By Joseph Harvey Waggoner
Mr. Morton in his excellent vindication of the Sabbath gives a large number of versions of this text in different languages, all having the same idea, to wit: that it means, “by himself at home.” Here, with many, is a difficulty. How do the words “by him” of necessity bear such a construction? The answer is this: The English phrase “by him” does not express the true sense of the original; nor have we in our language any exact equivalents of the original words. Greenfield in his Greek lexicon gives the definition of the original παρ’ ἑαυτῷ, “with one’s self, i. e., at home;” and Robinson says, “by or with one’s self, in one’s house, at home.” Herein the translators of our version erred. In very many cases they have followed as nearly as possible the original in form, without coming up to its signification. Many of the words placed by them in italics as “supplied,” are absolutely necessary to an understanding of the original, and hence are not supplied. On first reading Mr. Morton’s vindication where he gives the various versions as the signification of each, the query arose in my mind, whether these were his explanations merely, or the necessary significations of the phrases. To satisfy myself further I took the “German of Luther” which he gives, bei sich selbst, with its rendering “by himself, at home,” as an example. I examined Ollendorf’s German Grammar, which is of undisputed authority, and found the following statement or rule: “The preposition bei signifies with or at the house of.” Of course to get the general idea of by him, irrespective of that locality, a different preposition must be used. But so we cannot do in the English, having no prepositions so extensive in signification. Therefore, as before said, to give the true sense of the original, without which we have not a correct translation, the words at home should have been inserted in our version of that text. In regard to the “gatherings,” Dr. Bloomfield, in Gr. Testament with notes, remarks: “The difficulties started by many commentators at ἵνα μὴ γίνωνται [that there may not be], may be removed, by supposing that the apostle only meant that there should be no private and petty gatherings, then first to be made, when he came, but only one συνεισφορά [joint contribution] formed, containing all the sums which had been gradually laid up by each in private.” Battle Creek, Dec. 15, 1867.