Changes in Translation of Galatians

I was just perusing the list of changes between the 2004 and 2007 editions of the New Living Translation that Tyndale has provided.There is only one change in Galatians.

Galatians 3:27
NLT 2004 edition: And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on the character of Christ, like putting on new clothes.

NLT 2007 edition: And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.

They have removed “the character” of Christ and thus left it up to us to determine what he means by putting on Christ. I think this is probably a good change.

I should also note a couple of changes that were made in the ESV translation between the 2001 and 2007 editions. Unfortunately, Crossway has not provided a list but an investigative blogger has done the work for us using Accordance.

Galatians 2:21
ESV 2001 edition: I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
ESV 2007 edition: I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Your reaction to this change will depend on how you understand justification/righteousness in Paul. The majority of readers are probably helped by this change as they would be more familiar with righteousness than justification.

Galatians 3:28
ESV 2001 edition: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
ESV 2007 edition: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

This is an interesting change to what has become a crucial verse in the debate over the role of women in ministry. There is a slight change in the Greek construction between the first two contrasts and the last which this change reflects. How crucial it is to understand this for our reading of the verse is debatable but I don’t think it will change most people’s perception of what Paul is saying.

Bonnington on Galatians 2:11-14

On Friday Logos announced several collections of Paternoster Press books including one on Paul. It includes

Mark Bonnington, The Antioch Episode of Galatians 2:11–14 in Historical and Cultural Context. Carlisle: Paternoster Publishing, 2004. 1842270508, 978-1842270509.

Presumably it was published 2004, at any rate. Paternoster’s website says it hasn’t been published yet and Amazon and another place give it a date of 1969 and others of 2003 and 2006. I didn’t have this book in my bibliography yet! So thank you Logos for bringing it to my attention regardless of what year it was published. It’s good to see some of these English books being made more widely available across the ocean.

R Alan Cole Galatians reprinted

The popular Tyndale New Testament Commentary volume on Galatians by R. Alan Cole is being reprinted this December:
R. Alan Cole, Galatians. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2008. 083084239X, 978-0830842391.

Galatians Re-Imagined or Re-Discovered?

After writing several Galatians articles it is not surprising that Brigitte Kahl has a book coming out next May. It is a little surprising to see that it has two titles. It is listed as Galatians Re-Imagined everywhere on the Web when you search by ISBN but as the cover on Amazon clearly shows it is titled Galatians Re-Discovered. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so that is what I will go with 🙂

Brigitte Kahl, Galatians Re-Discovered: Reading with the Eyes of the Vanquished. (Paul in Critical Contexts). Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009. 0800638646, 978-0800638641.