고린도전서 13:13의 국문 번역에 대한 역사적 고찰

Abstract

1 Corinthians 13:13 is one of the most well-known verses in the New Testament to Korean Christians. While previous studies have approached it chiefly with exegetical interests, the history of its translation into Korean has been given little attention. Thus, the present research attempts to overview the Korean Bible versions in terms of the changes made to its translation and to discover the underlying reasons for such alterations.BR 1 Corinthians 13:13 as it now stands in the NKRV (New Korean Revised Version, 1998) is in fact different from the one in the early versions published before 1900. When compared with the CNT (Corean New Testament, 1887), the 1 Corinthians (one-volume edition, 1898) and the KNT (Korean New Testament, 1900), it is found that there are two major differences between these early versions and the NKRV: (1) while the former translates νυνὶ δέ as having the temporal sense now, the NKRV renders it as a logical conjunctive thus; (2) the NKRV has the adverb forever which does not appear in the original Greek at face value.BR In fact, such changes in the translation of 1 Corinthians 13:13 took place from the KNT (1904). Since this epistle as included in the KNT (1900) was based on the individual draft, the Board of Official Translators needed to revise it. According to their list of references, three NT commentaries are found: Meyer’s Commentary on the NT; Ellicott’s Commentary on the NT; and Alford’s Greek NT. It is interesting to note that these three commentaries commonly argue against the temporal sense of νυνὶ δέ considering it as a logical conjunctive. As a result, they advocate eternal existence of the triad (faith, hope, love). This being so, it is more probable than not that the official translators were influenced by these commentaries when they developed the revised version. This may illuminate the reason behind the changes in the KNT(1904)’s translation of 1 Corinthians 13:13.BR Given that its translation has not been changed greatly since then, it can be said that the KNT (1904) is the watershed in the translation history of 1 Corinthians 13:13. Although KNT (1904) has not received due consideration for its numerous spelling errors, its value in the history of the Korean Bible should not be underestimated.