EN XRISTWi IHSOU-Phil. 4:7
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Jul 12 15:10:47 EDT 1999
At 10:52 AM -0700 7/12/99, Edgar Foster wrote:
>--- "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu> wrote:
>
>>At 8:51 AM -0700 7/12/99, Edgar Foster wrote:
>>Dear Carl, Carlton, and Jim,
>
>>Thanks for your help with the "peace of God" phrase
>in Phil. 4:7. I have one more question related to this passage. Could
>EN XRISTWi IHSOU denote the means by which God gives His peace? Is it
>possible to
>understand this clause as "by Christ Jesus" or "by
>means of Christ Jesus"?<
>
>>I wouldn't say that's impossible, but do we have
>other instances of EN + dative of a PERSON in an instrumental sense?
>And I assume you're aware of
>one fairly widespread view that the phrase means
>something like 'incorporated into the body of Christ.'<
>
>Dear Carl,
>
>What about Matt. 12:24; 2 Cor. 5:19? These seem to qualify as instances
>of EN + the dative of a person in an instrumental sense.
These are indeed helpful examples; both do emphasize the power involved,
and I can see how that might be argued also in Phil 4:7
>And yes, I am aware of the view that Paul is here speaking of being "In
>Christ" (the body of Christ). Both Ralph Martin and Gerald Hawthorne
>favor this interpretation. Ralph Earle simply writes that we must be
>"in Christ" to experience hH EIRHNH TOU QEOU. He totally rules out EN
>having an instrumental sense here.
Good enough. I thought you probably were aware of that view.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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