Ephesians 6:17 - the sword of the Spirit

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Sat Oct 26 03:02:43 EDT 2002


> ------
> >1:14 ...ESFRAGISQHTE TWi PNEUMATI THS EPAGGELIAS TWi hAGIWi hO/ ESTIN
> >ARRABWN
> >the neuter relative is not attracted to the following masculine noun. One
> >could say it refers back to the neuter PNEUMA, and it may do so, but one
> >could also supply an implicit "thing": which thing is a deposit. In this
> >case, it may not just be the Spirit who is being referred to,
> but the event of the sealing with the Spirit.
> -----
>
> How does this relate to the conceptual antecedent? Sounds a lot like
> the same principle.

Mark, I am not sure I understand your question. The neuter hO/ probably
refers back to the neuter PNEUMA, in which case a link is being made
directly between PNEUMA and ARRABWN. NIV, NET and others takes this
interpretation when they translate "who is a deposit".
Alternatively, the neuter relative might refer back to the whole proposition
"you received the Spirit" in which case the link is at the propositional
level between receiving the Spirit as in introduction to something much
greater to come and receiving a down payment now in anticipation of
something much greater to come.
The RSV says "which is the guarantee", but I am not sure whether this means
they have taken the second interpretation. I suspect it is, since the NRSV
has "In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the
promised Holy Spirit; 14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward
redemption.."

By the way, I just checked whether there were any instances of the masculine
hOS referring back to PNEUMA. I could not find any in the GNT. The
alternative reading in some mss in Eph 1:14 would then either have to be an
attraction to the following masculine ARRABWN (against my hypothesis) or an
exception to the general rule in the GNT that PNEUMA is referred to by a
neuter relative.

Can anyone tell me whether the Greek fathers ever used hOS to refer back to
PNEUMA? I have a faint memory that this was mentioned before on the list,
but don't know what to search for. Or is it just that in English one prefers
to refer to the Holy Spirit with "who" rather than "which"?

Thanks,
Iver




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