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MALEFACTOR.—Two Gr. words, whose shades of meaning are indistinguishable, are thus translated in NT: (1) êáêïðïéüò or êáêὸí ðïéῶí (lit. ‘evil-doer’), Joh_18:30, 1Pe_2:12; 1Pe_2:14; 1Pe_4:15; (2) êáêïῦñãïò (lit. ‘evil-worker’), Luk_23:32-33; Luk_23:39, 2Ti_2:9. Authorized Version renders êáêïðïéüò ‘malefactor’ in Joh_18:30, ‘evil-doer’ elsewhere; but Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 gives ‘evil-doer’ throughout. Again Authorized Version renders êáêïῦñãïò ‘malefactor’ in Luk_23:32-33; Luk_23:39, ‘evil-doer’ in 2Ti_2:9, while Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 makes it always ‘malefactor.’ This illustrates the NT Revisers’ uniformity in the translation of words.
In Luk_23:32 the best attested text is ἔôåñïé êáêïῦñãïé äýï , not ἕôåñïé äýï êáêïῦñãïé (Textus Receptus ). Hence it is maintained by Alford and others that we ought to read ‘two other malefactors’ (without a comma after ‘other’) instead of ‘two others, malefactors’ (Authorized Version and Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ). There is really no difficulty about adopting this rendering, which does not imply that St. Luke assents to the judgment that Jesus was a malefactor, but merely states the fact that He was led to execution as such.
D. A. Mackinnon.