Philippians 1:9-11

Michael Haggett michael at michaelhaggett.freeserve.co.uk
Tue Sep 21 08:53:02 EDT 1999


|Dr Alexander Hopkins wrote:
|I have been following the Phil 1:9-11 strand with more interest than time. 
|Michael Haggett wrote of DIAFERW and its meaning, "I'm not at all sure that
|DIAFERW ever means 'be better than' except by a tortuous route.  Apart from
|the fairly obvious 'carry across' meaning, the other meaning is either 'to
|be different' or 'to make a difference'."
|
|I rather think that to speak of DIAFERW as having a "fairly obvious"
|meaning and an "other" meaning is a little unkind to the word, for it has a
|breadth of meanings.  
 
What I meant by here by "fairly obvious" was not that it was a "more important" (excuse the pun ;-)) meaning, but that the derivation of that particular meaning seemed to be clear, i.e. DIA-FERW = carry across, or carry through.  I stand I awe of the range of meanings that Dr Hopkins and Carl before him have shown, but a predilection of mine is to try and figure out a "root meaning" which would then explain the breadth of meanings that we can find in the texts and lexicons.  In other words to try (emphasis on try) to think in Greek rather than in translation - to try and figure what connexion a Greek would see in what appear to us as unrelated meanings.  For example, to "carry through" in a time (but in other instances also a place) sense would explain the meaning of DIHNEKHS (from the aorist of DIAFERW = DIHNEGKA) as continuous or unbroken, three times in Hebrews 10.
  At one stage (long ago) it even crossed my mind that it might be possible to translate Heb 10:2 as, "but he, having made the one sacrifice for sin that made a difference/really mattered, sat down ... " With more age, perhaps even wisdom, I can see that it's not a good translation because it doesn't reflect the most obvious meaning ... but I wonder if someone then thinking in Greek wouldn't have been aware of such a connexion, even if only on the level of wordplay.  If there is a bridge between the "carry through" and "be/make a difference" meaning of DIAFERW, it might well be here.
But, going back to Dr Hopkins' email, I do in fact think that what I called the "other" meaning (i.e. "be/make a difference") is at the root of a wider range of meanings than what I called the "fairly obvious" one.  (I am learning the hard way that I have to be careful with my language, especially in such an international forum.)  And I would still say that this meaning, but particularly with the sense of MAKING a difference rather than just being different, seems to me to be at the root of many of the examples Dr Hopkins quotes.  

On a different note, I did think immediately after I send my previous email that the parallel between Rom 2:18 and Phil 1:10, seems to show that part of the particular "testing" Paul had in mind for the Philippians would be studying the scriptures, i.e. knowing what really matters (or is best, if you insist ... it "makes no difference to me") by knowing the will of God by being instructed from the Law. 
     
|||||||     Michael Haggett
|||||||     164 Holland Road
|||||||     London  W14 8BE

michaelhaggett at altavista.net
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