Article April 13, 1940 Issue

Bible Notes

[The Biblical citations given in the Christian Science Quarterly are from the Authorized King James Version. The Bible Notes in this column can be used, if deemed necessary, to elucidate some of the words or passages contained in the Bible Lessons.]

"Glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was" (John 17:5)—The Greek preposition which is here twice rendered "with" can also mean "by, beside, in the house of," and it has been pointed out that it is very often synonymous in meaning with the French "chez." Goodspeed suggests the rendering: "Do such honor to me in your presence as I had done me there before the world existed;" while Moffatt has: "Glorify me in thy presence with the glory which I enjoyed in thy presence before the world began."

"I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world" (John 17:6)—The Jews laid great stress upon the use and the significance of names, and in their thought a man's "name" was regarded as practically synonymous with his character, his reputation, his real self, just as we today constantly speak of a man's "good name" in the sense of his good character or reputation. So one might well translate in this passage: "I have made plain thy character to the men whom thou gavest me from the world." Goodspeed suggests: "I have revealed your real self to the men you gave me from the world."

"Trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1)—A clearer sense of the meaning of the two words is gained when we find that the Greek term rendered "trespasses" means literally deviations or lapses from uprightness and truth; while that which is translated "sins" comes from a Greek root meaning "to miss the mark;" "sins," as thus regarded, being thought of as the result of failure to aim in the right direction.

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