AN IMPORTANT TEXT
By
G. H. LANG.
(ROMANS 8: 17)
"If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs
with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that
we may be also glorified with Him." A.V.
"If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs
with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him." R.V.
"If we are children then we are heirs - heirs of God and
co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in
order that we may also share in his glory." N.I.V.
"If children, also heirs; heirs on one hand of God, joint heirs on the other
of Christ, since we suffer with [him] in order also we may be glorified
with [him]." Greek Interlinear.
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Long
years ago C. F. Hogg pointed out to me that the second clause in this
verse contains in Greek the un-translated particles men . . . de,
and should be rendered "heirs indeed
of God, but joint-heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with
Him." Upon these particles that excellent classic W. H. Isaacs says
that it is "a construction which in normal Greek
has no purpose but to express an antithesis" (The Epistle to the
Hebrews 73). All children indeed inherit from the father - his life,
love, care, training; but not all share the
large portion of the first-born son.
Forty
years ago there circulated in the West of England a small magazine entitled Counties
Quarterly. Being asked to contribute an article I sent a paper on
John 9: 4, "We
must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day,"
which stressed various things which must be done in this life or not at all,
such as, to trust Christ for salvation, be baptized, remember the Lord in the
breaking of the bread, witness for Him, win souls, and finally, suffer with Him if we would be glorified with Him.
The above passage was cited in the translation and sense just mentioned.
It
transpired that the magazine was owned by the Editors of Echoes of
Service and the matter proposed for insertion was submitted to them.
Mr. W. E. Vine wrote to the Editor a courteous note that, as this use of
the passage was a matter of dispute, perhaps it were
better to omit the sentence. He added that the Greek construction in the
place (eipher "if"
with the indictive of the verb) does not create a
condition but means "since we suffer with Him we
shall be glorified with Him."
The
difference is momentous. The latter sense implies that all children of
God will share the glory of Christ, the former that this honour is contingent upon sharing
His sufferings. The sense adopted here will govern our
understanding of many other passages.
I
readily altered my paper but said to myself, "Mr.
Vine is a Greek scholar, which I am not; but I will look into
this." There was then living in
I
mentioned to him this passage and what Mr. Vine had said as to the force
of "if" with the indicative of the
verb. He replied; "That is what we were
always taught on the blackboard at
If we died with Him,
we shall also live with
Him:
If we endure,
we shall also reign
with Him:
If we shall deny Him,
He also will deny us:
If we are faithless,
He abideth faithful;
for He cannot deny Himself.
Now,
I said, here are four parallel poetic clauses, and having all the same
grammatical construction they must all be construed alike,
and it is the same construction as in Rom. 8: 17. It is impossible to take the "if" here as meaning
"since," for it were contrary to fact to say "since we deny Him
... since we are faithless," for not all believers deny Him or are
faithless to Him. So that the same
writer, writing later on the same subject, uses the same construction to
express a condition upon which depends the realization of the
hope stated, and this must govern the earlier statement in Rom. 8: 17 or he will be
made to contradict himself.
For a while Mr. Reynolds looked steadily at his Greek
Testament, and said, "You are certainly right." I added: Is not this an
example of what scholars now know, that the New Testament was not written in
classical Greek, but in the every day speech of the people? To which he
assented.
The sense "since we suffer
we shall therefore be glorified" robs
the eipher "if" of any real weight. The particle is rendered by scholars in this
place, and in verse 9 preceding, "if indeed," "if at
least." "provided that" (Darby,
Alford). E. H. Gifford (Speaker’s Commentary) says: "eiper ... represents
the ‘fellowship of His sufferings’ (Phil. 3: 10) as an indispensable condition of sharing His glory." Obviously
this is the plain and simple force of the English Versions "if so be."
On these verses 9 and 17 Fritz Reinicker
says: "eiper, if in reality (wenn wirklich) - expresses an expectation the justness of
which must first be tested" (Sprachlicher
Schlussel zum Griechischen N. T. 412).
Further,
the unconditional use nullifies the final clause "if so be that we suffer that we may be also glorified."
Where hina with the subjunctive of the verb
cannot but have the conditional force "in order that we may
be glorified." "If so be ... in order that" cannot have the meaning "since ... therefore."
NOTE.
Upon
eiper comp. 1Cor.
15: 15: "Whom He raised not up, if indeed [eiper ara] dead men not raised":
and Moulton and Milligan (Vocab.
of Gk. Test. 182) : "For
the emphatic eiper ‘if indeed,’ cf. ‘please
return to the city, unless indeed [eiper me]
something most pressing occupies you’."