PUNCTUATION
"Punctuation is used to mark off units of grammar and clarify
a writer's meaning. In speech, emphasis and pauses are used to help get
the spoken message across. In written English, punctuation has to
serve the same purpose … Lack of punctuation or incorrect punctuation often
causes ambiguity and misunderstanding," (Bloomsbury Grammar
Guide).
"
... Generations of readers who
have passed through the British school systems without being able to say quite what
a verb, or a preposition, or a clause, is. Those generations now
extend - unbelievably perhaps - to include a generation of schoolteachers of
English.” (Gordon Jasrvine.)
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In
this short writing, W. P. Clarke shows the importance of correct
punctuation as he comments on Romans 8: 17,
(A. V.) and (R. V.).
Not
being inspired, the work of the translator (including his punctuation) may not
be correct, and as a matter of fact the various translations differ materially
in their punctuation from one another. We
are at liberty therefore, without presumption, to question the punctuation of
any particular verse of Scripture, and reverently apply our own judgment.
To take one verse, Romans 8: 17 as an example. Without
any punctuation it reads: "And 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." In the Authorised
and Revised Versions a colon or semicolon is placed after
"if children then heirs"; and a similar
punctuation point after "heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ." This would mean that the concluding
paragraph, "if so be that we suffer with Him, that
we may be also glorified with Him" qualifies both "heirship of God" and "joint-heirship with Christ." If this
be so, then logically we cannot be "children of
God" unless we suffer with Christ. Suffering with
Christ would then be necessary for salvation; but this no evangelical reader of
the Scriptures would believe or assert. Alas! how
few children of God do suffer with Christ. The sole qualification for
becoming "children of God" is belief in, and receiving or accepting,
Christ as Saviour (John 1: 12).
"Believe on
the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts
16: 31). This being so, manifestly "the
suffering with Christ," qualifies the preceding paragraph "joint heirs with Christ,"* and this agrees with
other scripture. "If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him"
(2 Tim. 2: 12) - no suffering, no crown -
and again, "He that overcometh" - and
only the overcomer - "I will give to him
to sit down with me in my throne" (Rev.
3: 21). And again, "He that overcometh, and he that keepeth my
works unto the end, to him will
I give authority over the nations and he shall rule them ... " (Rev. 2: 26, 27).
(*
The Greek enforces the distinction: "Heirs on the
one hand of God, joint heirs on the other of Christ, since we suffer with [Him]
in order also that we may be glorified with
[Him].")
Seeing
the importance of correct punctuation (in any sentence) to reveal the thoughts
of the Writer, Percy W. Heward writes:-
"Romans 8: 17 should be
rendered and punctuated thus: 'But if children,
also heirs, heirs on the one hand of God; but heirs together with Christ if
indeed we are suffering together, that we may also have been glorified together.' If we are children, if we have been quickened
by the Holy Spirit, there is no question about our position as heirs.
This is unconditional. The contrast between being an heir of
God, and a joint-heir of Christ, is not brought out in the Authorised
Version. 'And' would imply the blessings are almost one: 'but' is the word Divinely used. Furthermore, the structure of the
sentences rather involves this punctuation. Thereby each of the two 'ifs' of the passage has its
appropriate accompaniment. But if our position as joint-heirs of Christ
is conditional on our suffering together, what shall we say of those who bear the Name of the Lord
and who avoid this suffering?"
2Timothy 2: 12 adds its testimony to this privilege: "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." Let us earnestly seek that it may be
ours!"
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