Are the TNIV and NRSV being too interpretive here? The NLT leaves it as brothers only.
Philippians 4:21 TNIV
Greet all God’s people in Christ Jesus. The brothers and sisters who are with me send greetings.
Philippians 4:21 NRSV
Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The friends [37] who are with me greet you.
[37] Gk [brothers]
Philippians 4:21 NLT
Give my greetings to each of God’s holy people—all who belong to Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send you their greetings.
REB uses colleagues which is probably the least interpretive gender inclusive way of saying it, at least compared to the TNIV. It’s very idiomatic but that’s the translation philosophy.
Paul is explicit in addressing people (every saint, God’s [holy] people), then mentions brothers. How do we know there may have been females with him?
In Colossians (another prison letter) he names names:
Colossians 4:10-14 NLT
Aristarchus, who is in prison with me, sends you his greetings, and so does Mark, Barnabas’s cousin. And as you were instructed before, make Mark welcome if he comes your way. 11 Jesus (the one we call Justus) also sends his greetings. These are the only Jewish Christians among my co-workers; they are working with me here for the Kingdom of God. And what a comfort they have been! 12 Epaphras, from your city, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. He always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident of the whole will of God. 13 I can assure you that he has agonized for you and also for the Christians in Laodicea and Hierapolis. 14 Dear Doctor Luke sends his greetings, and so does Demas.
And also at the end of Philemon.
This has inevitably been brought up before. I came across this as one of the exercises in Greek for the Rest of Us. If you know of other posts or articles let me know.
I can maybe understand the problem with the TNIV, but not the NRSV. “Friends” is far better than “colleagues,” which is way too formal a translation of the Greek. And “friends” makes no comment on the gender of the people with Paul.
With that said, there is also a debate going on in scholarship about the meaning of adelphos, itself. Does it mean “man?” Or does it mean “person”? A number of people have argued quite strongly that its the latter. And it is a meaning supported by some of the lexicons (which by the way are all deficient). If that argument is true, then the NIV could be considered just as interpretive (if not more) than the TNIV.
How do we know there may have been females with him?It is evident from Paul other letters that women were his coworkers and so on (Rom 16:3; Phil 4:2-3).By the way, Euodia and Syntyche were Philippians and coworkers of Paul. Phil 4:21 in the TNIV is fine to me.
Is the translation of adelphos as brother just tradition that should go by the wayside? Aside from gender, isn’t there some sort of an affiliation?
I would normally say Mike is a brother in Christ as opposed to a friend in Christ (not because you’re not a friend).
TC, we still don’t know if any sisters were with him while he was in prison do we?
Jeff
“Is the translation of adelphos as brother just tradition that should go by the wayside? Aside from gender, isn’t there some sort of an affiliation? ”
I’m not sure. All I know is that there is a debate about the word’s meaning. Its not something I’ve picked up and chased after on my own, so I can’t give a firm answer on that.
And I agree with you about “brother in Christ.” I would say that too. My point was simply that friend is better the colleague. The only gender neutral term would be sibling, but that just sounds silly.
Thanks for pointing out friends vs. colleagues. I would trust you with the Greek nuance and now that I think about it, friends would fit better in the context.
Jeff
<i>TC, we still don’t know if any sisters were with him while he was in prison do we?</i>That is true, so we can’t say that the TNIV went to far either. Would that be a fair judgment?
we can’t say that the TNIV went to far either. Would that be a fair judgment?
I suppose there are different angles to look at it. If I were to choose between brothers or brothers and sisters I would choose the former. Unless adelphoi really doesn’t mean brothers. Mike has convinced me that friends would be the next best alternative.
I guess I can’t say if they’ve gone too far. It just seems that TNIV almost always automatically inserts brothers and sisters where NIV had brothers. That may be too rash of a judgment.
I’m not trying to knock the translation in general. I like it a lot even though it’s heretical and panders to feminist political ideology (kidding!). Just interested in comments (which have been very good) on this exercise.
