PHROW and PWROW
Richard Allan Stauch
rstauch at charter.net
Fri Aug 9 10:54:41 EDT 2002
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wieland Willker [mailto:willker at chemie.uni-bremen.de]
> Sent: Friday, August 09, 2002 6:52 AM
> To: Biblical Greek
> Subject: [b-greek] RE: PHROW and PWROW
>
> Thanks. Of course I know these definitions. My question was not
specific
> enough. Let's take an example:
> John 12:40
> TETUFLWKEN AUTWN TOUS OFQALMOUS KAI *EPWRWSEN* AUTWN THN KARDIAN,
>
> Several witnesses have here: *EPHRWSEN*
>
> Do the words here mean the same or not? What might be the difference?
>
> Best wishes
> Wieland
> <><
> ---------------
> Wieland Willker, Bremen, Germany
Dear Wieland,
Well, these are two different questions:
1. What do the word stems mean?
2. What does the phrase mean, using the two different word stems?
Obviously, nobody from Aristotle to the latter scribes (who sometimes
altered the texts here) thought that the two word stems mean the same
thing. Those latter scribes were dealing with a phrase that could be
paraphrased "to close their minds." Now, whether we translate it
literally as "and maim their own heart," or as "and harden their own
heart" makes little difference, except as an exercise in First Century
Greek idiom. Did First Century Greek Christians think that closing the
mind was like "maiming" one's heart, or like "hardening" it?
Consider 1 Timothy 4:2, where it speaks of one's conscience being
"seared". Certainly a form of PHROW would compare more favorably.
Then again, consider Mark 8:17 where the vast majority of textual
witness is to a form of PWROW, to harden or petrify. (NB, Acts 19:9 uses
a different word to mean "harden", SKLHRUNW, meaning to make stubborn or
be hardened; which is the word often used in the LXX speaking of
Pharaoh's heart [translated from Hebrew CHAZAQ, to grow firm or be
strong].) There are many other uses of a form of PWROW in this context
in NT Greek, many more (IMHO) than there are similar uses of PHROW.
Perhaps that helps,
Richard Allan Stauch
Long Beach, CA
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