{"id":6114,"date":"2022-05-17T13:10:37","date_gmt":"2022-05-17T13:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/?p=6114"},"modified":"2022-05-24T17:59:41","modified_gmt":"2022-05-24T17:59:41","slug":"word-studies-in-the-new-living-translation-%cf%83%ce%ac%cf%81%ce%be-sarx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/2022\/05\/17\/word-studies-in-the-new-living-translation-%cf%83%ce%ac%cf%81%ce%be-sarx\/","title":{"rendered":"Word Studies in the New Living Translation: \u03c3\u03ac\u03c1\u03be (sarx)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Greek:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; \u03c3\u03ac\u03c1\u03be (<em>sarx<\/em>)<br>English:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; flesh, human body, earthly body, sinful human nature<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>by Mark D. Taylor, NLT Bible Translation Committee<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The New Testament\u2019s use of the Greek word <em>sarx<\/em> is both straightforward and complicated. The NLT uses a variety of words to translate <em>sarx<\/em>. In this article, these different English translations of <em>sarx<\/em> are marked with yellow highlights for clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/05\/Untitled-design-2022-05-10T095836.592-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6124\" width=\"234\" height=\"234\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/05\/Untitled-design-2022-05-10T095836.592-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/05\/Untitled-design-2022-05-10T095836.592-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/05\/Untitled-design-2022-05-10T095836.592-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/05\/Untitled-design-2022-05-10T095836.592-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/05\/Untitled-design-2022-05-10T095836.592.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 234px) 100vw, 234px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The literal meaning of <em>sarx<\/em> is simply \u201cflesh,\u201d as in the outer layer of the human body. So we read in Hebrews 2:14, \u201cBecause God\u2019s children are human beings\u2014made of <mark style=\"background-color:#fcfa00\" class=\"has-inline-color\">flesh<\/mark> and blood\u2014the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.\u201d Or in Revelation 17:16: \u201cThe scarlet beast and his ten horns all hate the prostitute. They will strip her naked, eat her <mark style=\"background-color:#f7fc00\" class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">flesh<\/mark>, and burn her remains with fire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a similar sense, <em>sarx<\/em> can also represent the physical body as a whole. Jesus says to Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, \u201cKeep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the <mark style=\"background-color:#f7fc00\" class=\"has-inline-color\">body<\/mark> is weak\u201d (Matthew 26:41).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul makes reference to his present, temporary physical body\u2014in implied contrast to something more permanent\u2014when he writes, \u201cMy old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this <mark style=\"background-color:#fcf100\" class=\"has-inline-color\">earthly body<\/mark> by trusting the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me\u201d (Galatians 2:20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarx<\/em> can also represent humankind in general, as we see in Luke 3:6, where Luke is quoting Isaiah: \u201cAnd then all <mark style=\"background-color:#f7fc00\" class=\"has-inline-color\">people<\/mark> will see the salvation sent from God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It gets more complicated when <em>sarx<\/em> is used to refer to Jesus\u2019 human existence on earth. In the passage where Jesus says \u201cI am the bread of life,\u201d he goes on to say:<\/p>\n\n\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">51 \u201cI am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">flesh<\/mark>.\u201d<br \/>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a052 Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant. \u201cHow can this man give us his <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">flesh<\/mark>\u00a0to eat?\u201d they asked.<br \/>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a053 So Jesus said again, \u201cI tell you the truth, unless you eat the <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">flesh<\/mark> of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. 54 But anyone who eats my <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">flesh<\/mark> and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. 55 For my <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">flesh<\/mark> is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Anyone who eats my <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">flesh<\/mark>\u00a0and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him\u201d (John 6:51-56).<\/p>\n\n\n<p>Throughout this passage the NLT renders <em>sarx<\/em> as \u201cflesh.