Jeff
Jeff, I’ll go for “brothers and sisters.” I guess you knew that.
Zondervan thanks you.
Jeff
Maybe… haha
Thanks for the post on your blog. I’ll be looking in on it.
Jeff
Contextually, I’d have to go with “brothers” here, as that’s who we know for sure. There may have been females with Paul, but Scripture (which is our highest authority that we have) doesn’t reveal that to us. I have no problem with “friends” or “colleagues” because those are also contextually understood. I don’t want to translate on who might hypothetically have been there- but on who I know was there.
That being said, when we know that there was a mixed crowd, I am absolute for the use of “brothers and sisters,” as I have attested in my own translations. I would agree with the TNIV translation of adelphoi pretty much every time (this being one exception).
*absoluteLY for
That was what I meant in line 1 of the second paragraph, not absolute.
Bryan, you have made a great argument. I’ll have to rethink my position. Thanks.
What am I, mud? (smiley goes here)
I think “brothers and sisters” was fine in the TNIV and maybe more accurate. We don’t actually know who exactly was with Paul when he wrote Philippians since he doesn’t mention anyone. We can discuss the evidence of Colossians but I don’t think it will bear negatively on the TNIV’s renderring.We can assume he wrote the letter to the Philippiand from his imprisonment in Rome and that it comes chronologically after Colossians and Philemon which were also apparently written from his imprisonment in Rome. Colossians which would have been written earlier indicates that only Aristarchus is actually in prison with Paul (and not the other 5) and the others listed in Col 4:10-14 seem to only be mentioned because they are known to the church of Colossae or because of something note worthy about them (see comments below concerning 4:11), so the list shouldn’t be seen as limiting or exhaustive.4:11 mentions that the first three listed are the only ones among his coworkers who are of the circumcision (this appears to be speaking of not Jewish Christians as the NLT has it but those who are of the same group that is often hostile to Paul’s mission). I’d assume that Paul has many more co-workers with him in Rome than just the few listed in 4:10-14 (which I mentioned above should not be seen as limiting or exhaustive) and that some of them are even Jewish Christians (against the rendering in 4:11 by the NLT). After all if Paul was in Rome when he wrote Colossians then he may have been around Prisca and Aquila (mentioned in Rom 16:3) who were Jewish Christians as well as Junia and Andronicus (mentioned in Rom 16:7) who appear to also have been Jewish. So if those two couples were still in Rome with him Paul when he wrote Colossians and both couples seem to have been co-workers with Paul in the past, and particularly faithful and close co-workers, then we have at least two women (Prisca and Junia) that were with Paul who were his co-workers and one of them was even in prison with him at one time in the past (Junia). That would lead me to believe that there were probably women co-workers with Paul in Rome when he wrote both Colossians and Philippians and that the TNIV is justified in saying “brothers and sisters” in Philippians 4:21 since Paul probably had women co-workers in mind as well.Anyway that’s just my opinion.Bryan EL
Sorry I wrote that with paragraph breaks but for some reason it didn’t transfer when I submitted it.Bryan EL
Thanks for the comments Bryan. I’m not sure why the formatting doesn’t work sometimes.
I wasn’t including the list from Colossians because it was exhaustive or because it would be the same group of people as when he wrote Philippians. It was just given as an example. Your points are well taken.
I would still rather err on the safe side but ultimately this isn’t of major importance. Very educational though.
Jeff
Bryan L, you’ve put up a great argument indeed for the TNIV’s rendering.
I like the “friends” of the NRSV. It’s less cumbersome to read than “brothers and sisters,” which occurs a lot in the TNIV. I support this use (at times) but worry if it is a bit of an anachronism from the issues of our present culture.
It’s less cumbersome to read than “brothers and sisters,” which occurs a lot in the TNIV.I think it’s time for a new word in English. I propose “bristers”.
Does the Greek word for sister ἀδελφὴ really mean sister?
Jeff