Gal. 4:13-14

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Gregory Hartzler-Miller
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Gal. 4:13-14

Post by Gregory Hartzler-Miller »

Hi,

I have a question about this text:

οἴδατε δὲ ὅτι διʼ ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν τὸ πρότερον, καὶ τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου οὐκ ἐξουθενήσατε οὐδὲ ἐξεπτύσατε, ἀλλὰ ὡς ἄγγελον θεοῦ ἐδέξασθέ με, ὡς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν. Gal 4:13-14

Normally τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν (your trial) is understood as the object of οὐκ ἐξουθενήσατε οὐδὲ ἐξεπτύσατε (you despised not, nor rejected), which is awkward: "You did not despise your trial. Is the only option in terms of syntax and grammar. What about understanding τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκί (your trial in my flesh) as a specification of the type of ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς (infirmity of the flesh). And understanding , ἀλλὰ ὡς ἄγγελον θεοῦ ἐδέξασθέ με, ὡς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν. (you despised not, nor rejected me) as the beginning of the next part of the statement? Resulting in this translation:

And you know, how I preached the gospel to you because of infirmity of the flesh, namely, your trial in my flesh: You despised not, nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

Thanks in advance for your consideration of my question.
Andrew Chapman
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Re: Gal. 4:13-14

Post by Andrew Chapman »

Apparently, Lachmann suggested placing a colon or full stop after μου -

οἴδατε δὲ ὅτι διʼ ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν τὸ πρότερον, καὶ τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου: οὐκ ἐξουθενήσατε οὐδὲ ἐξεπτύσατε, ἀλλὰ ὡς ἄγγελον θεοῦ ἐδέξασθέ με, ὡς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν.

According to Burton, he made πειρασμόν the object of οἴδατε: 'you know that it was of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time, and (you know) your temptation (the temptation you had, presumably): (but) you did not despise or reject (me) etc.' Burton describes this as 'extremely forced'. Ellicott writes that:
Lachmann places a period after μοῦ, and connects τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν with verse 13; but this does very little to remove the difficulty in the former part of the verse, and makes the latter part intolerably harsh and abrupt.
Andrew
Gregory Hartzler-Miller
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Re: Gal. 4:13-14

Post by Gregory Hartzler-Miller »

Thank you!
Gregory Hartzler-Miller
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Re: Gal. 4:13-14

Post by Gregory Hartzler-Miller »

Andrew, Thank you so much!

Could you give citations.
Andrew Chapman
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Re: Gal. 4:13-14

Post by Andrew Chapman »

Ellicott and Burton are both commentaries on Galatians, and are available at eg archive.org. At the verse,

Andrew
Gregory Hartzler-Miller
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Re: Gal. 4:13-14

Post by Gregory Hartzler-Miller »

Gal 4:13-14 οὐδέν με ἠδικήσατε· οἴδατε δὲ ὅτι διʼ ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν τὸ πρότερον, καὶ τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου· οὐκ ἐξουθενήσατε οὐδὲ ἐξεπτύσατε, ἀλλὰ ὡς ἄγγελον θεοῦ ἐδέξασθέ με, ὡς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν.

This, above, is the text as punctuated by Lachmann, 1850. His text of the New Testament is notable for being the first to diverge from the Textus Reciptius on grounds of textual criticism. In this case he chooses τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν over τὸν πειρασμὸν μοῦ. The former is both a little better attested and more difficult. Subsequent critical editions have followed Lachmann in this decision.

Subsequent editions have not, however, followed his punctuation decision: he makes a full stop after τῇ σαρκί μου· which makes τὸν πειρασμὸν the object of οἴδατε and makes οὐκ ἐξουθενήσατε the beginning of a new sentence. His aim, says Burton, (1920) is "to escape the difficulty that πειρασμὸν is not logically the object of ἐξουθενήσατε". Grammatical and syntactical commentators agree that "You did not despise your temptation in my flesh" is awkward or at least surprising. Nevertheless, most all current translations persist in making τὸν πειρασμὸν the object of ἐξουθενήσατε".

As for me, I gravitate toward Lachmann's punctuation.

Here is my current working translation:

You did me no wrong: You know that it was because of weakness of the flesh -- your temptation in my flesh -- that I shared the Announcement with you originally: You neither despised nor spit me out, but as an angel of God -- as Christ Jesus -- you received me.

