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‍Scripture and Tradition

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‍“From Childhood” or “From Infancy”?

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‍Exploring 2 Timothy 3:15

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‍   Gary Hoge

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‍The Greek text of  2 Timothy 3:15 is,

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‍καὶ ὅτι ἀπὸ βρέφους τὰ ἱερὰ γράμματα οἶδας, τὰ δυνάμενά σε σοφίσαι εἰς σωτηρίαν διὰ πίστεως τῆς ἐν χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. 

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‍The New King James Version (NKJV) translates it as:

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‍and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

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‍But the New International Version (NIV) translates it:

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‍and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

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‍The highlighted words are translations of the Greek phrase ἀπὸ βρέφους (apó vréfous). So, should it be translated “from childhood” or “from infancy”?

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‍Well, the Greek word for child is παιδίον (paidíon). The Greek word for "baby" or "infant" is βρέφος (vréfos). As you can see, the NIV (and other, similar, translations) are more accurate in rending ἀπὸ βρέφους (apó vréfous) as “from infancy.”

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‍If Paul had wanted to say, “from childhood,” he could have done so. Greek does have a word for “childhood.” It is παιδιόθεν (paidióthen), and the phrase “from childhood” would be ἐκ παιδιόθεν (ek paidióthen). That phrase does occur once in the New Testament, in Mark 9:21:

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‍Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered.

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‍Does it matter? In this case, probably not much. It’s an interesting exercise in translation, but rendering ἀπὸ βρέφους (apó vréfous) as “from childhood” instead of the more accurate “from infancy” doesn’t really change the meaning of the verse much.