Greek Studies: Luke 24:24-26

In case you wonder under what rubric I am choosing my texts, David Stark (a Professor from Faulkner University) sends out a free resource that includes a passage from the Greek New Testament and the Hebrew bible. Both are between 2-3 verses and I have been that resource as a basis for translating. Its good practice to keep up Greek and Hebrew. I'm pitiful at Hebrew so rarely do I make it through the verses most days - unless I have 1+ hours to spare. Im a little quicker on Greek and have a bunch of resources so it makes light work of it.

Anyway, the text today is Luke 24:24-26. Here we go...

Verbs = Green

Infinitives = Dark Green

Noteable Sytnax = Blue

24 καὶ ἀπῆλθόν τινες τῶν σὺν ἡμῖν ἐπὶ τὸ μνημεῖον καὶ εὗρον οὕτως καθὼς καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες εἶπον, αὐτὸν δὲ οὐκ εἶδον. 25 Καὶ αὐτὸς εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς· ὦ ἀνόητοι καὶ βραδεῖς τῇ καρδίᾳ τοῦ πιστεύειν ἐπὶ πᾶσιν οἷς ἐλάλησαν οἱ προφῆται· 26 οὐχὶ ταῦτα ἔδει παθεῖν τὸν χριστὸν καὶ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ

My translation does not veer too far from the ESV. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”

I thought it worth comparing the NIV though as well: 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.” 25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”

I'll break down some of the Greek before I compare the two.

τῶν σὺν ἡμῖν – The article nominalizes the prepositional phrase. This is how you can translate the phrase as "those with us." This is why understanding articles and the way they function is important. Translating can be really tricky if you don't pick up on little things like this. I heard it over and over again in Greek class so it almost sounds cliche to say, but know understanding articles and participles should be the foundation for every Greek student.

ἀπῆλθόν – 2nd aorist active indicative 3rd person plural. Simple past verb. Possibly with an ingressive force (focusing on the beginning of an action or the entrance into a state.) All that a "2nd" aorist means is that the stem changes when the verb is take the aorist aspect. Much like the English word "take" changes to "took."

αὐτὸν δὲ οὐκ εἶδον – αὐτὸν (auton) is placed forward for emphasis

ὦ ἀνόητοι – Nominative for Vocative as Wallace describes it (GGBB 57-58). One point he makes is how much this expression is used by Luke in Acts. There, it is regularly used for emphasis on emotion.

βραδεῖς τῇ καρδίᾳ - Dative of Reference. Datives are for some reason always tricky for me to name. I defined this one improperly, to begin with until I looked at Thompson's Exegetical Guide on Luke where he references Zerwick (who I have but rarely refer to) who named it as a Dative of Reference. Wallace helps us identify it by suggesting that we add "with reference to" before the dative and after what it's referring to. "you are slow [in reference to the] heart" Idiomatically, "slow of heart" makes the most sense.

τοῦ πιστεύειν – Genitive Articular Infinitive: Epexegetical (GGBB 607.) This type of infinitive "clarifies, explains, and qualifies a noun or adjective." So, what are they being slow to do? "To believe."

ESV: 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”

NIV: 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.” 25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”

I thought it was interesting to see how these two versions differ. To new Christians, I usually suggest the NIV or the NLT as a beginning translation to study. Although the ESV is more literal, it doesn't rank high on readability for new Christians. Examples like this though are why I always follow up that suggestion with, "But if you want to read a translation that is more literal, closer to the Greek, study out of an ESV or NASB." I know they all have their faults, but this is how I approach it.

There are just four points worth mentioning:

1. "...our companions..." sounds much different than referring to a group of people more generically as the Greek does. While the ESV takes the more literal approach, the NIV isn't wrong in what it says. Undoubtedly, Luke is referring to other disciples and not complete strangers. What is interesting is that Luke uses a 1st person verb. Was he there at the tomb as well? Or is this a pointer to Luke pulling from another source (1:1-4)?

2. the Greek places emphasis on "him" (auton) so the ESV decided to place "him" at the front of the phrase - as far as the English will allow. The NIV decides to make it more English reader-friendly and inserts the name "Jesus."

3. The Greek has the phrase "slow of heart" which the ESV retains but the NIV ditches. I wish they hadn't. I think that phrase is fine English and something that conveys deeper emotion what the NIV decided to go with instead.

4. Maybe there isn't much here, but to me, there is a difference in how "necessary" and "have to" sound. "Have to" makes it sound like the Christ didn't have a choice in offering himself to suffer on our behalf or taking our place in death. This is contrary to passages like John 10 where Jesus says this is done intentionally and by his own accord. Now, maybe I am reading too much into that, but I like that the ESV kept that translation of the verb edei.

   1. We might can give the NIV a point here in that Mounce glosses the verb with several definitons that give some clearance for the NIV in making the choice they did. He gives "it is binding, it is necessary, it is proper; it is inevitable" as the choices for edei. What has to be done now is to read Luke's words in its literary and theological context.

Let me know if you have any insights on this passage, or disagree with any conclusions I made. I would love to discuss them with you.