Keeping it Real

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

Romans 8.5-6, NIV

This may seem petty on my part, but I think verbosity is dangerous. When we add lots of words to a translation “to make it make sense”, there is a real danger that we change the sense. And yes, I do understand that sometimes one language has concepts and constructions that simply don’t translate word for word; but it is still better to try.

Here is Romans 8.5-6 in the original, from the SBL Greek NT:

οἱ γὰρ κατὰ σάρκα ὄντες τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς φρονοῦσιν, οἱ δὲ κατὰ πνεῦμα τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος. τὸ γὰρ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς θάνατος, τὸ δὲ φρόνημα τοῦ πνεύματος ζωὴ καὶ εἰρήνη·

And my minimalist version:

For those being (who are, or who live) according to the flesh, are minded to the things of the flesh, and those according to the spirit, to the things of the spirit. For the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the spirit is life and peace.

The main difference between the NIV and my version is that I have got there without using the extra words desires (x2) and governed (also x2); I would also argue that my “minded” and “mindset” are tighter and more true to φρονοῦσιν and φρόνημα.

Why does this matter? I am just using this as a far-from-egregious example. But you can guarantee that many preachers will invest their time in exploring the depths of “desire” and the full weight of “governed” – when in fact, neither word is really there. Trust me, I have sat through sermons on words that aren’t there.

And this is the NIV, which has a high level of respect for the original; what happens when our preacher is using an admitted paraphrase, such as the Message; or worse, an augmented paraphrase that is dressed in sheep’s clothing, pretending to be a translation?

The truth is that Paul sometimes chooses to be extraordinarily verbose himself, and to write very (very) long sentences. Peter comments on how hard he is to understand sometimes.

But let us respect the text. “The mindset of the flesh is death” makes a direct equivalence between mindset and death; starting to talk about “the mind governed by the flesh is death”, loses that connection.

And please note: even I added the word “is”; in the Greek it is understood, but maybe “the mindset of the flesh: death; but the mindset of the spirit: life and peace” would better capture how punchy the original really is!