Nielsen’s Nook

Translation

3 And those paying attention to the grace of Christ were despising the worldly tortures, through the span of one hour they were buying out [1] eternal punishment. To them even the fire of their inhuman torturers was cold. For they held before their eyes the escape from the eternal fire that is never extinguished, and with the eyes of the heart they looked again upon good things, that are reserved for those who endure patiently [2] the things that neither the ear heard nor the eye seen, neither have they ascended upon the heart of man, but were made known by the Lord to them, who were no longer with man but were already angels. [3]

[1] ἐξαγοράζω is a work when taken in the context of the NT canon that is unique to Paul. In Gal 3:13 we find Χριστὸς ἡμᾶς ἐξηγόρασεν ἐκ τῆς κατάρας τοῦ νόμου (Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law). In Gal 4:5 it is written ἵνα τοὺς ὑπὸ νόμον ἐξαγοράσῃ (in order that he might redeem those under the law). These are straightforward enough. The last two times we find this word used in the Pauline corpus, they are more ambiguous. Eph 5:15-16 reads Βλέπετε οὖν ἀκριβῶς πῶς περιπατεῖτε μὴ ὡς ἄσοφοι ἀλλʼ ὡς σοφοί, ἐξαγοραζόμενοι τὸν καιρόν, ὅτι αἱ ἡμέραι πονηραί εἰσιν (Therefore see carefully to it how you walk not as unwise but as wise, who are redeeming/buying out the season/time, for the days are evil). Likewise, Col 4:5 teaches Ἐν σοφίᾳ περιπατεῖτε πρὸς τοὺς ἔξω τὸν καιρὸν ἐξαγοραζόμενοι (In wisdom walk, you who are redeeming/buying out the time, with those outside the church). BAGD reminds us that this middle form of ἐξαγοράζω “cannot be interpreted with certainty” and then ponders the question as to whether the way the writer of the Martyrdom of Polycarp uses the word here does not shed light on the usage in Eph 5:16 and Col 4:5 (BAGD, 271).

[2] ὑπομείνασιν (ὑπομένω) to endure patiently, the same thematic word used in 2:2 and later in 2:4.

[3] Perhaps this is a figure describing the valiant nature of the martyrs’ suffering or it could also be evidence for a belief rooted in a sort of dualism that believed the martyrs had escaped the body and by becoming incorporeal angelic beings.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Translation

And in Jesus Christ, his son, the only begotten one, [1] our Lord, who was conceived [2] of the Holy Spirit, born [3] of the Virgin Mary, suffered [4] under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, was put to death, [5] and was buried, [6] after he descended into the lower regions of the earth… [7]

[1] ὸν μονογενῆ comes as the second in a double apposition, which in rendering our translation in this more wooden fashion we attempt to show. The word has to do with the singularly unique place that Jesus occupies as the God-Man.

[2] συλληφθέντα a mysterious word. None of the literature I have access to discusses this.

[3] γεννηθέντα a word rendered born and speaking of Jesus’ incarnate existence into time and space and purposefully different than μονογενῆ which is used to speak of the Son’s eternal relationship to the Father. γεννηθέντα is used in the LXX and NT to speak of biological birth: Job 14:1; Matthew 11:11; Luke 7:28. 1 Clement 30:5 employing an adjectival form of the word reads εὐλογημένος γεννητὸς γυναικὸς ὀλιγόβιος, blessed is woman’s short-lived offspring.

[4] παθόντα (πάσχω) baldly refers to ones experience or treatment; however, even in classical literature it is not often used to refer to positive experiences. The LXX always uses the word to refer to the enduring of suffering and/or death. (BAGD, πάσχω)

[5] θανόντα (θανατόω) especially the death sentence and its execution. There is also a figurative dimension which entails spiritual or eternal death (BAGD).

[6] ταφέντα (ταφή) 1 Clement 16:10 καὶ δώσω τοὐς πονηροὐς ἀντἱ τῆς ταφῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς πλουσίους ἀντὶ τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ· And I will give the wicked for his burial and the rich for his death.

[7] Compare the Latin descendit ad inferna with κατελθόντα εἰς τὰ κατώτατα. The Greek seems to be a clear reference to Ephesians 4:9-10. In both the Ephesians passage and the Greek of the Creed, the lower regions (τὰ κατώτατα) is a realm that is not given the identification of Hell as Christians would think of it today or perhaps thought of it by the time the Latin text was received, rendering τὰ κατώτατα as inferna. The underworld in Greek thought was not necessarily the place of eternal punishment after death but simply the place the dead went indiscriminately. Philip Schaff comments, “This clause was unknown in the older creeds, though believed in the Church, and was transferred into the Roman symbol after the fifth century, probably from that of Aquilcia, A.D. 390, where it first appears among Latin creeds…” (Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, p 45, fn 43). I commend the entire note to your reading.