I discovered something interesting recently. Most of you do not know that I started
learning Ancient Greek a few months ago.
I don’t know a lot about the language yet, but I do know enough to
notice something in the Bible’s most famous verse. Here is the first section of John 3:16 in
Koine Greek:
Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν
ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον
The English of this sentence is the well-known translation, “For
God so loved the world.”
The word translated “so” is the Greek word “Οὕτως” (pronounced: “houtos”). This word most often means “thus”, “so” or “in
this manner”. It is a word that almost
always signifies the “manner” of something as opposed to the “degree” of
something.
I don’t know about you, but when I read this verse, I always
heard, “God SO loved the world”, as
in, “God loved the world SO much,
that he gave…”. According to the Greek
word, “Οὕτως” this is not so. What it actually says is “God so loved the
world”, as in, “God, in this manner loved the world; that he gave…” The word “so” is used in the same way Captain
Jean-Luc Piccard in Star Trek used it when he gave a command by saying, “Make
it so.”
Another thing about Greek is that the word order of a
sentence does not having any bearing on the meaning, like it does in
English. Instead, words are put in the beginning
of a sentence to provide emphasis on them.
Since “Οὕτως” is the
first word of the sentence in John 3:16, it is emphasized. This means that a good translation of this
verse in English might be, “For in this manner God loved the world; that he
gave…”
This is not a new discovery.
This is well known Greek grammar.
In fact, the Holman Christian Standard Bible translation renders it like
this: “For God loved the world in this way:[a] He gave His One and Only Son, so
that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
Translating “Οὕτως”
as “so”, is not technically incorrect English.
It just sounds like it means something different in modern English. At least it did to me. Maybe it did to you too.
Anyway, God Bless.
Soli Deo Gloria!
