An Inaccurate Paraphrase by L. L. CAVINESS

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 24, 1915

An Inaccurate Paraphrase

By L. L. CAVINESS

L. L. CAVINESS

ADVOCATES of Sunday sacredness sometimes paraphrase Matt. 28: 1 so as to make it read: “In the end of the Jewish sabbaths, as it began to dawn toward the first of the Christian sabbaths,” etc. Let us first consider the Greek expression which is translated the first day of the week in the Bible, to see whether it can be possibly translated “the first of the Christian sabbaths.” It is μία σαββάτων (mia sabbaton).

In our consideration we must first remember that the Greek is a highly inflected language; the adjective agrees with the noun it modifies in number, gender, and case. This gives us an immediate test of the validity of the suggested new translation. As the adjective first is translated in the Bible rendering, it modifies the supplied word day, while in the new rendering it would have to modify the word sabbath understood—“the first [sabbath] of the Christian sabbaths.” Now the Greek word μία (mia) is in the feminine form. The Greek word day ἡμέρα (hemera) is feminine; while σάββατον (sabbaton) is neuter. Thus the form of first in our text is such that it may modify day, but cannot modify sabbath.

How does σάββατον (sabbaton) come to be translated week in the Bible rendering?—Simply because the word means both sabbath and week, as any good New Testament Greek lexicon will inform us. Let us quote a small one which is right at hand: “σάββατον, ου, τό (from Heb.), (1) the sabbath, Matt. 12: 8; 28: 1; (2) a period of seven days, a week, Mark 16: 2, 9; in both senses the plural is also used.”—Hinds and Noble’s “New Greek-English Lexicon to the New Testament.”

The reason for this one Greek word having these two meanings is plain when we consider the origin of the week and the early way of naming the days. This is clearly stated in the following quotation: “It [the week] was unquestionably derived from the divine institution at the creation, handed down by primitive tradition. This is evident from the word Sabbat, or Sabbata, denoting a week among the Syrians, Arabians, Christian Persians, and Ethiopians, as in the following ancient Syriac calendar, expressed in the Chaldee alphabet:—

אחד בשבת — One of the Sabbath, or Week — Sunday. שני בשבת — Two of the Sabbath — Monday. שלישי בשבת — Three of the Sabbath — Tuesday. רביעי בשבת — Four of the Sabbath — Wednesday. חמישי בשבת — Five of the Sabbath — Thursday. ערב שבת — Eve of the Sabbath — Friday. שבת — The Sabbath — Saturday.

“The high antiquity of this calendar is evinced by the use of the cardinal numbers, one, two, three, etc., instead of the ordinals, first, second, third, etc., following the Hebrew idiom, as in the account of the creation, where we read in the original, ‘One day,’ which the Septuagint retains, calling it ἡμέρα μία (hemera mia). It is remarkable that all the evangelists follow the Syriac calendar, both in the word σάββατα (plural of sabbaton), used for ‘a week,’ and also in retaining the cardinal number μία σαββάτων (mia sabbaton), ‘one of the week,’ to express the day of the resurrection. Matt. 28: 1; Mark 16: 2; Luke 24: 1; John 20: 1.”—William Hales, “A New Analysis of Chronology and Geography” (4 vols.), C. J. G. & F. Rivington, London, 1830, Vol. I, pages 19, 20.

This same Greek expression occurs not only in the Gospels, but also in Acts 20: 7 and 1 Cor. 16: 2. Certainly no one would desire to claim that the Sunday when Paul was at Troas was “the first of the Christian sabbaths.” It would be utterly impossible for every Sunday to be “the first of the Christian sabbaths;” though it is easy to see how the early Christians could count up on each first day of the week how they had been prospered financially, and lay aside, in proportion to this, an offering for the poor at Jerusalem.