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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