Spiros Zodhiates

Ilvgrammta at aol.com Ilvgrammta at aol.com
Fri Dec 31 10:44:48 EST 1999


In a message dated 99-12-31 06:52:01 EST, biblia99 at yahoo.com writes:

<< I mentioned Zodhiates, Robertson, Vincent (and I might
 have added Vine as well) because these are the works
 that pastors have recommended to them, or they have
 come across at your typical Christian bookstore. 
 
 Perhaps what I should do is to mention these
 references, with some appropriate caveats. >>


Paul,

May I just add one other tidbit of information to what Clay and Kevin have 
said. When I first started to study Greek formally and in earnest, I 
purchased Zodhiates books. They were of great assistance to me at first, but 
they soon became inadequate tools for doing any serious study of Greek. 
Zodhiates work is strongly theological and is at times idiosyncratic (as 
Kevin pointed out). Nevertheless, I think that if his work is used properly, 
one can still derive some benefit from his vast experience in Greek. Clay 
rightly said that word studies in and of themselves will not produce fruitful 
Greek learners. There is much much more to translating than word studies. I 
learned that lesson too well in Latin this semester when I translated the 
Cena Trimalcionis by Petronius. Its filled with colloquialisms and grammar 
that was somewhat new to me. This work clearly showed me that you cannot 
simply look up a word and impose a definition upon a text. The same could be 
said of studying works like G.W.F. Hegel, who uses a German word "Aufheben" 
in a distinct way. It would do one no good to look elsewhere for how Hegel 
employs this signifier.

Lastly, I noticed that no one gave you any citations from Zodhiates. Let me 
give you a couple, and you can do with them what you will. 

"Morphe in Philippians 2:6-8 presumes an [objective] reality. None could be 
in the
form (morphe) of God who was not God. Morphe is the reality which can be
externalized, not some shape that is the result of pure thought. It is the 
utterance of
the inner life, a life which bespeaks the existence of God" (Zodhiates 937).

"Eirenopoios; The one who makes peace in others having first received the 
peace of God in his own heart (only in Matt. 5:9); not simply one who makes 
peace between two parties."

"The word parousia (3952), translated "coming" in this verse, basically means 
"presence" or "arrival" (1 Cor. 16:17; 2 Cor. 7:7). Thus, the same Jesus who 
ascended to heaven will again visit the earth in bodily presence (Acts 1:11) 
at the end of the age (Matt. 24:3)" (Ftn. on 1 Thess. 2:19).

Best regards,

Edgar Foster



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