K A T A R G E O
a word often mistranslated
a word often mistranslated
KATARGEO, a very interesting New Testament word, has not fared well at the hands of well-meaning translators.
Here are all twenty-seven occurrences (including some in passive) of the word in the New Testament, twenty-five or twenty-six being in Paul's writing. The words in italics show the various ways this word has been translated. Notice that in 1 Cor.13:8 the word occurs twice, translated two different ways.
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Rom. 3:3 For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?
Rom. 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
Rom. 4:14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect,
Rom. 6:6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Rom. 7:2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.
Rom. 7:6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
1 Cor. 1:28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
1 Cor. 2:6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
1 Cor. 6:13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
1 Cor. 13:8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
1 Cor. 13:10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
1 Cor. 13:11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
1 Cor. 15:24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
1 Cor. 15:26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
2 Cor. 3:7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away,
2 Cor. 3:11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
2 Cor. 3:13 unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away.
2 Cor. 3:14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.
Gal. 3:17 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.
Gal. 5:4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
Gal. 5:11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.
Eph. 2:15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
2 Thess. 2:8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
2 Tim. 1:10 but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
Heb. 2:14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
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I realize that, at this point, this seems to be just a tedious word-study. But believe me, when we go a little further in this article I will hopefully demonstrate - among other things - that:
1. The choice of words translators employ to render the exact same word (though in different tenses) reveals more about their theology than the actual meaning of the text, and
2. When these twenty-seven occurrences are rendered more faithfully it will make clearer a more consistent interpretation of the texts.
more later1. The choice of words translators employ to render the exact same word (though in different tenses) reveals more about their theology than the actual meaning of the text, and
2. When these twenty-seven occurrences are rendered more faithfully it will make clearer a more consistent interpretation of the texts.