Today, if you hang in there all the way to the end, I think you will find the post to have been interesting. Today, we're going to look at one verse from what is called the "Love" chapter in the Bible, First Corinthians 13.
Trust me, this will not be a scholarly approach. I just want to make a few observations.
Chapter 13 of St. Paul's first letter to the Christian believers in Corinth opens with these words in the old King James Version of 1611:
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal".
The New Testament was written originally in Greek, of course. St. Jerome and others translated it into Latin in the fourth century AD (or CE if you prefer) because the Roman Empire had replaced the Greek one. The Latin version became known as the Vulgate because a Latin phrase "versio vulga" means "the version commonly used", not that it is vulgar in the modern sense.
Here is the original Greek sentence St. Paul actually wrote:
Ἐὰν ταῖς γλώσσαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων λαλῶ καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω, γέγονα χαλκὸς ἠχῶν ἢ κύμβαλον ἀλαλάζον.
So now you know. It's all Greek to me too.
Here, for your convenience, is a transliteration (that is, a replacement of the Greek letters with the letters of the Latin alphabet we use today):
Ean tais glōssais tōn anthrōpōn lalō kai tōn angelōn, agapēn de mē echō gegona chalkos ēchōn ē kymbalon alalazon.
Okay, now we can at least pronounce the words even if we don't understand Greek.
A translation, not a transliteration, is what we need. A literal tranlsation into English from the original produces the following:
If in the tongues of men I speak, and of angels, love however not have, I have become a brass sounding, or a cymbal clanging.
In many languages adjectivea come after nouns instead of before them as we do in English. For example, "beautiful house" in Spanish is casa linda (house beautiful) and "big river" is Rio Grande (river big). Greek is constructed similarly, so whether we read "sounding brass" or "brass sounding" doesn't really interfere with our understanding. I do find it mildly interesting, however, that English readers are told that the cymbal is tinkling but theoriginal Greek says the cymbal is clanging. Tinkling and clanging are not the same thing, not at all. Another mildly interesting point is that the word brass actually refers to a gong, which is more like a cymbal, and not to a trumpet or a trombone.
I have the feeling some of you are not enjoying reading this post as much as I am enjoying writing it. I am undaunted. Onward and upward! or as the Greeks might say (transliterated) Excelsior! (which just happens to be the motto of New York State in the United States). I digress.
Many Greek words can still be recognized in the English language of today. For example, from the words glōssais, anthrōpōn, and angelōn in our verse we can recognize the English words glossry, anthropology, and angels.
Some words change meaning over time. The word translated as "charity" throughout Chapter 13 of First Corinthians in the 1611 English version is the Greek word agapēn. More recent English versions have changed the word "charity" to "love" because meanings change over the years. The KJV says "charity" because in the Vulgate St. Jerome used the Latin word caritas, a word that once meant love in English but now seems to mean donating old clothes to a thrift shop because you no longer want them. In this verse, at least, the KJV doesn't go back and check the original language but is instead a translation of a translation, and sometimes meanings get lost or changed.
Greeks has several words that mean love. Paul used the word agape which means divine love, God's love). Other Greek words that are translated into English as "love" include philao (brotherly love), storgas (family love), and eros (physical love, secial desire).
I hope you are still with me.
With that in mind, let's think about one other passage in the New Testament, a portion of the 21st chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. We join the action after Jesus has risen from the dead. He will not ascend to heaven for 40 days. One morning he appears at the shore of the Sea of Galilee just as his disciples, who were formerly fishermen, are returning from fishing all night. He has built a fire and prepared a breakfast for them. As they are sitting around the campfire eating, Jesus turns to Peter, who had denied knowing him three times on the night before the crucifixion, and asks, "Do you love me more than these (other disciples)?" and Peter replies, "You know that I love you." Jesus says "Feed my sheep". Jesus then asks Peter a second time, "Do you love me?" and when Peter again says that he does, Jesus says, "Feed my lambs", a slightly different command. Yet a third time time Jesus asks Peter, "Do you love me?" and when Peter replies that he does, and Jesus says, "Feed my sheep". Sounds a bit repetitive, right?
Wrong. In the original Greek the conversation is different. The first time Jesus says "Do you agape me?" (love me with God's love?) Peter says "I philao you" (I love you like a brother). The second time Jesus says again, "Do you agape me?" Peter again says "I philao you". The third time, Jesus changes his question and asks "Do you philao me?" and Peter replies "Lord, you know all things. You know that I philao you." Jesus then repeats what he said at first, "Feed my sheep". This very nuanced question-and-answer seesion occurs with both of them knowing full well that Peter had denied knowing Jesus three times on the night before Jesus was crucified.
I don't know about you, but I find this fascinating because it is a real failure of the English language to capture the whole thrust of the conversation. br>
In conclusion, while it may be admirable to donate clothing to a thrift shop or to toss a few coins into a Salvation Army kettle during the Christman season (charity's modern meaning), those measures alone are insufficient to qualify as love. As my mother would have said, don't break your arm patting yourself on the back.
I am suddenly rminded of the scene from Fiddler On The Roof where Tevye's oldest daughter has refused to enter into an arranged marriage to the town's wealthy butcher, an older man, because she loves a young, poor tailor. It is a concept of marriage that is new to Tevye, who then sings the song "Do You Love Me?" to his wife, Golda. She answers, "For twenty-five years I've cooked for you, washed for you, cleaned for you" (or something like that) and Tevye asks "But do you love me?" At the end of the song, she admits, "I suppose I do."
Your assignment has two parts. First, go find the YouTube version of Tevye's song and watch it. Then tell in a comment what U.S. city is known as The City Of Brotherly Love. Your comment will be proof that you read all the way to the end of the post.
I will now leave quietly, as I fear I may have exhausted your patience/overstayed my welcome. If you promise to return again soon, I promise to be less verbose.
