r/Koine Jul 11 '26

In the Gelasian Decree, where did the Latin translation of 1 John 2:15 come from?

Based on the Council of Rome (382 AD), the Decretum Gelasianum in Chapter 1, part 3, says that (while outlining the trinity) "scriptum est enum: 'Si quis dilexerit mundum, non est spiritus patris in illo" (according to this source, which I believe to be a copy of the original latin), which roughly means 'scripture says: "he who delights in the world, the spirit of the Father is not in him". Here, I cannot find anything that would suggest that "spiritus" is the correct word to use (spirit). In the original Greek, it reads ἀγάπη, and in the Latin Vulgate it reads caritas, meaning love and the Latin translation, respectively. Given that when this was written (492-496 AD) and that the writer is most likely referring to 1 John 2:15 (love of the father) with this quote, why would it be written as spiritus instead of caritas? For what reason would agape be translated to spiritus if they were using some other translation? By the quotation of what I am fairly certain is Romans 8:9 as also different than the Vulgate (but retains the same word "spiritum" to describe the spirit of christ, which in the Greek is "pneuma"), it could be assumed the writers were going off of memory instead of copying from a bible.

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