Interpreters are puzzled by the meaning of the words Μὴ ὑπὲρ ἀλλʼ ὅτι
ἃ γέγραπται (not beyond what is written). The presence of the
article τὸ
suggests that these words are a quotation, but what they refer to is not clear
(see the discussions in Fee, The First
Epistle to the Corinthians, pp. 166–70, and Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, pp. 351–56). Translators will
need to decide whether the words “not beyond what is written” should be in
quotation marks. The various interpretations are clearly stated by Soards (1 Corinthians, p. 99):
Some have suggested dropping the words from the
translation, arguing they are either incomprehensible or a gloss or both.
Others suggest that the words refer generally to Paul’s citations of
Scripture(s) in his epistle. Still others take the phrase to designate the OT
or Scripture in general. Some interpreters understand the words to be a popular
maxim that referred to established norms of behavior rather than to any
particular writing or set of writings. Others argue that Paul is referring to
what he wrote in the metaphors about planting and building in ch. 3.
These various interpretations are reflected in
translations:
(1)
Not a quotation: “I have applied all this to myself and
Apollos for your benefit, brethren, that you may learn by us not to go beyond
what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against
another” (RSV);
(2)
Omit from translation: “Now I have applied what has been said
above to myself and Apollos, to teach you … that you are not to be puffed up
with rivalry over one teacher as against another” (Moffatt, who states that
“the text and the meaning of the phrase between μάθητε and ἵνα μὴ are beyond recovery”; TOB also omits these
words, stating in a footnote that they are a scribe’s comment in the margin of
a manuscript which was later mistakenly added to the text itself);
(3)
A designation of Old Testament scripture or a popular saying:
“For your sake, my friends, I have applied all this to Apollos and me, using
the two of us as an example, so that you may learn what the saying means,
‘Observe the proper rules.’ None of you should be proud of one person and
despise another” (TEV); and “Now, brothers, I have applied these things to
myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning
of the saying, ‘Do not go beyond what is written.’ Then you will not take pride
in one man over against another” (NIV).
An alternate translation in VP reads, “so that you may
learn not to go beyond the Scriptures.” NLT similarly says “I have used Apollos
and myself to illustrate what I’ve been saying. If you pay attention to the
Scriptures, you won’t brag about one of your leaders at the expense of
another.” For a clear and brief argument for this interpetation, see Hays (First Corinthians, pp. 68–69), who
writes, “What would it mean to go ‘beyond’ (hyper)
this witness of Scripture? It would mean, quite simply, to boast in human
wisdom by supposing that we are, as it were, smarter than God.” (Roger L.
Omanson and Bruce Manning Metzger, A Textual Guide to the Greek New
Testament: An Adaptation of Bruce M. Metzger’s Textual Commentary for the Needs
of Translators [Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2006], 331-32)
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