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Advertisement! Acts 16:16-18
One of the disturbing
aspects of evangelical Christianity is the insistence that there is only one
way of salvation. Jesus made this clear in John 14:6, “I am the way, the
truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” The
rise of postmodernism with its denial of absolutes and tolerance for various
religions declares evangelical Christians to be “out of touch with reality” and
are therefore justly “marginalized.” Consider Paul at Philippi in Acts 16:16-18,
Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave
girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by
supernatural means. She brought her owners a great profit by fortune-telling. She followed
behind Paul and us and kept crying out, “These men are servants of the Most
High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” She continued to do
this for many days. But Paul became greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the
spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it
came out of her at once (NASB).
We might ask ourselves a
logical question, “Why was Paul so upset when he was receiving free advertisement
for his evangelical missionary activity?” The problem becomes clear in numerous
English translations where the Greek definite article (“the”), not in the Greek
text, is included in many if not most English translations.
The presence of
the article in Greek focuses on identification, specifying what or who is
involved; the absence of the Greek article can either focus the
essential characteristics of the specific noun or leave the noun indefinite and
translated with the English “a” or “an.” The usage of the English article
differs in significant ways from the Greek article and the translator never knows whether or not the Greek text has or
does not have the article unless he or she examines the original language. The
interpretation of Acts 16:16-18 amplifies this issue.
Two interpretation principles
on this Acts narrative need attention by the Bible scholar: history and grammar.
Polhill provides the significant historical data, “Neither would way of
salvation be immediately clear to a Gentile. The Greco-Roman world was full
of saviors. Savior/deliverer, salvation/deliverance were favorite terms. The
emperor dubbed himself savior of the people. All of which is to
show why Paul finally became irritated with the girl’s constant acclamations” (Acts, John
B. Polhill. New American Commentary, Vol. 26, 1992). However there is also a highly
significant grammatical reason to explain why Paul was so annoyed with the
slave girl and her “advertisements.”
A survey of about 14
English translations examined reveal that only three read “a way of
salvation,” the NRSV, ISV, CSB. The popular versions in our churches (KJV,
NKJV, NASB, ESV, NIV) insert the definite article reading “the way of
salvation.”
Exegetically, only one
option meets the interpretive criteria of sense and history. The citizens of
Philippi would not have understood “the way of salvation” as the only path
to salvation preached by Paul. Historically there were many “ways of salvation”
in Roman and Greek societies. The populace would naturally position Paul and
his associates as another group of philosophers roaming the world peddling a
brand of “salvation” unique to them, and one that merely provided another
“salvation option” for people. In light of this, the indefinite article
translation provides a better interpretive probability. As an indefinite phrase
one can readily understand why Paul was so upset. The girl’s proclamation was
not the way of salvation (τῆς ὁδὸν σωτηρίας) but a way of salvation (ὁδὸν σωτηρίας). To him there
is only one way of salvation, and to be classified as “just another
philosopher” proclaiming “just another philosophy” would hinder the progress of
the true Gospel in Philippi and elsewhere.
In our day, postmodern thinking has captured the minds of unbelievers and, yes,
some believers as well, not unlike the demon-possessed slave girl following
Paul around, marginalizing the absolute claims of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Satan
and his subordinates would like nothing better than to diffuse the absolute and
intolerant claims of the true Gospel since he is powerless to destroy it (Matthew
16:18). The Gospel is not “another alternative to salvation” but the only way of
salvation!
