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Although the following Bible has plenty of mistranslations, it has rendered this part of Phil. 2:6 correctly:
“He did not think that
by force [harpagmos] he should
try to become equal with God” -
GNB.
The reason is because of the clear meaning of the New Testament (NT) Greek word
harpagmos (ἁρπαγμὸς).
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (by trinitarian writer and trinitarian publisher) tells us that
harpagmos means “
plunder” and that it comes from the source word
harpazo which means: “to
seize ... catch away, pluck,
take (
by force).” - #725 & 726, Abingdon Press, 1974 printing.
“725 harpagmós – to
seize, especially by an
open display of
force. See
726 (
harpazō).” - HELPS Word-studies,
copyright © 1987, 2011 by Helps Ministries, Inc.
And the
New American Standard Concordance of the Bible (also by trinitarians) tells us: “
harpagmos; from
[harpazo]; the act of
seizing or the thing
seized.” And, “
harpazo ... to
seize, catch up,
snatch away.” Notice that all have to do with taking something away
by force. - # 725 & #726, Holman Bible Publ., 1981.
In fact, the trinitarian
The Expositor’s Greek Testament, 1967, pp. 436, 437, vol. III, tells us:
“We cannot find any passage where
[harpazo] or any of its derivatives [which include
harpagmos] has the sense of ‘
holding in possession,’ ‘retaining’ [as preferred in many trinitarian translations of Phil. 2:6]. It seems invariably to mean ‘
seize’, ‘snatch violently’. Thus it is
not permissible to glide from the true sense [‘snatch violently’] into one which is totally different, ‘hold fast.’ ”
Even the very trinitarian NT Greek expert, W. E. Vine, had to admit that
harpagmos is “akin to
harpazo, to
seize, carry off
by force.” - p. 887,
An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
And the trinitarian
The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology tells us that the
majority of Bible scholars (mostly trinitarian, of course)
“have taken
harpagmos to mean a thing
plundered or
seized..., and so spoil, booty or a prize
of war.” - p. 604, vol. 3, Zondervan, 1986.
The key to both these words
(harpagmos and its source word,
harpazo) is: taking something away from someone
by force and against his will. And if we should find a euphemism such as “prize” used in a trinitarian Bible for
harpagmos, it has to be understood
only in the same sense as a pirate ship
forcibly seizing another ship as its “prize”!