1 Corinthians 14:12

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Jordan Day
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1 Corinthians 14:12

Post by Jordan Day »

1 Corinthians 14:12
οὕτως καὶ ὑμεῖς, ἐπεὶ ζηλωταί ἐστε πνευμάτων, πρὸς τὴν οἰκοδομὴν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ζητεῖτε ἵνα περισσεύητε
ESV:
So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.
NET:
It is the same with you. Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, seek to abound in order to strengthen the church.
I have checked the KJV, NET, ESV, NASB, ASV and some others. All of them seem to be in agreement in understanding the phrase "ζητεῖτε ἵνα περισσεύητε" as a unit (Seek that you abound/Seek to abound). I can't seem to make myself agree. Rather I see the units being "ζητεῖτε πρὸς τὴν οἰκοδομὴν τῆς ἐκκλησίας... ἵνα περισσεύητε"
My understanding:
So also yourselves, since you are zealots for manifestations of the spirit, seek for the edification of the church, so that you may abound (in manifestations of the spirit).
LSJ gives the following example of ζητέω with πρός:
Lucian, Lexiphanes 17
ζητῶ οὖν πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν ὁπόθεν τὰ τοσαῦτα κακὰ συνελέξω...
LSJ did not list a usage with ἵνα.
What am I missing? Why do ALL the translators seem to disagree with me?
I don't have a TLG subscription...perhaps a search for ζητέω with ἵνα would help.
Jordan Day
Master Plumber (Non-Restricted) - CCSD
φάγωμεν καὶ πίωμεν, αὔριον γὰρ ἀποθνῄσκομεν.
cwconrad
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Re: 1 Corinthians 14:12

Post by cwconrad »

Jordan Day wrote:
1 Corinthians 14:12
οὕτως καὶ ὑμεῖς, ἐπεὶ ζηλωταί ἐστε πνευμάτων, πρὸς τὴν οἰκοδομὴν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ζητεῖτε ἵνα περισσεύητε
ESV:
So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.
NET:
It is the same with you. Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, seek to abound in order to strengthen the church.
I have checked the KJV, NET, ESV, NASB, ASV and some others. All of them seem to be in agreement in understanding the phrase "ζητεῖτε ἵνα περισσεύητε" as a unit (Seek that you abound/Seek to abound). I can't seem to make myself agree. Rather I see the units being "ζητεῖτε πρὸς τὴν οἰκοδομὴν τῆς ἐκκλησίας... ἵνα περισσεύητε"
My understanding:
So also yourselves, since you are zealots for manifestations of the spirit, seek for the edification of the church, so that you may abound (in manifestations of the spirit).
LSJ gives the following example of ζητέω with πρός:
Lucian, Lexiphanes 17
ζητῶ οὖν πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν ὁπόθεν τὰ τοσαῦτα κακὰ συνελέξω...
LSJ did not list a usage with ἵνα.
What am I missing? Why do ALL the translators seem to disagree with me?
Because you're wrong, perhaps? No, seriously: re-read verses 1-4 and note the emphasis Paul lays on "edification of the congregation." That's the objective that he's trying to push the Corinthian congregation toward.
But your greater problems seems to be with ζητεῖτε ἵνα περισσεύητε. I think that the expansive array of Koine usages of ἵνα + subjunctive may well be dismaying; but perhaps that can be allayed somewhat by thinking of the ἵνα as somewhat comparable to the "to" of the English infinitive. It's simplistic, I realize, to push the case that ἵνα + subj. is the equivalent of an infinitive, but I think that's very often the case. I don't want to cite the long entry from BDAG, but you should look at it, and particularly at
BDAG, s.v. ἵνα wrote: 2. marker of objective, that. Very oft. the final mng. is greatly weakened or disappears altogether. In this case the ἵνα-constr. serves as a substitute for an inf. that supplements a verb, or an acc. w. inf. (cp. Od. 3, 327 and a spurious document in Demosth. 18, 155. Later very common, also in ins, pap [Rdm.2 191ff]; LXX).
a. after verbs w. the sense
α. ‘wish, desire, strive’ (PGiss 17, 5 [II AD] ἠγωνίασα . . . ἵνα ἀκούσω; BGU 1081, 3 ἐχάρην, ἵνα σὲ ἀσπάζομαι) θέλειν ἵνα (TestAbr A 19, 101, 9 [Stone p. 50]) Mt 7:12; Mk 9:30; 10:35; Lk 6:31; J 17:24; 1 Cor 14:5. βουλεύεσθαι J 11:53; 12:10. συμβουλεύεσθαι Mt 26:4. συντίθεσθαι J 9:22. ἀγαλλιᾶσθαι joyfully strive after 8:56 (s. ἀγαλλιάω). ζητεῖν 1 Cor 4:2; 14:12; AcPlCor 2:8. ζηλοῦν 14:1. εὔχεσθαι ‘wish’ IPhld 6:3.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Jordan Day
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Joined: April 1st, 2012, 1:26 pm
Location: Rydal, GA
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Re: 1 Corinthians 14:12

Post by Jordan Day »

Ahh...I didn't think to look up ἵνα in BDAG. Thank you Carl.
Jordan Day
Master Plumber (Non-Restricted) - CCSD
φάγωμεν καὶ πίωμεν, αὔριον γὰρ ἀποθνῄσκομεν.
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