The Concept of εὐδοκέω and εὐδοκία in the New Testament

Definitions by BDAG: εὐδοκέω: 1. to consider someth. as good and therefore worthy of choice, consent, determine, resolve. 2. to take pleasure or find satisfaction in someth., be well pleased, take delight.

εὐδοκία: 1. state or condition of being kindly disposed, good will. 2. state or condition of being favored, favor, good pleasure. 3. desire, usually directed toward someth. that causes satisfaction or favor, wish, desire.

I was reading Calvin’s Calvinism: A Defense of the Secret Providence of God the other day and come about a quote from Luke 12:32 which said: “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (this text seems to come out of KJV). I was rather perplexed at this because I had never read the text like that, and since I now call myself a Calvinist, is the concept of εὐδοκέω and εὐδοκία both interesting and important. So, I opened my Swedish translation first, it said: “Var inte rädd (do not be afraid), du lilla hjord (you little flock), för er Far har beslutat att ge er riket (because your Father has decided to give you the kingdom).” I am well aware of that not everyone understands Swedish, but there is nowhere to find the concept of well pleased in the text, they have changed the well pleased to decided, and you can stretch to that understanding, but I would call it a stretch, our old translation from 1917, on the other hand, has a good translation: “Frukta icke( Do not fear), du lilla hjord (you little flock), ty det har behagat eder Fader att giva er riket (for it has pleased your Father to give unto you the kingdom.” So, I continued to NASB95, and it also has a strange translation: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.” They are trying to modernize the expression well pleased to chosen gladly, and that is not good. LSB is very much a revision of NASB95 and at the same time a new translation, and every time that they deviate from NASB95 they are making the right decision, they have: “Do not fear, little flock, for your Father is well pleased (εὐδοκέω) to give you the kingdom.” I am also very impressed with NKJV, nearly every time when making a comparison they have a great translation, they have: “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”.

I searched the New Testament for the verb εὐδοκέω and found it 21 times (Matt. 3:17; 12:18; 17:5; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22; 12:32; Rom. 15:26, 27; 1 Cor. 1:21; 10:5; 2 Cor. 5:8; 12:10; Gal. 1:15; Col. 1:19; 1 Thess. 2:8; 3:1; 2 Thess. 2:12; Heb. 10:6, 8, 38; 2 Pet. 1:7). Even places like Rom. 15:26–27 have the English translations pleased. But in 2 Cor. 5:8 both LSB and NASB95 deviate from this with: “We are of good courage. I say, and prefer (εὐδοκέω) rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord” (NASB95); here it is used with the comparative μᾶλλον. KJV has “willing rather,” here comes NKJV with a consistent translation: “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” This continues in 2 Cor. 12:10 where NKJV has “Therefore I take pleasure (εὐδοκέω) in infirmities,” while NASB95 has “Therefore I am well content (εὐδοκέω) with weaknesses,” while KJV has “take pleasure in”.

Then comes 1 Thess. 3:1 were LSB has, “Therefore when we could endure it no longer, we were pleased to be left behind at Athens alone,” NASB95 has, “we thought it best,” NKJV and KJV: “We thought it good.”

So, you see these translations are mostly very consistent and that is a trade of a good translation.

When searching for the noun εὐδοκία, we find it nine times in the New Testament (Matt. 11:26; Luke 2:14; 10:1; Rom. 10:1; Eph. 1:5, 9; Phil. 1:15; 2:13; 2 Thess. 1:11). In Matt. 11:26 we have in NASB95: “Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight,” while NKJV has, “for so it seemed good”; same thing in Luke 2:14 where God want on “earth peace among men with whom He is pleased,” while NKJV has “goodwill”; NKJV and KJV continues in Luke 10:21 with “it seemed good,” while NASB95 has “well-pleasing”.

In Rom. 10:1 We have consistency with “my heart’s desire” in all four translations. When continuing to the Epistle to the Ephesians, we find a strange thing in NASB95, we have the verses 1:5, 9, let us read from LSB: “by predestine us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,” this last clause is identical with NKJV while NASB95 deviates with something that I could never understand, they have, “according to the kind intention of His will,” with a note in the text, “Lit good pleasure,” I really would have it to say, “according to the good pleasure of His will.” This continues in verse 9, LSB and NKJV both have “according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him,” while NASB95 continues with, “according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him,” KJV: “according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.” When Bible translators try to modernize their text, they sometimes destroy important theological terms like well pleased and seed (we will come back to that important term in another day). These verses in Ephesians are so deep that we are elected in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world according to the good pleasure of his will, what a mighty God we have that have elected us in Jesus Christ from eternity past for his glory, according to his good pleasure. That is remarkable news for us.

I felt compelled to write this because of what I read in Calvin’s book and every time I discover something like this I am so happy; to read from Luke 12:32 that the Father is well-pleased to give us the kingdom, and we shall not fear anything because our Father in heaven will provide everything that we need, and where our treasure is there also our hearts will be.

So, to summarize: KJV, NKJV, LSB and NASB95 are all great translations that are true to the text they translate. Here comes the caveat, KJV and NKJV are translating another source text than LSB and NASB. Our modern Bibles are usually translated from either the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece (NA) or UBS Greek New Testament, as you understand is the Nestle-Aland 26th edition different from the 28th, from these are both LSB and NASB95 translated, so the source for our Bible translation is changing in some small doses, which is worrying if we adhere to that God has providentially secured and protected his text. I only read KJV, because I have come to love it as a translation, it also keeps many of the Hebrew idioms for example, which is fascinating.