How is “parousia” translated by different versions?
The Watchtower Society supports its view that Christ’s invisible second coming occured in 1914 by translating the Greek word “parousia” as “presence.” This lets them say that the signs Jesus talked about are indicators that He is present and not that they indicate he will soon be coming.
*** NWT 1984 Appendix 5B
Rbi8 pp. 1576-1577 5B Christ’s Presence (Parousia) ***
Liddell and Scott’s A Greek-English Lexicon (LS), p. 1343, gives as the first definition of pa·rou·siʹa the
English word presence. Likewise TDNT, Vol. V, p. 859, states under the subheading “The General Meaning”: “παρουσία
[pa·rou·siʹa] denotes esp[ecially] active presence.”
So, where does the NWT translate a second or another definition of parousia? Nowhere. Why not? When the WTS quotes academic sources like Liddell and Scott’s lexicon and the TDNT it gives it the appearance of being a scholarly work. Indeed, they have found those parts in these sources that they can use to support their decisions. However, this doesn’t mean that the WTS accepts these sources as authorities to follow. They only quote whatever supports their decisions and ignore the rest. (Liddell & Scott’s parousia definition). In the view of the WTS, “Christendom” has been rejected by God. So why would they stoop so low as to then use “Christendom’s” authorities of the Greek language? Well, one reason is that the WTS has never produced any Greek experts themselves and since people respond positively to the quoting of experts they will quote them, even if they think that they are damned by God.
The WTS has given us a great principle for assessing the relative weaknesses of different translations. The book Reasoning from the Scriptures (q.v. Bible p. 64) rightly observes that:
“It is true that some translations of the Bible adhere more closely to what is in the original languages than others do. Modern paraphrase Bibles have taken liberties that at times alter the original meaning. Some translators have allowed personal beliefs to color their renderings. But these weaknesses can be identified by comparison of a variety of translations.”
So, let’s compare translations to see if we can identify any weaknesses.
A comparison of 11 different translations
Rows with this colour refer to Christ’s parousia. Source: www.netbible.org
| Verse | NWT | NET | NIV | NASB | ESV | NLT | BBE | NKJV | NRSV | KJV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mat 24:3 | presence | coming | coming | coming | coming | return | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| Mat 24:27 | presence | coming | coming | coming | coming | comes | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| Mat 24:37 | presence | coming | coming | coming | coming | returns | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| Mat 24:39 | presence | coming | coming | coming | coming | comes | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| 1Co 15:23 | presence | comes | comes | coming | coming | comes back | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| 1Co 16:17 | presence | arrival | arrived | coming | coming | come | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| 2Co 7:6 | presence | arrival | coming | coming | coming | arrival | coming | coming | arrival | coming |
| 2Co 7:7 | presence | arrival | coming | coming | coming | presence | coming | coming | arrival | coming |
| 2Co 10:10 | presence | presence | in person | presence | presence | in person | in body | bodily presence | presence | presence |
| Php 1:26 | present | come back | on account of me | coming | coming | come | present | coming | come | my coming to you again |
| Php 2:12 | presence | presence | presence | presence | presence | when I was with you | present | presence | presence | presence |
| 1Th 2:19 | presence | coming | comes | coming | coming | returns | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| 1Th 3:13 | presence | coming | comes | coming | coming | comes | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| 1Th 4:15 | presence | coming | coming | coming | coming | returns | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| 1Th 5:23 | presence | coming | coming | coming | coming | comes again | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| 2Th 2:1 | presence | arrival | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| 2Th 2:8 | presence | arrival | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| 2Th 2:9 | presence | arrival | coming | coming | coming | come | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| Jas 5:7 | presence | return | coming | coming | coming | return | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| Jas 5:8 | presence | return | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| 2Pe 1:16 | presence | return | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| 2Pe 3:4 | presence | return | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| 2Pe 3:12 | presence | coming | coming | coming | coming | — | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| 1Jo 2:28 | presence | comes back | coming | coming | coming | returns | coming | coming | coming | coming |
| Totals: | NWT presence (23) present (1) |
NET coming (9) arrival (6) return (4) presence (2) come back (1) comes (1) comes back (1) |
NIV coming (17) comes (3) arrived (1) in person (1) on account of me (1) presence (1) |
NASB coming (22) presence (2) |
ESV coming (22) presence (2) |
NLT coming (5) returns (4) come (3) comes (3) return (2) comes again (1) comes back (1) arrival (1) in person (1) presence (1) when I was with you (1) |
BBE coming (21) present (2) in body (1) |
NKJV coming (22) presence (2) |
NRSV coming (19) arrival (2) presence (2) come (1) |
KJV coming (22) presence (2) |
Every language has words that can have multiple meanings, including Greek. In linguistics its called polysemy. This occurs in English a lot!
Words in context help determine (disambiguate, clarify, specify) the meanings of other words with ambiguous (multiple) meanings. Other words in the same context help determine which meanings ambiguous words have.
Comedians use this feature of language to make linguistic jokes when they mix up the meanings of words in the wrong context.
Here’s an example when a language expression gets taken literally. Only its not funny when you’re interpreting the Bible; then its only wrong.
Conversely, its also possible to take something that is literal and interpret it as being symbolic. Care must be taken to make sure there is textual evidence to support this, otherwise this can lead to the most outrageous interpretations that rest solely on the authority of the one making such a claim. This results in “following the doctrines of men.”
Here’s another example.
“The brush was thick and uneven.” (What kind of brush are we talking about here? Vegetation?
Hair brush? Paintbrush?)
“We had to cut it back.” (Do we know yet?)
“So that the bristles were all the same length.” (Ah, now its clear. A paintbrush.)
