It's been almost a month since I posted "A Promise", which either makes me very patient or a liar. Since I in no way desire to be known as the latter, I will for the time being claim the attributes of the former -- despite the fact that everyone who knows me knows it also is not true. Here's hoping for an in-between place I can wait (stagnate?) for just a bit longer. I am trying to put together a few poems, since none of my stories are working. Because that's easier or something . . .
In any case, to keep myself from becoming as intellectually dry and depressing as this desert and the giant square city it holds, I thought I might start a translation/commentary project. And to keep myself from becoming an existential wreck, it seemed appropriate to do the New Testament. Also, much easier than Plato, my other option. So here begins my translation of 1 Peter. The Greek is available at the Perseus Project. The commentary raises more questions than it answers and, even within the first two verses, is reminding me that I should consider becoming familiar with the Pentateuch. Robert Alter reading parties, anyone?
I'll be going by paragraph or sentence or whatever I feel like doing. So here are the first two verses, since my explanation of the next three keeps getting longer. Exciting, no?
ΠΕΤΡΟΥ Α
First Peter
1-2 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those set apart in exile in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia: according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in the sanctification of the spirit into obedience and according to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, may grace and peace be multiplied unto you.
***It appears most translations accept ῥαντισμον as an object of εἰς (parallel to ὑπακοὴν), rather than an object of κατὰ (parallel to πρόγωσιν). The difference I see is subtle, I admit, and perhaps only a product of my own mental quibbling: is the sprinkling of blood, like sanctification of the spirit, a consequence of the foreknowledge of God which in turn effects grace and peace? Or is the sprinkling of blood itself, along with the foreknowledge of God, a primary and necessary element in the bringing of grace and peace, just as sanctification of the spirit is a primary and necessary element in the bringing of obedience -- which itself relies upon God’s foreknowledge and, consequently, the textual parallel, Christ’s own blood?
Though Theo would take this opportunity to remind me that the many official translators of this book probably know something I don’t, and though I accept this charge, the latter option appears far more likely, both within the context of 1 Peter and within the context of the Christian salvation narrative. Grace and peace are made abundant equally according to God’s wisdom and Christ’s sacrifice, the two becoming at some point necessarily indistinguishable: I am hesitant to suggest that the sprinkling of Christ’s blood is a direct product of God’s foreknowledge and a potential substitute for simple “obedience”, that the action is several steps removed from any abundance of grace and peace.
The “sprinkling of blood” refers to Hebrew practice laid out in Numbers (and one of Deuteronomy or Leviticus, I think), mentioned also in the New Testament in Hebrews, the obvious and unsoundable parallel establishing Christ as the final and ultimate sacrificial lamb Whose blood alone brings sanctification.
Two minor notes: I haven’t the heart to translate ἐκλεκτοῖς as “elect” despite their aural similarities; I apologise reluctantly for the use of “unto”, an archaic and altogether appropriate preposition in this situation.
