Article April 7, 1934 Issue

Bible Notes

"To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" (Rom 8:6)—The Greek word "phronema," which occurs here, means properly the thoughts of the mind rather than the mind itself (cf. Thayer: Greek Lexicon, p. 658; Souter: Greek Lexicon, p. 277); hence a more literal rendering of the Greek would be: "Material thoughts are death, but spiritual thoughts are life and peace." Moffatt has: "The interests of the flesh meant death, the interests of the Spirit meant life and peace;" and Ferrar Fenton: "The desire of the flesh brings death, but the desire of the spirit life and peace." Goodspeed renders: "To be physically minded ... to be spiritually minded ..."

"Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil" (Ps. 37:8)—The Hebrew word translated "in any wise" means more exactly "surely, only, altogether" (Brown, Driver, Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 36). Hence a more idiomatic rendering would be: "Do not fret, it only (leads) to evil-doing." Compare the rendering of the Revised Version: "Fret not thyself, it tendeth only to evil-doing;" and that of Moffatt: "Fret not,—it only leads to evil."

"Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident" (Ps. 27:3)—"In this" is a literal rendering of the Hebrew phrase "bezoth," which, however, is also used in the sense of "in spite of this," which appears to bring out more exactly the meaning of the original (Brown, etc., op. cit., p. 261). Thus the Revised Version has: "Even then," and Moffatt: "Though war were waged on me, 'still' would I be confident."

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