Today I read Luke 17, Jesus' words about the kingdom of God. In the NIV he says "the kingdom of God is within you," but in the New American Standard and New Living versions "the kingdom of god is among you." This puzzles me, because to me within and among have different meanings. What are your thoughts on this? -- Fritz Ladwig (Omaha)
The Greek word can be translated either way. "Within" and "among" are certainly very close in meaning. The translation will be determined by context. Furthermore, the word "you" is plural, a fact that may affect one's choice of translation.
Jesus may be saying the kingdom is in the collective, or inside the individual--or both. Often, when it's ambiguous in the translation language, it was ambiguous in the original language. If this is the case, we have to consider the very real possibility that more than one meaning was intended. To the extent that the kingdom is God's rule in humans' lives, it is easy to visualize this personally as well as corporately.
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