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for all verily held John to be
a prophet.
The verses above speak of an
event that unfolded in the Temple in
Jerusalem just before the Passover
on which Jesus was crucified. The
religious leaders were trying to trap
and arrest him, and they questioned
him concerning his authority. He
questioned them back, asking about
the authority of John the Baptist. They
knew they were trapped, and huddled
together to discuss the situation. If they
said John got his authority from God,
the people would ask why they would
not allow themselves to be baptized by
him. But if they said John’s authority
was not divine, but human…well,
the consequences would be so dire
that they could not even finish their
sentence. The text lets us know why:
they were afraid of the people. The
Anacoluthon in this verse is one we
can relate to easily.
Galatians 2:6 (Author’s
translation)
But from those who seemed to
be important (whatever they
were at one time, it does not
matter to me, God does not
accept a man’s face)—before
me, then, those seeming to be
something placed nothing,
This Anacoluthon is interrupted by
the parenthesis. Take the parenthesis
out and it shows up powerfully, but, as
was stated above, it can be confusing
to the student of the Bible. The first
part of the sentence would logically
be completed by something that Paul
received, such as “I received nothing.”
But that would hardly be true, for Paul
certainly received some things from
the leaders in Jerusalem. The Apostles
acceptance of Paul is much more
graciously expressed by changing the
emphasis from what Paul received to
what the Apostles did, which in this
case was to recognize Paul’s ministry
and calling and not place any burden
on him, something they would readily
have done if they felt that something
was lacking in Paul’s ministry.
Most versions are incorrect when
they say such things as the Apostles
“added nothing to me” (KJV, ESV 3 ) or
“contributed nothing to me” (NASB 4 ).
The Greek word many versions
translate as “impart,” “add,” “or
contribute” can also mean to lay
before, or to place before, and that
is its meaning here. I am sure the
Apostles in Jerusalem contributed
something to Paul, even if it was their
encouragement and blessing, but
they did not place any extra work or
burden on him, realizing he had his
own calling from the Lord to fulfill.
Furthermore, although Paul was trying
to establish his own credibility in this
section of the book of Galatians, he
would hardly have done so by pointing
out that the Apostles in Jerusalem, who
were men of standing in the Church,
“added nothing” to Paul. By using the
Anacoluthon, Paul makes the delicate
point that his ministry was recognized
by, and acceptable to, the Apostles
in Jerusalem (so it should be to the
Galatians, too!), without seeming to
denigrate them in any way.
Galatians 6:1 (KJV)
Brethren, if a man be overtaken
in a fault, ye [plural] which
are spiritual, restore such an
one in the spirit of meekness;
considering thyself [singular],
lest thou also be tempted.
This is an example of an
Anacoluthon in which the plural
suddenly switches to a singular,
which is hard to see in English, and
some versions avoid the problem
by translating the Anacoluthon out
of the text. Everyone [plural: thus
“ye”] pitches in together to help
restore brothers in need, but each
person [singular: therefore “thyself”]
must personally watch out for
temptations. Proper grammar without
the Anacoluthon would be “…you
[plural] who are spiritual…considering
yourselves….
Mark 6:11 (Author’s
translation)
And whatever place does not
receive you or listen to you, as
you go forth from there, shake
off the dust that is under your
feet for a testimony against
them.
Here the singular “place,” referring
to a town, suddenly changes at the end
of the sentence to the plural, “them,”
referring to people. Nevertheless, the
Anacoluthon seems natural, because
we automatically make the jump in
logic from the fact that one walks into
a “place,” but can be rejected by the
people who live there. Proper grammar
would end the sentence with “it.”
There are many more examples of
Anacoluthon in the Bible, and many
of those can be found in Bullinger’s
wonderful book, Figures of Speech
Used in the Bible. 5
Notes:
1. E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used
in the Bible (Baker Book House, Grand
Rapids, MI, reprinted 1968).
2. Scripture quotations marked (ASV)
are taken from The American Standard
Version, 1901.
3. Scripture quotations marked (ESV)
are taken from The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News
Publishers. All rights reserved.
4. Scripture quotations marked (NASB)
are taken from the New American Standard
Bible ® , © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971,
1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman
Foundation. Used by permission.
5. Bullinger, op. cit., Figures of Speech
Used in the Bible.
The Sower Nov/Dec 2007 23