g. John 8:1-11) proves originality since these lines are also missing from the earliest Greek manuscripts. In this case though, the converse situation of the presence of a phrase in the Peshitta that has no reference in Greek also proves a related point of independent Aramaic tradition and precludes the idea of it being translated from the Greek.
While we may never know the reason this editing was done on the Greek side, I believe a relevant consideration for discussion rests in the organizing principles of these two languages. Greek is highly precise and does its best to avoid all redundancy. On the other hand, Aramaic thrives on repetition, which is why it has proved such a durable vehicle for preserving oral traditions as well. In this case, both the Aramaic and the Greek versions record much the same point a few lines earlier:
"We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor and build him up, for Messiah did not please himself but, as it is written, the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me." Romans 15:1-3
So while the Greek-speaking world was content to have the message flow from one discrete point to another, the Aramaic audience had the opposite tendency, delighting in the deepening understanding that comes from revisiting an important spiritual point. {END OF QUOTE}
Shlama w'Burkate, Larry Kelsey
I was reading Andrew Gabriel Roth's 'Ruach Qadim:Aramaic Origins of the New Testament' and wanted to share his observations concerning the huge difference in expression between the Greek and Aramaic Peshitta Text.....
{QUOTE} THE BURDEN OF PROOF This last passage in Romans speaks to another reason why the Aramaic could not have been translated from the Greek - the presence of a clarifying statement that is not found in any other tradition.
Lamsa - Therefore be friendly and bear one another's burdens, just as Messiah also brought you close to the glory of Elohim.
(English half of Greek Interlinear NT, UBS 4th) - Wherefore receive one another, as also Messiah received you to the glory of Elohim.
As we have seen, there are times when an omission of text in the Peshitta (e.g. John 8:1-11) proves originality since these lines are also missing from the earliest Greek manuscripts. In this case though, the converse situation of the presence of a phrase in the Peshitta that has no reference in Greek also proves a related point of independent Aramaic tradition and precludes the idea of it being translated from the Greek.
While we may never know the reason this editing was done on the Greek side, I believe a relevant consideration for discussion rests in the organizing principles of these two languages. Greek is highly precise and does its best to avoid all redundancy. On the other hand, Aramaic thrives on repetition, which is why it has proved such a durable vehicle for preserving oral traditions as well. In this case, both the Aramaic and the Greek versions record much the same point a few lines earlier:
"We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor and build him up, for Messiah did not please himself but, as it is written, the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me." Romans 15:1-3
So while the Greek-speaking world was content to have the message flow from one discrete point to another, the Aramaic audience had the opposite tendency, delighting in the deepening understanding that comes from revisiting an important spiritual point. {END OF QUOTE}
Shlama w'Burkate, Larry Kelsey