Perhaps you have forgotten St. Augustine’s maxim: In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas. This specific example appears to be in the category of “doubtful” at best.
Here’s a little factoid about this quote:
Did Augustine Say This?
I only mention this because Augustine is so loved by our Reformed brothers and sisters, that I want to make sure we get him right.
Sorry if that was annoying.
The late Father Neuhaus referred to this translation as the “quite splendid English Standard Version” (
Bible Babel).
As I’ve said elsewhere, I don’t see a problem with their translation of 1 Timothy 3:15.
But I do find major fault with the ESV’s translation of Ephesians 4:9.
“‘When He ascended on high He led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.’ (In saying, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean but that He had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?”
This is how the passage reads in the 2007 edition of the ESV (the 2001 edition is fine). At the end of the verse, they make “the earth” into a restatement of what Paul meant by “the lower regions.” This translation is problematic and you’ll notice that most translations will say something like “the lower regions
of the earth.” The reason why this new translation is problematic is twofold.
(1) In the Greek, “the lower regions” is in the accusative case and “the earth” is in the genitive. In Greek, the genitive is most commonly used to convey possession so you’ll usually see translations say, for example, “of God” or “God’s” where the genitive is used for God, etc. And so, grammatically speaking, it seems clumsy to take these two phrases in different cases as simple restatements of each other. Most naturally, it should read “the earth’s lower regions” or “the lower regions of the earth.” Wayne Grudem suggests that the wording should be rendered in the manner chosen by the 2007 ESV because it is “a genitive of apposition.” He gives “the city of Chicago” as an example in his
Systematic Theology.
(2) Verse 10 goes on to say that “He Who descended is the One Who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.” And so, if we have “the lower parts” = “the earth,” as the ESV has it in verse 9, then we lose the parallelism that Paul is trying to establish by comparing the ascent with the descent and saying He ascended
far above all the heavens. In the ESV translation, Jesus still goes
above all the heavens, but He now only goes
to the earth, rather than
far below the earth, all the way to the heart of the earth (cf. Mathew 12:40), to its lower regions. And so by this translation He no longer filled “
all things” by His ascending and descending like verse 10 tells us He did.
We also have to compare this verse with how Paul talks about the earth in his other letters. In Philippians he says that “God has highly exalted [Jesus] and bestowed on Him the Name that is above every name, so that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth
and under the earth” (Phil 2:9-11). And in Romans 10:6-7 he says:
“But the righteousness based on faith says, ‘Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” ’ (that is, to bring Christ down) or ‘ “Who will descend into the abyss?” ’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”
Since Paul explicitly mentions (1) a location “under the earth,” and (2) Christ having descended into “the abyss” when He died, the text in Ephesians, again, should most definitely read, “the lower regions
of the earth.”
In Job, Zophar asks, “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?” (11:7-8) The implication to his questions is that there is nothing higher than heaven nor deeper than Sheol in all God’s creation. When we compare this thought with the language of Paul where he talks about Jesus ascending far above all the heavens and descending into the lower regions of the earth “
that He might fill all things” (Eph 4:10), it is difficult to escape the conclusion that he has Sheol in mind when he mentions “the lower regions of the earth.”
The real reason why the ESV translates Ephesians 4:9 the way that it does is that the translators deny Christ’s descent into hell.
I was really disappointed to see the 2007 edition incorporate this highly theologically driven translation of this verse.
Here is a list of changes that were made to the 2007 edition.
May the LORD be with you!
Your brother in Christ,
Pete
