Expert: George Tzathas - 11/5/2009

Question
QUESTION: May this:
ὥσπερ γὰρ διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ἁμαρτωλοὶ κατεστάθησαν οἱ πολλοί, οὕτω καὶ διὰ τῆς ὑπακοῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς δίκαιοι κατασταθήσονται οἱ πολλοί.

Be interpreted as:
"So by way of the same manner as one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, this way also through the obedience of the one, so shall the many be made righteous."

ANSWER: Hi Darin
This is from Romans 5:19

The translation given by scholars is as follows

1. KING JAMES VERSION
"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."

2. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION
"For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous."

The above are correct translations of this verse.  
Compare yours with these to see where the differences are. I consider the above verses excellent translations of the original Greek.

Kind regards
George

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I could have looked that up my self, I'm asking if it could be interpreted as what I asked because I look at Strong's Concorance with the words: "For AS BY one man's disobedience"
"as" is "ὥσπερ" = hōsper - hoce'-per, with the root of "ὡς" = hōs - hoce, which means "in that manner".

AND
"by" is "δια" = dia - dee-ah', which denotes the channel of an act thus "by way of".

Therefore, I figured It may be interpreted as "So by way of the same manner as one man's disobedience..."

May I be correct?


Answer
Hi Darin


Strong's Greek dictionary          
ὥσπερ (hṓsper)          
- Definition: just as, i.e. exactly like          
+ KJV usage::--(even, like) as.          
         
         
The Greek word "διά" is translated correctly as "through" in English"          
         
ὥσπερ (hṓsper) = just as          
γάρ = for          
διά (pronounced "theea" = through          
της = The          
παρακοης = disobedience          
Του = of the          
ενός = one          
ανθρώπου = man          
         
Coming back to your question the "by" refers to "the disobedience"  the rest (by way of same manner ) is unnecessary and redundant.          
The word "through" is more to the point and gives a better understanding to a reader. This is how I would have translated, being a native Greek speaker.          
         
You may interpret it the way you mention, it gives roughly a similar understanding but I believe it is not as close to a clear understanding of the original.          
         
The expression you use "by way of the same manner"  may be simply and concisely replaced by "Just as" which is clearer and exactly as the original Greek is.          
Kind regards
George