The Greek that is often translated as “desires of the flesh” in English is translated in Ixcatlán Mazatec as “human desires” (source: Robert Bascom), in Mezquital Otomi as “the desires of our old life,” in Tzeltal as “doing what your bodies want,” and in Huehuetla Tepehua as “doing the things that your thoughts like (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.).
In Enlhet it is translated as “wantings of the innermost.” “Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind (for other examples see here). (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
The Greek that is often translated as “flesh” in English (when referring to the lower human nature) can, according to Nida (1947, p. 153) “very rarely be literally translated into another language. ‘My meat’ or ‘my muscle’ does not make sense in most languages.” He then gives a catalog of almost 30 questions to determine a correct translation for that term.
The Toraja-Sa’dan translation uses a variety of terms for the translation of the same Greek term (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight)
A form of kale tolinona or “corporeal” is for instance used in Romans 9:5 or Colossians 1:22 (and also in Genesis 6:3 and Exodus 30:32)
A form of mentolinona or “the human” is for instance used in Matthew 16:17 or John 1:14
Phrases that include pa’kalean or “bodiliness” (also: “human shape”) are for instance used in Romans 6:6 or 1 Peter 2:11 (as well as in Isa 52:14, Isa 53:2, and Lamentations 4:7
Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Peter 2:18:
Uma: “They are haughty [lit., their hearts are high] speaking of all their deeds, but their words have no contents. With their words they entice people who have just parted from their companions whose behavior is evil. They entice them with evil bodily desires, in order that they will return to that evil behavior of theirs that they just left.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “They are experts in speaking but there is no use to it. They lure those who have recently rejected/turned-their-back-on their companion-sinners so that they sin again. They teach that it is not bad if one always indulges the greedy-desires of ones body. Like that they lure.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Their words appear to be deep, but there is nothing good in what they say. There are some people who might have abandoned their former companions who do wrong, however those teachers tempt them by means of the evil desires of their bodies.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “There is also much that they say which sounds good, but it has no significance (lit. weight). They teach that it is not bad to follow what the body desires, and that is what they use-to-persuade the person who has-just-believed who has-just-abandoned his evil companions and behavior.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Presumption is big in everything they say. But well, there’s no gain/usefulness in what they tell. On the contrary, it’s just their luring/deceiving of those who have newly believed in the Lord, who havn’t yet really understood his will. Because they cause those new believers to fall (into sin, fig.) by returning to a life of wrong, which is keeping on indulging the disgusting desires of the body without any self-control at all.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Because they make proud the words they speak, but they are not worth anything. They lead people who have now parted from the evil they were living, giving permission to again do the evil that other people do.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “survive,” “escape,” “save,” or similar in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) in these verses with pulumuka, describing someone whose life was in danger but who has freed himself or herself. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
This verse, together with verse 19, describes the teaching of the false teachers and the effect of such teaching both on themselves and others, especially new converts to the Christian faith.
What they say is characterized as “bombastic nonsense” (New Revised Standard Version), literally, uttering loud boasts of folly. The expression loud boasts is also found in Jude 16 and translates a Greek word that means “boastful,” “haughty,” “bombastic,” “high sounding,” in other words, something that sounds much more impressive than it really is. Folly on the other hand translates a word that means “worthlessness,” “emptiness,” “futility,” or “purposelessness.” What it means, then, is that the false teachers make impressive, high sounding, and boastful speeches that are in fact worthless and devoid of any value whatsoever.
The effect of such teaching is that they entice with licentious passions of the flesh new converts to the faith. For entice see comments on verse 14; for licentious see comments on 2 Peter 2.2; and for passions see comments on verse 10, where the word is translated “lust.” The whole expression licentious passions of the flesh refers to sexual desires that are characterized by lust and that lead people to indulge in excessive and uncontrolled immorality. How do the false teachers use this to entice people? It seems that through their teaching they have justified indulgence in immoral acts by presenting these sexual acts as legitimate expressions of Christian freedom. And since this kind of life characterizes those who belong to pagan religions, those who are most easily affected by this attitude are the new converts. These new converts are described as people who have barely escaped from those who live in error. The word barely may mean “to a small extent,” which indicates that these people are not yet completely free of pagan influences. In favor of this view is the fact that escaped is a present participle, which can be rendered “in the process of escaping.” These people, then, were in the process of making a complete break with pagan society as a whole. More probably, however, barely means “for a short time” or “newly,” which indicates that these people are new converts who are not yet firmly established in the Christian faith and are therefore easily swayed by non-Christian influences.
Those who live in error are most probably non-Christians or pagans (as in Jerusalem Bible “who have only just escaped from paganism”). This use of error for pagan living is in accordance with New Testament usage (see, for instance, Rom 1.27; Titus 3.3 “led astray”). Live translates a verb that means “act,” “behave,” or “conduct oneself.” Error is literally “wandering,” but it is used figuratively for straying from truth, hence “deceit,” “deception,” when the wandering is caused by others. This final clause who have barely escaped from those who live in error should not be understood to mean that these people are literally running away from other people (pagans) who stray from the truth. What it means is that they have just begun to stop believing like those people who live their lives according to wrong ideas.
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Second Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
When the false teachers were teaching people, they used words and phrases which sounded very impressive and important, but really didn’t mean much. However, because what they said sounded impressive, it deceived people who had recently become Christians and encouraged them to live in an immoral way.
2:18a
lofty but empty words: Peter used two words in Greek which contrast with each other. The teaching of the false teachers was impressive or lofty (literally “very big, excessive”), but at the same time, it was also empty, it had no value or sense.
2:18b
Because what the false teachers said sounded so impressive, it deceived people and they believed it and acted in the way the false teachers said they could.
they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh: This refers to behaving in a sexually immoral way, acting according to what their bodies told them and what they wanted to do. See the note on 2:2a. The false teachers enticed the new Christians away from the truth by teaching them that they were free to act immorally if they wanted to.
2:18c
entice: The Greek word which Berean Standard Bible translates as entice here is the same word as Peter used in verse 14 (Berean Standard Bible “seduce”). It literally means “to lure/trap/catch with bait.” Peter has used it in a figurative way in both verses; what the false teachers say and what they promise (verse 19) sounds so good that it attracts people away from the true teaching and way to live, in the same way that a person uses bait to attract an animal so he can catch it.
those who are just escaping from others who live in error: This probably refers to people who had recently become Christians. Peter was probably referring to the same people as in verse 14, where he described them as “the unstable.” They were new Christians who did not yet completely understand all they believed.
Here Peter described becoming a Christian as “escaping from others who live in error.” Peter did not mean that they had run away from the non-Christians, but that they no longer behaved in the same wrong way as those people did.
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.
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