Friday, March 7, 2014

Mr. Smarty Pants Answer Man on God and Gods

Dear Smarty Pants Answer Man,
How do you interpret Genesis 3:5? Is God saying "They shall be as gods", or "They shall be as God"?

Answer man: The King James says "gods", while almost all other renderings use "God". The much respected New American Standard says "God". Scofield does too, with brackets showing the KJV rendering.

As the king of Siam said, "Is a puzzlement."

I have run off a bunch of online commentaries and translations to study. Many are ambiguous, even including the definition of "gods", "angels" or "divine beings". It is hard to resist trying to apply the context of the situation, which I feel eliminates the oft used "judges", later used in Psalms and John, in answer to the Jews, to whom it could more likely apply there.

I will get back to you on this. I am working on it.

By the way, must you address me as "Answer Man"?

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