Re: BAREI in 1 Thess 2.7

Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Wed, 16 Apr 1997 14:59:26 -0500

At 1:47 PM -0500 4/16/97, Bill Coe wrote:
>Paul writes DUNAMENOI EN BAREI EINAI WS XRISTOS APOSTOLOI in 1 Thess
>2.7- "although we could have exerecised authority as apostles of
>Christ." This can also be translated "although we were entitled to be
>financially cared for as apostles of Christ."
>
> Later, in 2.9, Paul writes NUKTOS KAI hHMERAS ERGAZOMENOI PROS TO MH
>EPIBARHSAI TINA hUMWN...
>
> My question is, while either of the first two translations are
>acceptable, most translators use some version of the former. But, as
>EPIBARHSAI from v.9 contains the root BAREI from v.7, is the second
>possibly to be preferred? It is hard to tell how transparent the
>compound form may have been to Paul or his hearers. Does anyone have a
>handle on how common these words were? If they were very common, then
>this connection is probably a coincidence--if they are relatively rare,
>then perhaps Paul chose these words with care. Does anyone have any
>thoughts?

It seems to me that it's a matter of whether you want to give a translation
that reflects what Paul SAYS or whether you want to express the IMPLICATION
directly in a translation. I'd really try to keep the fundamental notion to
the extent of making EN BAREI EINAI = "be burdensome" and making EPIBARHSAI
TINA hUMWN either "burden any one of you" or "be a burden to any one of
you." I don't think there's any question of the equivalence of EN BAREI
EINAI and EPIBARHSAI apart from the first being intransitive while the
second must have a direct object.

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/