Re: Romans 8:18 (James Clardy)

Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Tue, 19 Mar 1996 05:46:23 -0600

On 3/18/96, JClar100@aol.com wrote:

> Regarding Romans 8:18 I have two questions:
>
> 1) Is there any linguistic basis for assuming that
> "mellousan doxan apokaluphthHnai" portrays the imminent
> coming of Christ?
>
> or, is this simply a statement of hope as opposed to despair?
>
> or, neither?

Good to hear from you, Jim, after too long an absence. By itself I think
the language MELLOUSAN APOKALUFQHNAI simply indicates futurity. If one
believes that Paul's eschatology shifted toward a less imminent expectation
(overall Rom 8 seems to me sharply different in tone from 1 Thess and even
1 Cor 15), then the future need not be that immediate; nevertheless, I
think there are sufficient indications in Paul's authentic letters that he
expected the end in his own lifetime.

> 2) Should "eis Hmas" here be translated "in us," i.e., some kind of inner
> experience, OR "for us," i.e, "for our benefit?"

EIS hHMAS is less common than PROS hHMAS, but I don't think it differs
significantly in actual meaning from PROS hHMAS or a simple dative hHMIN.
There are, in fact, numerous equivalent expressions in NT Greek, and the
use of the accusative with a preposition where classical Greek would have
used a dative consistently is surely one of these equivalencies.

Cheers to you, Jim!

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/