Unlawful Use of the Greek.
By Editor
WE have no sympathy with the declaration of the poet, "A little learning is a dangerous thing." A little learning is better than none. Whether one have much or little it may be abused to his own injury and to the injury of others. "Knowledge is power," and it is well worth possessing; but its possession brings responsibility, and for this we shall be brought into judgment. It is an old saying that "figures will not lie;" but it has been well remarked that a man can tell many crooked and dangerous things with the use of figures. The Bible is God's word of truth; yet many times it is quoted in behalf of error, and made to do service in causes or to ends quite foreign to the intention of the writers. But such a use of the language of the Holy Spirit is attended with a fearful responsibility. In the California Christian Advocate of May 4 is a communication from a Mr. A. F. Trousdale, hailing from Hill's Ferry. We read it with much surprise, and wondered how it ever found a place in the Advocate; for, though the editor has shown strong prejudice against us as a denomination, he could not fail to know that Mr. Trousdale had committed great blunders in the Greek, and his reputation as an editor and a "D. D." would hardly permit the publication of such things. But the editorial correspondence reminded us that he is a delegate to the General Conference now in session in Philadelphia, and so he stands fully acquitted in the case. Mr. Trousdale writes:— "During the present controversy between Adventists and the various Christian denominations, whom they accuse of wearing 'the mark of the beast in their foreheads,' because they observe the first day of the week as the Sabbath of the Lord, instead of the last, I fail to notice any allusion whatever to the one great fact that definitely and most conclusively settles the whole matter in controversy, viz.: Every one of the four Evangelists, writing under the guide of the Holy Ghost, testifies that the first day of the week as we have it in our English translation is 'the Sabbath' in the original. Hence, it is certain that Adventists, in attacking the Christian Sabbath, challenge the testimony of all the four divinely inspired Evangelists." Mr. T. confesses that he has no scholarship in the original, but endeavors to break the force of the confession by saying:— "Before I left Illinois, I was forced into a controversy with Campbellites and Mormons, in which I had occasion to refer to the Greek Testament. I applied first to a Methodist preacher who had a copy of the Greek and professed to understand the language, and also to an Old School Presbyterian minister. They both read the account of the resurrection of Christ on the first day of the week, and in every instance it was the Sabbath, or Sabbaton. I could see that the orthography was the same. After I came to California, I was thrown among Adventists, and heard them deny the plainest declarations of Scripture. I went to a Presbyterian minister, and inquired if he had a copy of the Greek Testament. He had one, and read just as I recollected. He had failed to notice it until I called his attention to it. Recently I have called the attention of Brother Callaway, our preacher in charge, to the subject. He, it seems, had never noticed it." 1. We deny that Adventists accuse the denominations of wearing the mark of the beast by keeping the first day of the week. They always point to that part of Rev. 13, 14, as unfulfilled prophecy. Mr. T. should become better acquainted with the faith of the Seventh-day Adventists before he tries to define their position. 2. If he has not noticed any allusion to the fact that the original for week is Sabbatone, then he must be exceedingly ignorant of the state of "the present controversy between the Adventists" and others on the Sabbath question, for it has been prominently noticed in our publications—in this paper, for instance,—and we have a tract for sale at this office on that subject, of 20 pages, in which every phase of the matter is noticed. 3. If he means to inform us that the Methodist minister and the Presbyterian minister and "Brother Callaway" did not know that Sabbatone was used in the several passages which are translated "the first day of the week," then he greatly increases our astonishment, for it is about equivalent to saying that they had never looked into their Greek Testaments where the resurrection of Christ is recorded. 4. But if he means to say that these ministers had never noticed what he styles a "great fact," namely, that our translation is incorrect, and that instead of being rendered "the first day of the week" the passages should be rendered "the Sabbath," then we are not at all surprised, for it has never yet been noticed by any one who could make any just claim to scholarship. It was not noticed by such careful and able critics as Dr. Clarke and Dr. Barnes. Why should we be surprised that they never noticed "a fact" which never had any existence? But if the fact did exist, then we should be greatly surprised that such scholars did not notice it. 5. Mr. Trousdale says he could "see that the orthography was the same." "Here is wisdom," indeed! A man settles a great controversy, deciding what is the proper reading of a Greek text by the "orthography" of a word, without any knowledge of or regard to what the Lexicons say of the word, or the grammatical construction of the text. But Mr. T. is not the first discoverer of this wonderful fact. A few years ago a man was so persistent in his claim on the same point, that the subject was referred to the faculty of a college who decided against him, and in favor of our English translation. We have just looked at eight versions, including the Revised, the Syriac, the Diaglott, and the New Testament in Hebrew, and each and all give it as our English Authorized translation has it, "the first day of the week." 6. All the Lexicons, and Commentaries on the Greek text justify the translation; indeed, as before remarked, no one who has any just claim to scholarship would think of denying the correctness of the common version.297Now a query to Mr. T., and those who may with him be captivated with the sound of a word of which he does not know the construction in a sentence: In such passages as Acts 20:7, and 1 Cor. 16:2, if the word should be rendered Sabbath, how do you learn that any reference is made to the first day of the week? If it means "the Sabbath," and should be so translated in these texts, then it cannot also mean "the first day of the week," for the word cannot carry the two meanings under the same grammatical construction. "A little learning" is not very good; no learning is worse; but presumption in dealing with God's word is worst of all. It is not necessary that we give a criticism on the Greek of the texts in question; where all the versions and the Lexicons are agreed, there is no room for doubt. The following from Lexicons of the New Testament are quite sufficient. On the word sabbaton Greenfield gives as one definition: "A period of seven days, a week, sing. and pl. Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:9, et al." And Robinson more fully says: "2. Meton., a sabbath, put for the interval from Sabbath to Sabbath; hence a se'nnight, week, so equiv. Luke 18:2. Elsewhere only after numerals marking the days of the week. Mark 16:9, prote (hemera) sabbaton. Plur. Matt. 28:1, eis mian sabbatone. Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2." Thus Mr. Trousdale can see that the Seventh-day Adventists do not challenge the testimony of the Evangelists; they do not conflict with the words of inspiration, but rest upon them with all confidence. They are well acquainted with that which he claims as a wonderful discovery, but which we know to be a mere cavil, and which has often been shown to be such. To him we can say, "We wot that through ignorance ye did it" (Acts 3:17). Thus ends our controversy with him. But we shall anxiously wait to see whether the Advocate will do itself the justice to repudiate the unscriptural position of its over-zealous correspondent, or let the impression cast by the article go forth to deceive others who may be as ignorant of the facts as that correspondent was.