Our English translations, with good reason, translate
Luke's TOU ADAM TOU QEOU (3:38) as "[son] of God"
(NWT). That Luke does not employ hUIOS here is not
relevant or germane at all. One can communicate
concepts without using specific terms such as "Son" or
"daughter." TOU QEOU in this context clearly means
"Son of God." The burden of proof is on the one who
denies this clear, manifest fact. As the NET Bible
notes:
"The reference to the son of God here [in Lk 3:38] is
not to a divine being, but to one directly formed by
the hand of God. He is made in God’s image, so this
phrase could be read as appositional ('Adam, that is,
the son of God'). See Acts 17:28-29."
NET renders the verse in question, "the son of Enosh,
the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God."
Addendum: John Trapp offers this explanation--
Ver. 38. Which was the Son of God] Not by generation, but creation. Therefore the Syriac translator hath it Demen Elaha, A Deo, of God, not Bar Elaha, the Son of God.
Also from Joseph Benson's Commentary:
Luke 3:38. Adam, which was the son of God — Adam, being descended from no human parents, but formed by the power of a divine creating hand, might with peculiar propriety be called the son of God, having, in his original state, received immediately from God, whatever the sons of Adam receive from their parents, sin and misery excepted.
4 comments:
Interesting. Back in verse 23 it says: ὢν υἱός, ὡς ἐνομίζετο, Ἰωσήφ τοῦ Ἡλεί, followed by a list of ancestors indicated by τοῦ "of the" such and such. So (IMO) the reader supplies mentally υἱός because of the context leading into the list. Which seems natural to me.
I'd like to know more about what the Syriac say's here: "Therefore the Syriac translator hath it Demen Elaha, A Deo, of God, not Bar Elaha, the Son of God." What does "Demen Elaha, A Deo" mean?
What does the Coptic, Vetus Latina, and Vulgate say here?
There's Scriptural parallel between Adam and Christ elsewhere. Luke hint's at it here. Adam the firstborn son of earthly creation, Jesus, the firstborn "of all" (or Jehovah's heavenly) creation.
A Deo means "by/from or of God." The a is used ablativally in Latin. So I believe that Trapp is pointing out that the Syriac reads "of God" (Demen Elaha). John Etheridge's Peshitta renders 3:38: "bar Anush, bar Sheth, bar Adom, who was from Aloha."
Vulgate: qui fuit Enos qui fuit Seth qui fuit Adam qui fuit Dei
For the Coptic, see this helpful tool: https://www.stepbible.org/?q=version=CopSahHorner|reference=Luk.3
Right now, I don't have access to the Vetus Latina.
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