Interpreting Luke 1:37: AV versus RV

By Norman Elliott Anderson

In Conversation with William G. Hupper

(Note well: The dialogue is still ongoing and is being continually revised)

Introduction

On August 9, 2005, my friend, Bill Hupper, the indefatigable bibliographer of periodical literature on the Old Testament and the ancient Near East, wrote and asked if I could point him to an explanation of the translation in the Revised Version (1881) and the American Standard Version (1901) of Luke 1:37: "For no word from God shall be void of power." Bill added (and I've edited):

"The majority of translators disagree, as this translation is not accepted as valid by a number of commentators, most prominently Alfred Plummer, who says, 'it is doubtful whether the verb [adunatein] ever has this signification.' Edwin Hatch concurs."

In other words, many scholars took exception to the Revised Version's departure from the Authorized Version's interpretation of this verse: "For with God nothing shall be impossible."

What follows is chiefly my side of our correspondence on the subject, however, much edited. Many of the most visible errors have been corrected, much has been reworded, much has been deleted, and much has been added -- all hopefully to the benefit of the reader who wishes to be informed about Luke 1:37. Despite the changes, much of the development of my thought is retained. I start out knowing little and proceed through an exegetical process to a tentatively held third position. I should mention, that I felt the limitations of my home resources, upon which I chiefly relied, especially the lack of the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, the database of ancient Greek texts, and the lack of relevant periodical literature.

As will be seen in the course of the conversation, the difficulties in interpreting the verse go back at least to the Fifth Century and explain the variant readings in the Greek text. Furthermore, the issue that Bill raised persists. The conflict could just as well have been cast as one between the New Revised Standard Bible (1989) and the Revised English Bible (1989).

Here are a few recurrent abbreviations that the reader should know in advance:

• AV = Authorized Version or the King James Version of the Bible, first published in 1611.
• LXX = the Septuagint, that is, the earliest known Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible and the Apocrypha.
• RV = Revised Version of the Bible (1881).

References
An Index to English Periodical Literature on the Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, compiled and edited by William G. Hupper (Metuchen, N.J.: American Theological Library Association and Scarecrow Press, 1987- ; in: ATLA Bibliography Series; nos. 21- ). Abbreviated IEPLOT.
I'm using two editions of the Revised Version: The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, translated out of the Greek: being the version set forth A.D. 1611, compared with the most ancient authorities and revised A.D. 1881 (London: Henry Frowde [also] C. J. Clay, 1881 (Oxford: Printed for the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge at the University Press)). Columbian Oxford Double Testament: The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, translated out of the original Greek, containing the Old and New Versions; the marginal readings of the Old Version; notes of the New Version; notes of the American Committee; chronology of the New Testament; index to subjects -- all on the page with the Testaments; [also] History of the Committe of Revision; [also] History of the Three Great Authorities, by Daniel Curry (New York: N. Tibbals, 1882). Spine title: Double New Testament: New and Old Versions Compared. The square brackets in the bibliographical references are mine, also the dash, which I use to make clear the grammatical structure of the title page. No note is given in the Columbian Oxford Double Testament for Luke 1:37.
The edition of the American Standard Version that I'm using is this one: The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments, translated out of the original tongues, being the version set forth A.D. 1611, compared with the most ancient authorities and revised A.D. 1881-1885; newly edited by the American Revision Committee, A.D. 1901 (Standard ed. New York: Thomas Nelson, c1901).
Regarding the Authorized (or King James) Version, the 1611 edition reads: "For with God no thing shall be vnpossible." Here I'm using a reproduction: The Holy Bible, 1611 Edition: King James Version (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003). During the Sixteen and Seventeen Hundreds, the text of the Authorized Version went through a series of changes. The standard edition of the Oxford University Press became that revised by Dr. Benjamin Blayney, which was issued in both quarto and folio formats (Oxford: T. Wright & W. Gill, 1769); and it became the standard for many other publishers. The text of the Authorized Version, as given in the chart above at the head of the introduction, has been checked against a reproduction of the first American edition: The Holy Bible, As Printed by Robert Aitken and Approved & Recommended by the Congress of the United States of America in 1782 (New York: Arno Press, 1968).
A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to S. Luke, by Alfred Plummer (5th ed. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1922; in series: The International Critical Commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments): pp. 25-26. The square brackets are mine.
"On the Value and Use of the Septuagint," in: Essays in Biblical Greek, by Edwin Hatch (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889): pp. [1]-35, specifically p. 4.
Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG®): A Digital Library of Greek Literature. TLG® is a research center at the University of California, Irvine, founded in 1972. Its digital library is available both online and on CD-ROM. For the CD-ROM, search software must be acquired from another source. In August 2005, a personal subscription to its digital library cost $400.
The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments, with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version (New York: Oxford University Press, c1989).
The Revised English Bible, with the Apocrypha ([New York]: Oxford University Press, 1989).

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Compiled starting, August 19, 2005; posted, August 25, 2005; last modified, January 16, 2006

Copyright ©2005-2006 by Norman E. Anderson