CEIROGRAFON

Bob Stevens imamai at rmi.net
Wed Nov 25 12:20:07 EST 1998


Subject: Re: CEIROGRAFON
From: ben.crick at argonet.co.uk (Ben Crick)
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 98 01:04:16
X-Message-Number: 28

On Tue 24 Nov 98 (10:25:13), imamai at rmi.com 
wrote:
> I am a timid new user and a relative neophyte 
in the language.  My
> question  relates to the use of CEIROGRAYON in 
Colossians 2:14.  Some
> sources state  categorically that this refers 
to the Mosaic Law.
> Others indicate that it  suggests some sort of 
bond signed by the hand
> of a debtor.  The context seems to support the 
former, but I have the
> unpleasant sensation that I am  missing 
something.

 Dear Bob

 You are evidently familiar with the discussion 
in Lightfoot's /Colossians
 and Philemon/. The problem seems to me to be the 
case of TOIS DOGMASIN.
 One might expect the genitive here, the 
"handwriting of the ordinances
 against us"; but the GEGRAMMENON implicit in 
CEIROGRAFON attracts the
 dative (of agent?).

 CEIROGRAFON indicates an autograph; a signature 
on a bond or a promissory
 note; or the signature on a receipt to a bill. 
This agrees with Philemon
 19, EGW PAULOS EGRAYA THi EMHi CEIRI, EGW 
APOTISW.

 But it appears that the "autograph" is not 
Christ's underwritten signature,
 but the handwritten teachings of the Mosaic Law, 
which are "against us":
 compare the Decalogue, engraved by the finger of 
God (Deuteronomy 9:10).
 Alternatively, the reference may be to the title 
which Pontius Pilate wrote
 on the cross (which had been prepared for 
Barabbas); the handwriting hO
 GEGRAFA GEGRAFA was Pilate's statement of the 
capital offence of Christ:
 hO BASILEUS TWN IOUDAIWN (treason against Rome). 
This "crime" of Jesus was
 expunged by the shedding of his blood as he died 
upon the cross, PROSHLWSAS
 AUTO TWi STAURWi.

 Early Greek commentators agreed that TOIS 
DOGMASIN (or EN DOGMASIN,
 Ephesians 2:15) refers to the doctrines of the 
Gospel as the /means by
 which/ (instrumental dative) the release from 
the bond was achieved. But
 the syntax is against this view. Jerome 
translates /delens quod adversum
 nos erat chirografum decretis quod erat 
contrarium nobis et ipsum tulit de
 medio adfigens illud cruci, etc/. /Chirografum/ 
is a Greek loan-word
 transcribed into Latin, and used as a legal term 
for any written contract
 or bond in Roman law; not just the autographed 
signature on it. So the
 Mosaic Law gets my vote, FWIW. It was the Mosaic 
Law that defined sin and
 disclosed offences (Romans 7:7-11); and it was 
the death penalty for our
 offences, thus disclosed, which Christ expunged 
with his blood on the Cross.

 Just my $0.02

 ERRWSQE
 Ben
--
 Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
 <ben.crick at argonet.co.uk>
 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD 
(UK)
 http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm

Ben,

Thank you for your insights!  Thanks also for 
your gentle correction of my misspelling of 
CEIROGRAFON.  I was not familiar with the sources 
you cited, but your synopsis was enlightening.  I 
wonder also whether Romans 2:14-15 might be 
significant here.  The Colossians' tacit 
acknowledgement of the principles in the Mosaic 
law served as their bond of indebtedness.

As a layman with limited exposure to Greek 
scholarship, I cannot tell you how excited I am 
to have access to this forum!  I love studying 
the NT Greek, but have so many questions.  This 
is an awesome resource!

Bob Stevens



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