\u201d Jesus is looking ahead to his death, which would be a sacrifice for humanity. <em>Sarx<\/em> here refers to his physical, earthly life as the true sustenance (\u201cthe living bread\u201d) that people need for eternal life. It is essentially a synonym for the Greek term <em>s\u014dma<\/em>, which means \u201cbody.\u201d <em>S\u014dma<\/em> is the term used in connection to the Last Supper: \u201cAs they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying. \u2018Take this and eat it, for this is my <mark style=\"background-color:#fcf100\" class=\"has-inline-color\">body<\/mark> [<em>s\u014dma<\/em>]\u2019\u201d (Matthew 26:26).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/05\/Untitled-design-2022-05-10T100442.502-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6117\" width=\"196\" height=\"196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/05\/Untitled-design-2022-05-10T100442.502-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/05\/Untitled-design-2022-05-10T100442.502-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/05\/Untitled-design-2022-05-10T100442.502-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/05\/Untitled-design-2022-05-10T100442.502-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/05\/Untitled-design-2022-05-10T100442.502.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In Jesus\u2019 teaching about divorce, we read, \u201cThis explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are <mark style=\"background-color:#f7fc00\" class=\"has-inline-color\">united into one<\/mark>\u201d (Matthew 19:5; Mark 10:7-8). In these two passages, most translations render <em>sarx<\/em> <em>mia <\/em>literally as \u201cone flesh.\u201d Here <em>sarx<\/em> is used in a metaphorical sense to show the absolute union of a married couple in their life together\u2014physically, spiritually, and emotionally. So the NLT (both in these passages and in Genesis 2:24, which Jesus quotes here) renders the metaphor as \u201cunited into one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul uses <em>sarx<\/em> frequently in a different metaphorical sense. For example, he uses it to refer to our (sinful) human nature in contrast with our spiritual nature:<\/p>\n\n\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">When we were controlled by our <mark class=\"has-inline-color\">old nature<\/mark>,* sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death (Romans 7:5).<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\">7:5 Greek <em>When we were in the <mark class=\"has-inline-color\">flesh<\/mark>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<p>The footnote in the NLT is provided to clarify that the Greek text uses the word <em>sarx<\/em> (\u201cflesh\u201d), but Paul is using the term as a metaphor for our old nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In twenty-four instances where Paul uses <em>sarx<\/em> in this metaphorical sense, the NLT translates the term as \u201csinful nature.\u201d Many translations (including KJV, NASB, NKJV, and ESV) render <em>sarx<\/em> as \u201cflesh\u201d in most or all of these passages. Interestingly, the 1984 edition of the NIV used \u201csinful nature,\u201d but the 2011 edition uses the more traditional \u201cflesh.\u201d But occasionally, the NIV (2011) adds an explanatory footnote. For example, we find this footnote at Romans 8:3: \u201cIn contexts like this, the Greek word for&nbsp;<em>flesh<\/em>&nbsp;(<em>sarx<\/em>) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 4-13.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We see that <em>sarx<\/em> is used with a wide range of meanings in the New Testament. For that reason, the NLT uses a wide range of terms to translate it rather than simply translating it across the board as \u201cflesh,\u201d a term that in modern English usually refers to the outer layer of the human body. As with many other words that appear in Scripture, the NLT seeks to translate <em>sarx<\/em> in a way that makes its meaning immediately clear to today\u2019s readers in whatever context it appears and with whatever meaning the ancient authors meant it to carry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Greek:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; \u03c3\u03ac\u03c1\u03be (sarx)English:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; flesh, human body, earthly body, sinful human nature by Mark D. Taylor, NLT Bible Translation Committee The New Testament\u2019s use of the Greek word sarx is both straightforward and complicated. The NLT uses a variety of words to translate sarx. In this article, these different English translations of sarx are marked with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,44,45,236],"tags":[77,244,243],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6114"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6114"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6141,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6114\/revisions\/6141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- LIVE: wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com/nlt//wp-json/wp/v2/posts/6114 -->