# An Interesting Word Study



## JimmyH (Sep 4, 2014)

I ran into an interesting word study through reading a book that gave an example of two slightly different translations of John 3:36 and I was struck that the AV reads 36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that *believeth* not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

The ESV translation reads ; 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever *does not obey* the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

The author of said book did not explain the differences between the translations, merely gave that verse, among others, as examples. I was very curious so examining still more translations I found "obey" in some, believe in others. I first attributed it to CT versus TR, but then I checked out the 1599 Geneva Bible which also reads "obey." If I am not mistaken the Geneva Bible was a TR based translation, like the AV.

The ASV and NASB fall into the "obey" camp, while the NIV says 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but *whoever rejects* the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

Finding this sort of wording bothers me because I can safely say that I believe, but I cannot so safely say that I obey. At least not in every sense of the word. While I know intellectually that none of us have complete obedience, and that when our Lord said, "It is finished." He delivered us from the wrath of God, there is still enough of the Arminian residue within to leave the accuser room to instill doubt.

Anyhow, I took a look at the Greek word used by all of the above, *απειθων* and found that Strong's 544 defines the word as, "to disbelieve (willfully and perversely) : not believe, obey not, unbelieving." I double checked BDAG and on page 82 found essentially the same definition, albeit more comprehensive and I won't bother to transcribe it here, since it is essentially the same. So in a sense they are all saying the same thing, but I feel specifying the disobedience to be directly related to unbelief, as defined in the lexicons, to be more accurate to the original intent than just saying 'does not obey.' That can be interpreted too generally as far as I'm concerned. 

Since I began my feeble attempt at self teaching the Koine I'm beginning to see how difficult it must be sometimes, to decide which word best translates the intended meaning of the original. I've read that Greek is far more nuanced in meaning than English. Just thought this experience interesting enough to post.


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