PAREDWKEN TO PNEUMA: John 19.30
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Jun 25 09:20:54 EDT 1999
I am posing a concern regarding the "idiomatic" phrasing of John 19:30b:
KAI KLINAS THN KEFALHN PAREDWKEN TO PNEUMA, specifically the phrase
PAREDWKEN TO PNEUMA. Although my concern specifically regards the idiom, I
will openly admit that I am interesting in showing a thematic relationship
between Jn 19:30 and 20:21-23 which I shall not discuss further in this
forum, than to cite a couple of my own statements from earlier private
correspondence, in order to make clear why I am raising this question:
>>---To put it succinctly, I believe that PAREDWKE TO PNEUMA in 19:30 is
>>deliberately echoed in 20:21-23 KAI TOUTO EIPWN EDEIXEN TAS CEIRAS KAI
>>THN PLEURAN AUTOIS. ECARHSAN OUN hOI MAQHTAI IDONTES TON KURION. EIPEN
>>OUN AUTOIS hO IHSOUS PALIN: EIRHNH hUMIN: KAQWS APESTALKEN ME hO PATHR,
>>KA'GW PEMPW hUMAS. KAI TOUTO EIPWN ENEFUSHSEN KAI LEGEI AUTOIS, 'LABETE
>>PNEUMA hAGION ...'
>
>My view is that John's narrative representation of the
>transmission/reception of the spirit as an essential aspect of the
>revealing event of Jesus' death/resurrection bifurcates what is a single
>event into two distinct narratives (similarly I think that in chapter 20,
>what the narrator does is to single out for distinct narrative
>representation what are four aspects of a single resurrection event). In
>death Jesus "transmits" the revelation and the spirit, making it
>accessible to believers; in His resurrection--which simultaneously with
>their coming-to-believe BECOMES the resurrection of believers--the Spirit
>and Life and Enlightenment are "received" by believers.
>
>From the limited resources available to me directly where I now am, I
>can't demonstrate that PARADIDWMI TO PNEUMA is used outside the gospels in
>the sense, "give up the ghost," = expire, die. A few observations:
>
>(1) In Jn 19:30 PAREDWKEN TO PNEUMA really cannot--on the surface--mean
>anything other than "gave up the ghost" = "expired" = "died."
>
>(2) Although I can find no instances of the phrase in LSJ or in lexical
>info directly available to me, I think that L&N are right in claiming that
>this is an "idiom." I am also inclined to think, from checking that Latin
>Lewis&Short lexicon on-line at Perseus, that PARADIDONAI TO PNEUMA may be
>a latinism modeled on a very common Latin idiom, REDDERE ANIMAM or REDDERE
>SPIRITUM = expire, die.
>
>(3) I do in fact believe that the author of the gospel of John (whoever it
>may in fact have been--I tend to hold to Raymond Brown's view that it is a
>community composition of three generations) has quite deliberately
>exploited the ambiguities of the verb PARADIDWMI in the service of the
>distinctive revelation-through-death-on-the-cross theme of the gospel to
>suggest the double sense of 19:30 "died/expired" and "transmitted the
>spirit."
>
>Here's Louw & Nida on PARADIDWMI . I think what they say about this range
>of usage is very supportive of the interpretation I have suggested:
>
>13.142 DIDWMI; PARADIDWMI: to grant someone the opportunity or occasion to
>do something - 'to grant, to allow.'
>21.7 PARABOLEUOMAI; PARADIDWMI THN YUCHN (an idiom, literally 'to hand
>over life'): to expose oneself willingly to a danger or risk - 'to risk,
>to risk one's life.'
>23.110 PARADIDWMI TO PNEUMA: (an idiom, literally 'to give over the
>spirit') to die, with the possible implication of a willing or voluntary
>act - 'to die.' KAI KLINAS THN KEFALHN PAREDWKEN TO PNEUMA 'and bowing his
>head, he gave up his spirit' or ' he died' Jn 19:30.
>
>33.237 PARADIDWMI: to pass on traditional instruction, often implying over
>a long period of time - 'to instruct, to teach.' hUPOSTREYAI EK THS
>PARADOQEISHS AUTOIS hAGIAS ENTOLHS 'to turn back from the sacred command
>that had been taught them' 2Pe 2:21.
>
>37.12 PARADIDWMI EIS CEIRAS: (an idiom, literally 'to give into the
>hands') to hand someone over into the control of others - 'to deliver to
>the control of, to hand over to.' hO hUIOS TOU ANQRWPOU PARADIDOTAI EIS
>CEIRAS hAMARTWLWN 'the Son of Man will be given over into the control of
>sinners' Mt 26:45. In a context such as Mt 26:45, PARADIDOTAI EIS CEIRAS
>may be rendered as 'will hand him over to be arrested' or 'will cause him
>to be taken into custody.'
>
>37.111 PARADIDWMI; PARISTHMI: to deliver a person into the control of
>someone else, involving either the handing over of a presumably guilty
>person for punishment by authorities or the handing over of an individual
>to an enemy who will presumably take undue advantage of the victim - 'to
>hand over, to turn over to, to betray.'
>57.77 PARADIDWMI: to hand over to or to convey something to someone,
>particularly a right or an authority - 'to give over, to hand over.' hOTI
>EMOI PARADEDOTAI KAI hWi AN QELW DIDWMI AUTHN 'because this has been
>handed over to me and I give it to whomever I wish' Lk 4:6. In some
>languages, however, it is impossible to speak of 'handing over authority.'
>In some instances one may use a causative expression, for example, 'to
>cause someone to have.'
I want to limit any discussion of this on B-Greek to the question of the
idiomatic use of PARADIDWMI PNEUMA in the sense of "expire," "breathe one's
last." If anyone wants to raise questions about the interpretation or
theological dimensions of the question, please write me off-list about it.
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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