Fw: Fw: Revelation 3:14 hH ARCH- the Beginning or the Origin,the ...

GregStffrd at aol.com GregStffrd at aol.com
Wed May 16 00:39:33 EDT 2001



In a message dated 05/15/2001 7:49:03 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
virgilsalvage1 at msn.com writes:

<< >      It would seem to me that what is suggested in the first paragraph
 above
 > [ when ARCH is used for "ruler" in the NT then it is
 > always accompanied by terms denoting "power," or "authority," neither of
 > which are present here. ], is limiting the possible meaning of ARCH
 > according to a concept of " well it's mostly used this way so that's what
 we
 > have to apply everytime "; now I'm just a beginner, however, surely this
 is
 > not the way possible meanings are determined. If that were so, then what
 is
 > pointed out in the second paragraph would require that where rulers are
 > spoken of we would expect to find ARCHON...wouldn't we ?
 > >>


Dear Virgil:

If the broader (NT) and immediate (Revelation) source document limits it in 
this way and has another term that is used in the same immediate source under 
consideration (Revelation) with a meaning consistent with that which you 
offer (namely, "ruler," as in ARCWN in 1:5), then why would we seek to look 
at ARCH just a few thoughts later with any meaning other than the one that is 
given to it elsewhere in the aforementioned immediate and broader source 
documents?

There seems to be some other motivation for trying to go beyond the common NT 
usage for ARCH with a following genitive expression (and has it occurred to 
you that perhaps the use of ARCH with DYNAMIS and/or EXOUSIA when it means 
"ruler" is purposeful?), the predominate use of ARCH itself in the immediate 
and broader source documents, and the fact that the author/translator of the 
same immediate source document (Revelation) chose a different term for 
"ruler" just a few thoughts previously (1:5) when describing the same 
subject. 

For my part, I will hang my hat on the grammatical and semantic strength of, 
"the beginning of God's creation."

Best regards,

Greg Stafford



More information about the B-Greek mailing list