ALLHLWN
Peter Kirk
prkirk at pmbx.net
Wed Dec 25 19:13:59 EST 2002
I think we need to look more carefully and widely at the context here.
In v.14 it is indeed the PRESBUTEROI who PROSEUXASQWSAN. But in v.13
(TIS... PROSEUCESQW) and all the more in vv.16b (DEHSIS DIKAIOU) prayer
is not just for elders but for ordinary believers as long as they are
DIKAIOS. The point of vv.17-18 is surely that all believers (hOMOIOPAQHS
hHMIN), not only special people like elders, can pray and expect their
prayers to be answered. (But should we make a distinction between EUCH,
v.15, and DEHSIS, v.16?) So I see no reason in the context to support an
otherwise unusual understanding of ALLHLWN.
Gie appeals to Origen and later Greek fathers. But by their time the
church practices we refer to (but which we cannot discuss on this list)
were well established and so influencing understanding of this passage.
A happy Christmas (if belated) to everyone on b-greek.
Peter Kirk
peter.r.kirk at ntlworld.com
http://web.onetel.net.uk/~peterkirk/
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gie Vleugels [mailto:gvleugels at etf.edu]
> Sent: 24 December 2002 19:23
> To: Biblical Greek
> Cc: b-greek at franklin.oit.unc.edu
> Subject: [b-greek] RE: ALLHLWN
>
> Peter,
> Do you have a reason to believe that the early (Greek speaking!)
> Christians ever read James 5:16 (i.e. ALLHLOIS ... hUPER ALLHLWN) in
> another way than the way sanctioned by 'later' church practice? The
first
> one ever to quote the verse (Origen, in his 2nd Homily on Leviticus 4)
and
> all the other Greeks interpreting the verse take it
'semi-reciprocally'.
> My motif to read it as they do is not theology, but text and context.
> James 5:14 says explicitly that it is the elders who pray, and 5:15
says
> explicitly that it is the sick person who may be in need of
forgiveness.
> 'Later' church practice is not wrong by definition. If that were the
case,
> what about our (21st century) church practice?
> Have a nice Christmas eve,
> Gie Vleugels
> www.etf.edu
>
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