In my study of 1 Peter, using David Bentley Hart’s New Testament as one of my English versions, here’s another interesting translation issue.
1 Peter 1:13: Διὸ ἀναζωσάμενοι τὰς ὀσφύας τῆς διανοίας ὑμῶν νήφοντες τελείως ἐλπίσατε ἐπὶ τὴν φερομένην ὑμῖν χάριν ἐν ἀποκαλύψει Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.
NRS: Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.
NIV: Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.
David Bentley Hart: So, girding up the loins of your mind, being sober, vest your hope completely in the grace being brought to you in the revelation of Jesus the Annointed,
I understand DBH’s decision to “literally” render the idiom ἀναζωσάμενοι τὰς ὀσφύας. I understand his decision to render Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ “Jesus the Annointed.”
DBH renders the phrase ἐπὶ τὴν φερομένην ὑμῖν χάριν ἐν ἀποκαλύψει Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ as something happening in the present: “the grace being brought to you in the revelation of Jesus Chirst.” Both the NRS and NIV render it as something in the future: “The grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed” (NRS) or “the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming” (NIV). The difference seems to turn on the function of the preposition ἐπὶ. The object of the preposition φερομένην is in the accusative. According to BDAG, ἐπὶ with the accusative can mean where (location), to or toward or on or upon (direction — either in progress or attained), over (marker of power or control over something), before (as in a legal proceeding, before the court), against (marker of hostile opposition), or when, in the time of, at, on (marker of temporal association) — or, “marker of feelings directed toward someone, in, on, for, toward, after words that express belief, trust hope” — and this last one is where BDAG lists 1 Peter 1:13.
So why would DBH choose a more “present” rendering of this prepositional phrase? The context seems to suggest a future hope, and that seems consistent with 1 Peter’s theology: these are the end times, Christ is returning very soon, so hang on and when Christ comes back he will make everything right.