1 Peter 4:2
Jonathan Brubaker
upoxarin at aol.com
Fri Jun 11 10:30:37 EDT 1999
I was studying 1 Peter 4:2 for a bible study class at my church and came
across something that confused me a little. Here is how the verse reads:
EIS TO MHKETI ANQRWPWN EPIQUMIAIS ALLA QELHMATI QEOU TON EPILOIPON EN SARKI
BIWSAI XRONON
I know from grammars that EIS TO + infinitive denotes purpose or result and
also that word order does not matter. But it did appear strange that the
infinitive comes so far after the EIS TO construction. Doing a search on
my computer in Romans through Revelation, I found only one other occurance
of an infinitive not immediately following EIS TO. This was in Hebrews
11:3 which reads:
... EIS TO MH EK PHAINOMENWN TO BLEPOMENON GEGONENAI
Is there any reason why Peter put the infinitive so far back in the
sentence? Is he trying to emphasize that the time we are supposed to live
for the will of God and not for the desires of men is during the remaining
time we live in the flesh? Literally it would be the "remaining
in-the-flesh-to-live time". Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Jon Brubaker
upoxarin at aol.com
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