Cheryl Schatz

I am certain that the accents and punctuation of the later versions can be helpful. I just do not believe that they are necessary to understand the text.  The grammar of 1 Cor. 14:36 is specific enough to allow us to understand that verses 34 & 35 are a quotation that Paul is refuting.  Is part of verse 33 part of that quotation?  Many are convinced that it is.  I think it probably is too but I am not convinced that it makes a difference either way.  Not yet, anyway.  Having an accent in verse 33 that would further identify that the quotation started there is also helpful but without it the quotation is identified already because of the way that verse 36 is written.

I have not studied the versions with the accents, so what I say about them should not be taken as anything more than just my own opinion.  I do not know for sure if these same accented manuscripts made Junia into a male name.  If that is true, then the accents should be treated as a human addition that can be very helpful but may also skew the text into an interpretation instead of a translation.  A person’s interpretation put into the text is not helpful in my opinion.  I believe this is why 1 Cor. 11 has been so difficult to understand for so long.  When one adds “a symbol of” in 1 Cor. 11:10 when the words are not there in the original and the added words change the meaning of the text, it is clear that interpretation needs to be left out of the business of translation so that difficult passages can be wrestled with, without an unfair influence of the translator regarding the meaning of scripture.

So as regards to an accented text, would it be helpful?  Absolutely, I am sure it would.  Is it necessary to understand the meaning of the passage?  I don’t think it is necessary.  God has left a witness to us with the inspired words and the inspired grammar in an inspired context.  That I know for sure.  The other I will consider and appreciate and I can even value it.  I am not convinced it is more than that at this point.

I do appreciate God’s Holy Spirit who is the most important factor in understanding God’s inspired words.  His work in our hearts to open the word is very important and I do not take that work lightly.  But still we are to struggle with the text and to study to show ourselves approved unto God a workman that does not need to be ashamed.  I trust that all of us are on the path way to be that kind of workman.