Steven Avery

http://www.internet-encyclopedia.org/index.php/Charity
"Charity is also a term in Christian theology (one of the three virtues), meaning loving kindness towards others; it is held to be the ultimate perfection of the human spirit, because it is said to both glorify and reflect the nature of God. In its most extreme form charity can be self-sacrificial. Charity is one conventional English translation of the Greek term agape."

Quote:

Originally Posted by S.C.Carlson The Greek ἀγάπη was often translated into Latin as caritas, from which the English charity descends via French.

Thank you Stephen.
And Wycliffe had translated from the Latin this way ...

http://faithofgod.net/NTcompare/1Corinthians.htm
1 Corinthians 13:13
And now dwellen feith, hope, and charite, these thre;
but the most of these is charite.

Tyndale and the Geneva (also Coverdale and Bishops) used love,
and the King James Bible has charity, like Wycliffe.

Some modern versionists have criticized the usage of "charity".
Will Kinney has written nicely about the question.

http://www.geocities.com/brandplucked/charity.html
Is the word "Charity" an error in the King James Bible?

1 Corinthians 13:13
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three;
but the greatest of these is charity.

... The word charity, as found in the King James Bible, always expresses Christian love for other Christians. The word charity is never used in the King James Bible to express the love relationship between God and man, a husband and his wife, between parents and their children, or between the believer and the nonbeliever. It is always used in reference to the love Christians should have for other Christians ...
===============

As an aside on the following pages Will points out abject corruptions of Aleph and B (Vaticanus and Sinaiticus). Many are so bad that they do not even make the modern versions and do not get referenced or noticed .. including on the Corinthians passages.

http://ecclesia.org/truth/vaticanus.html
The Character of Sinaiticus and Vaticanus Texts - Will Kinney

http://www.scionofzion.com/science.htm
They Dare Call This Science!

Shalom,
Steven

Toto

Is this a standard interpretation? Caritas / agape is not universal selfless love?

Agemegos

This misunderstanding of yours shows why Tyndale replaced 'charity' with 'love', and why he was right to do so.

In modern English, 'charity' means material and practical assistance to others who are in difficult circumstances. Despite the fact that it is descended from the Latin word 'caritas', its meaning is completely different from caritas.

The original was αγαπη ('agape'), which was one of a handful of Greek words for different things that are covered in English by the word 'love'. There was absolutely no suggestion of getting into heaven by giving money to the poor in the Greek original, and that is why Tyndale would have been wrong to put the English 'charity' there, even though it is related to Latin 'caritas'.

The difficulty is that English 'love' suggests several things that are not covered by Greek αγαπη, eg. ερος, στοργη, φιλος…. This makes the passage ambiguous, but it's probably the best that can be done in English without a long-winded explanation.

In English we love our wives, our children, money, our countries, golf, and liberty. You can't do that is Greek or Latin.

Agemegos

You have to use a different word when you use a different language. It's the essence of translation.

I don't know Middle English, so I can't say whether Wyclif was right to translate αγαπη as 'charite' in the middle of the 14th century. But as for modern English, 'charity' is a bad translation of αγαπη, and Tyndale was right to prefer 'love' in the 16th century.

Well, they don't understand 1st-century Greek. They can't read or mentally conjure with 'αγαπη'. Translation is difficult, but at least 'love' doesn't give the misleading impression that they can buy their way into Heaven with cash for the poor.

Steven Avery

My sense is that adding "universal" is a modernist and secularist spin.
As is removing the fellowship, koinonia sense.

Will was focusing on the English usage of charity in translation as
brought forth by the King James Bible translators.

If you look at the context of the two dozen or so usages of charity
in the KJB you will see that Will was spot-on.

2 Thessalonians 1:3
We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren,
as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly,
and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;

1 Peter 4:8
And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves:
for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

1 Peter 5:14
Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity.
Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

2 Peter 1:7
And to godliness brotherly kindness;
and to brotherly kindness charity.

3 John 1:6
Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church:
whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort,
thou shalt do well:

Jude 1:12
These are spots in your feasts of charity,
when they feast with you ...

Shalom,
Steven