Trespasses vs. Debts (minicast)

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Welcome to another mini cast from A Way with Words.

I’m Martha Barnette.

We hope you’re enjoying your summer, unless of course you’re in the southern hemisphere, in which case we hope you’re enjoying your winter.

We’ve been going through some phone calls that we didn’t get a chance to air during our regular season.

Here’s one from Jim in San Diego.

He had a great question.

Well, I have been wondering who translated the Lord’s Prayer from the Bible into English, because the word trespass in the prayer has never really made sense to me.

Can you, what’s the line in question?

Just refresh me here.

Forgive those trespasses who trespass against us.

Yeah, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Right.

Right.

So trespass bothers you?

Well, it doesn’t make any sense in modern English in terms of trespass to me means, you know, going onto someone’s property or possibly doing something to them in their own area.

But, you know, others have translated it debtors or wrongs.

And so I was always curious, and I’ve asked what did the original word mean in Greek, because I know the first Bibles were Greek, and possibly where did it come from in Aramaic, because I’m sure Jesus did his teaching, it was in Aramaic.

And I was wondering what the original word meant, and why did they translate it maybe in Old English, you know, back in the King James Version, it meant trespass meant something different?

Yeah, well, you know that there are two versions of the Lord’s Prayer in the Gospels, right, Jim?

Yes, there’s Matthew and Luke.

Right, right.

And they use different Greek words in those.

Oh, they do?

Yes.

Oh, okay.

Yes.

Luke uses the word that translates as sins, it’s hamartias, which actually has a connotation of an arrow missing a target, which is kind of nice, forgive us our sins.

But Matthew uses a different word, he uses the Greek word afulimata, which, as you mentioned, means debts, literally debts, but it also means sin.

And I believe that that’s the same idea in Aramaic as well, that you have debts and sins.

And, you know, that…

Well, wait, let me just stop here a second.

When we say debts, do we mean financial debts, or we just mean something that’s morally owed to somebody else, like an obligation?

Well, I think it means both in that case.

I mean, it could be used both ways.

And I don’t know if the fact that Matthew was a tax collector, you may remember that.

Oh, yeah.

That he opted for that particular word.

But yeah, as you suggested, granted, it can be metaphorical, but there’s also a really strong sense of it being a debt, like something that you owe.

I mean, they’re pretty close, don’t you think?

Now, what about in the parable of the tax collector?

Is the same word used there?

Because, you know, forgiving people’s debts?

The one where Zacchaeus climbs up a tree?

No, no, this is a different one, where the…it’s a parable.

It’s about a servant who is forgiven his debts by his king.

And then he has a friend who comes up to him later and wants him to forgive his friend’s debt, and he goes, “No, you’re going to jail till you can pay it off.”

And so then he ends up getting turned in by his friends to the king, and the king throws him back in jail.

Okay, yeah.

They’re wicked servants, you know?

Yeah, I’m…

You didn’t forgive the debts like you were supposed to forgive.

You know, the word that Matthew uses there is used in several other places in the Bible, so it may well be.

I don’t know that offhand.

But you do see that word translated as “debts” in early versions of the Lord’s Prayer.

So where did the word trespass come from?

Well, that’s thanks to William Tyndale.

You remember him, right?

He’s the fellow who translated the Bible without permission, and it cost him his life.

Yeah, he was the first guy to translate the New Testament all the way through.

And what about Martin Luther?

Was it Luther first?

Well, he was German.

I don’t know about that.

Tyndale was English, and Luther was German.

I think that’s the difference.

Right, he was probably the first one to do it in English.

Yeah.

You know, I have to tell you, I really love the word “trespasses” there.

I have to say, I mean, “trespasses” to me sort of has the same dual meaning as “debts” in a way.

I once read this really lyrical sermon by this minister who was analyzing the language of the Lord’s Prayer and talking about how most of the language is so simple.

Most of the words are so simple until you come to the stuff that’s really hard to do, like forgiving somebody else their trespasses and not being led into temptation.

Those are the longest words in the prayer.

And so I’ve always had a special place in my heart for the word “trespasses.”

That’s what I grew up saying in church, but I know a lot of people use the word “debtors,” and it’s kind of a shock, I think, for both camps the first time they hear somebody else use the other word.

And clearly it is for you.

Well, I just never figured out how “trespass” equaled, you know, debt or wrongs or sins.

And why did Tyndale come up with that word in Old English?

Did it have a different meaning then?

I don’t know that it had a different meaning.

I do know that Tyndale was a guy who was fluent in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French, Italian, and Spanish.

And I believe that “trespass” comes to us from French.

And, you know, it’s the idea of passing across, passing across a border, a boundary that you’re not supposed to.

Even today, modern dictionaries, although they might mark it as obsolete or archaic, will usually give “sin” or “offense” as one of the meanings of “to trespass.”

Oh, okay.

Or “sin” or “offend.”

Because after that part in the Bible, at least in Matthew, at dinner also, he gives the corollary that if you don’t forgive your brothers, then my father’s not going to forgive you.

So I just wondered, had the trespasses worked in there?

Well, ultimately, though, you know, Jim, this all comes back to the choice of the translator.

A translator imprints upon the text, the new text that he or she creates, his or her own personality.

And this is very clear even from a group work like the King James Bible.

There’s a character there that belongs to this work because of the people who did the job.

And so certainly word choice is a part of that.

And this is why there’s so much emphasis placed.

Of course, it comes from the Jewish tradition, but, you know, it exists in the Christian tradition as well of interpretation of text.

Much ink has been spilled over interpreting things as simple as the word “trespass.”

Well, he’s right about that.

Meanwhile, we’d love for you to spill some electronic ink and let us know what you think about these translations or about anything else you have on your mind.

You can email us at words@waywordradio.org or join the conversation in the A Way with Words discussion forum.

Just go to waywordradio.org.

That’s all for this week.

We’ll be back again next time with another Minicast.

And don’t forget, we’ll have a whole new season of hour-long shows in the fall.

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Thanks for listening to A Way with Words.

I’m Martha Barnette.

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