In terms of grammar and syntax, please offer commentary on 1) Lachmann's punctuation? and 2) my translation?
Andrew Chapman
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Re: Gal. 4:13-14

Post by Andrew Chapman »

Gal 4:13-14 οὐδέν με ἠδικήσατε· οἴδατε δὲ ὅτι διʼ ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν τὸ πρότερον, καὶ τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου· οὐκ ἐξουθενήσατε οὐδὲ ἐξεπτύσατε, ἀλλὰ ὡς ἄγγελον θεοῦ ἐδέξασθέ με, ὡς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν.

Here is my current working translation:

You did me no wrong: You know that it was because of weakness of the flesh -- your temptation in my flesh -- that I shared the Announcement with you originally: You neither despised nor spit me out, but as an angel of God -- as Christ Jesus -- you received me.
I may be wrong, but I somehow feel that if καί were epexegetical as you have it, then it would have to be:

οἴδατε δὲ ὅτι εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν τὸ πρότερον διʼ ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς, καὶ τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου·

'...even your temptation in my flesh'.

Back to the actual text:

οὐδέν με ἠδικήσατε· οἴδατε δὲ ὅτι διʼ ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν τὸ πρότερον, καὶ τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου· οὐκ ἐξουθενήσατε οὐδὲ ἐξεπτύσατε, ἀλλὰ ὡς ἄγγελον θεοῦ ἐδέξασθέ με, ὡς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν.

I am not clear whether Lachmann was reading τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου as dependent on διά, as you have it, or whether he was treating it as another object of ὄιδατε, coordinate with the ὅτι clause. Thus:

You know that I preached the gospel to you the first time because of weakness of flesh, and [you know] your temptation/test in my flesh.

οὐκ ἐξουθενήσατε οὐδὲ ἐξεπτύσατε, ἀλλὰ ὡς ἄγγελον θεοῦ ἐδέξασθέ με,

Again I may be wrong, but I am not convinced that με can be the object of all three verbs as you have it in your translation, and I am also unsure whether οὐκ ἐξουθενήσατε οὐδὲ ἐξεπτύσατε can survive without an object. See Ellicott's 'intolerably harsh and abrupt' above.

Andrew
Gregory Hartzler-Miller
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Re: Gal. 4:13-14

Post by Gregory Hartzler-Miller »

Andrew Chapman wrote:

...if καί were epexegetical as you have it, then it would have to be:

οἴδατε δὲ ὅτι εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν τὸ πρότερον διʼ ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς, καὶ τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου·

'...even your temptation in my flesh'.
Andrew:

I'm unclear what "even" would mean. I was thinking more of "namely." Could you clarify in terms of meaning? Perhaps with another example of such a usage, be it NT or hypothetical.

Thanks!
Jonathan Robie
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Re: Gal. 4:13-14

Post by Jonathan Robie »

I get lost in words sometimes. I'm reading it like this:

Code: Select all

[ οἴδατε δὲ ὅτι 
    [ διʼ ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν τὸ πρότερον ], 
   καὶ 
    [ τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου,
       [ οὐκ ἐξουθενήσατε οὐδὲ ἐξεπτύσατε, ]
       [ ἀλλὰ ὡς ἄγγελον θεοῦ ἐδέξασθέ με, ὡς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν.]
    ]
]
τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν is explained by ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου, I take that as the temptation to despise him or reject him because of whatever was going on in his body. They didn't give into that temptation (οὐκ ἐξουθενήσατε οὐδὲ ἐξεπτύσατε), but ὡς ἄγγελον θεοῦ ἐδέξασθέ με, ὡς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν.

Is that how you are reading it?

As for the accusative, I think the Expositor's Greek Testament is probably right here:
Expositor's Greek Testament wrote:The accusative τὸν πειρασμόν is not governed by ἐξουθενήσατε or ἐξεπτύσατε, whose real object is the με which follows ἐδέξασθε: it is really a pendent accusative in apposition to the sentence: As for the temptation to you in my flesh (i.e., the temptation to reject me with contempt and disgust on account of my diseased state), you did not.…
Last edited by Jonathan Robie on June 10th, 2015, 3:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Changed punctuation in response to http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3106&start=10#p20647
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
Gregory Hartzler-Miller
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Re: Gal. 4:13-14

Post by Gregory Hartzler-Miller »

Jonathan Robie wrote:"pendent accusative"
I looked up "pendent accusative" and learned that, among other things, it is another way of saying that syntactically speaking, it is a poorly constructed sentence.

https://books.google.com/books?id=XlqoT ... ve&f=false

I'm reflecting. This is a wealth of information. I really appreciate it.
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