BDAG at Rv 3:14 - Christ was the first creation now probable

Iver Larsen alice-iver_larsen at wycliffe.org
Thu Jan 25 09:33:01 EST 2001


Dear Wes,

Thanks for the dialogue. I'll stop here and we'll agree to disagree. It seems
that our views on linguistics, semantics and exegetical principles are far
apart.

We never answered the original question, and I suppose only dr. Danker can do
so. The BAG from 1957 - before Danker - also says that "the meaning
beginning=first created is linguistically *possible*. cf. CFBurney JTS 27, '26,
160-77."
I have no problems with that statement, but we should remember that the sense
preferred by BAG for this passage is not "beginning" but "the first cause". That
may be a possibility, since they refer to non-Biblical Greek passages which they
claim have such a sense. I think it is made less probable by the lack of
Biblical references, when ARCH is such a common word in LXX and the NT. (They
quote Job 40:19 (referring to the great sea-and-land animal Behemoth - a hippo?)
as a possible instance of such a sense, but this is very questionable,
especially since the Hebrew here has Re'SHiYT).

The German 6th edition of Bauer from 1988 has retained the word possible
(möglich), so I assume the ARCH (first cause, initiator) of the change from
possible to probable must be Danker. He is certainly entitled to state his
opinion, since he is the ARCH (top authority) of his revised edition of the
dictionary.

Thanks,
Iver Larsen
Kolding, Denmark
alice-iver_larsen at wycliffe.org




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