Jerusalem Project (hUPOSTASIS)
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Sep 7 09:02:04 EDT 2000
I take this opportunity to reiterate the wish that posters to B-Greek would
use plain text rather than "styled text"--at least for messages to
B-Greek--this includes several characters that don't show up on my screen
as discernible ASCII.
At 7:06 PM +0000 9/6/00, Mark Wilson wrote:
>2 Cor. 9:4
>
>MH PWS EAN ELQWSIN SUN EMOI MAKEDONES KAI hEURWSIN hUMAS APARASKEUASTOUS
>KATAISCUNQWMEN hHMEIS hINA MH LEGW hUMEIS EN THi hUPOSTASEI TAUTHi
>
>Translated by the NET Bible as:
>
>"For if any of the Macedonians should come with me and find that you are not
>ready to give, we would be humiliated (not to mention you) by this
>confidence [we had in you]."
>
>In preparation for my question, here is a direct quote from Dr. David E.
>Garland (Baylor University) on this passage:
>
>"The NIV, along with most English translations, renders the last word in the
>verse (hUPOSTASIS) as "confidence" or "assurance." But no other examples of
>the usage of the word with this meaning exist. (See BAGD, 847) The word
>means "project" or "plan." The end of this verse is therefore better
>translated, "we would be put to shame not to say anything about you in
>this project (undertaking).""
>
>He goes on to indicate that the Corinthians potential abandonment of the
>Jerusalem Project (the collection of funds for the poor in Jerusalem), to
>which they had previously committed, would seriously jeopardize the project
>(hUPOSTASIS) as a whole.
>
>
>Also, who can forget Dr. Wuests famous "Title Deed" to answered prayer,
>where he translated Hebrews 11:1, "Faith is the title deed (not substance)
>of things hoped for..." And of course Dr. Wuest provided documents to
>substantiate his claim, showing that it clearly meant, in a legal sense,
>"title deed."
>
>With this slightly lengthy introduction, my question concerns hUPOSTASIS.
>
>Can someone help me understand Dr. Garlands claim? The NET Bible translates
>it "confidence." Yet Dr. Garland indicates that there is no attestation for
>such a usage.
>
>
>I assume, based on Dr. Wuests substantiated claim, that hUPOSTASIS must
>contain its "technical" sense in Heb. 11. Or, can we translate Heb. 11:1,
>"Faith is the undertaking" of things hoped for? If so, what does
>"undertaking" mean in this passage? Even though Dr. Garland indicates that
>"confidence" is not an option, it seems to fit in Hebrew 11.
Here's L&N:
31.84 hUPOSTASIS, EWS f: that which provides the basis for trust and
reliance - 'trust, confidence, assurance.' KATAISCUNQWMEN hHMEIS, hINA MH
LEGW hUMEIS, EN THi hUPOSTASEI TAUTHi, 'how ashamed we would be - not to
speak of your shame - for we had such confidence in you' 2Cor 9:4; EANPER
THN ARCHN THS hUPOSTASEWS MECRI TELOUS BEBAIAN KATASCWMEN 'if we hold on
firmly to the end to the trust we had at the beginning' He 3:14.
58.1 hUPOSTASIS, EWS f: the essential or basic nature of an entity -
'substance, nature, essence, real being.' hOS WN ... CARAKTHR THS
hUPOSTASEWS AUTOU v 'who is the exact representation of his real being'
or ' nature' He 1:3. In some languages there is no ready lexical
equivalent of 'real being' or 'nature.' Therefore, one may express this
concept in He 1:3 as 'who is just like what he really is.'
In this instance I think the etymology is helpful, at least to some extent:
hUPOSTASIS means "standing below" or "underlying substance" and in the
later sense was used in an almost technical sense by Aristotle (it's
included in his definitions in the Metaphysics). I'm inclined to think that
one ought to proceed from "basis" or "foundation" and consider appropriate
words derivative from that notion to convey its sense in particular contexts
As for "project" or "plan", I can see that in terms of "underlying notion"
involved in an enterprise, but "project" or "plan" can range pretty widely
and I'd be rather leery of those words, depending on the context.
I find L&N's take on EN THi hUPOSTASEI TAUTHi in 2 Cor 9:4 rather
interesting; the problem in 2 Cor 9:4 is that the syntactic linkage of the
phrase is somewhat vague, even elliptical: does it really depend upon
KATAISCUNQWMEN? Pretty clearly it is adverbial: "on this basis" -- "with
THIS understanding"--and quite frankly, the phrasing of 2 Cor 9:4 strikes
me as extremely colloquial, like some of Galatians.
>How would one translate hUPOSTASIS in Hebrews 11?
The last time I tried to do it on B-Greek (May 9, 1999), I thought
"assurance" was quite adequate:
------------------------
" Finally, let me suggest my own endeavor to preserve the grammar and the
'chiastic' word order of Heb 11:1. This is all the more 'chiaastic' because
I present the translation of PRAGMATWN a second time, so that the structure
of
ELPIZOMENWN ... BLEPOMENWN becomes A-B-C-C'-B'-A':
"This is faith: when we hope, it is our assurance of the events we hope for
and of those events it is our touchstone although we do not see them."
Without the repetition of the translation of PRAGMATWN, it becomes:
"Here is faith: when we hope, our assurance of the events we hope for and
our touchstone, although we do not see them."
Admittedly this is a paraphrase rather than a literal translation, because
one must insert the links that the target language requires if one is to
keep items in the order in which they appear in the original language.
--------------------------
>Do you concur with Dr. Garland of his translation "project (undertaking)" in
>2 Cor. 9:4?
No, for reasons cited above.
>BTW (You may notice a slight change in my email address. I change every so
>often in an attempt to out run all the Junk Mailers in cyber space. I was
>getting way too many junk emails.)
It's a losing battle, isn't it? Might as well pray to be rid of telephone
solicitors at dinner hour in the evening.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
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