Lk 4:1 EN TWi PNEUMATI (Luke in Codex Bezae issue)

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Oct 2 19:50:55 EDT 2002


For George Somsel <From: Polycarp66 at aol.com>:
Date: Wed, 2 Oct 2002 19:36:31 EDT

In a message dated 10/2/2002 8:38:56 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu writes:

>- KAI  HGETO  EN TWi  PNEUMATI  EN THi  ERHMWi. [D05 B , L, W , Sinaiticus,
>579, NA27 ]
>- KAI  HGETO  EN TWi  PNEUMATI  EIS THN  ERHMON. [A K M U etc]
>- KAI  HGETO  UPO TOU  PNEUMATOS  EIS THN  ERHMON. [N, 700]
>
>Doesn't the phrase EN TWi PNEUMATI mean "in his spirit" or "mentally"
>


Sometimes it can have this meaning.  In Rev 1.10 we read

EGENOMHN EN PNEUMATI -- I was in meditation

Rev 4.1  EUQEWS EGENOMHN EN PNEUMATI -- Immediately I was in meditation

These indicate being in a state of internal contemplation, not of relation
to the  external world. 

and in Acts 19.21 it states

EQETO hO PAULOS EN TWi PNEUMATI -- Paul determined in his mind

Lk 10.21 might also be referring to an internal matter

EN AUTHi THi hWRA HGALLIASATO EN TWi PNEUMATI TWi hAGIWi
In that hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit

but in Mk 12.36 we have

DAUID EIPEN EN TWi PNEUMATI TWi hAGIWi --
David spoke through the Holy Spirit [surely not in his mind]

In Rev 17.3, however, we have

KAI APHNEGKEN ME EIS ERHMON EN PNEUMATI
And he carried me away in the spirit into the desert

This bears a striking resemblance to Lk 4.1.  The difference is that in Lk
4.1 it states

IHSOUS DE PLHRHS PNEUMATOS hAGIOU

My inclination is to understand it as referring to an internal reaction
when it deals with verbs such as thinking but to take it as referring to
the influence of the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit is specifically
mentioned or when external actions actions are involved except in the case
of the Apocalypse where the genre of the work seems to indicate that it is
not a physical action.

gfsomsel



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