EPISPAOMAI in 1 Cor 7:18

Richard A. Stauch rstauch at charter.net
Sun Sep 22 20:52:59 EDT 2002


I'm sorry, I thought I was clear. Let me disabuse everyone of the
misconceptions I allowed to be drawn.

1) I never addressed the issue of "parties," or "being drawn away." I
actually intended to make a different point, which Steven seems to have
taken correctly.
2) The last part of the second paragraph should have been a separate
paragraph. The word "Here" should have been expanded to "In this
context." I did not intend to imply that the word EPISPAW (in any form)
could be taken to mean "add circumcision." I certainly never said so.
3) I unfortunately indicated that the two different forms of EPISPAW
were different "words." That is not exactly what I meant. They are
different forms of the same word, and I certainly know that. The way
those two forms are used (between 4 Macc. 5:2 and 1 Cor. 7:18) is
different, and BDAG addresses that.

I guess I just expect people will take a little more time to try to
understand me. My fault.

Peace,
Richard Allan Stauch
Long Beach, CA
http://www.rstauch.com
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steven Lo Vullo [mailto:slovullo at mac.com]
> Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2002 4:20 PM
> To: Biblical Greek
> Subject: [b-greek] Re: EPISPAOMAI in 1 Cor 7:18
> 
> On Tuesday, September 17, 2002, at 05:36 PM, Richard A. Stauch wrote:
> 
> > I think Mark has swerved into it. The whole context helps us
understand
> > a little more about what Paul means here. Paul seems to be saying
that
> > God calls a person right where that person is. If one is Jewish, God
> > does not intend that person to cease to be Jewish. If God calls one
who
> > is a Gentile, God does not expect that one to cease to be a Gentile.
> > The
> > circumcision, being a work of the flesh, is a sign of Jewishness,
not
> > of
> > the calling. It seems Paul is going deeper than the mere act of
> > circumcision, but to the whole life: If God calls one just as one
is,
> > then to change who one is mitigates, even negates the calling.
> 
> This no doubt contains much truth. But it in no way supports Mark's
> suggestion of circumcision and uncircumcision "parties," nor does it
> support understanding EPISPASQW in the sense of "be drawn away," i.e.,
> to a putative "uncircumcised party."
> 
> > As for the word itself, this appears to be a compound word (EPI +
SPAW;
> > on, over + draw, pull [out]). BDAG (EPI, at 7) tells us that it is
> > sometimes used to indicate "in addition to". 4 Maccabees 5:2 uses a
> > very
> > similar word (EPISPASQAI) in a very similar context, which most of
my
> > lexica connect to this one, but BDAG disagrees. Here we might think
of
> > Paul saying "don't add circumcision [as though to change who you
were
> > when you were called]." God calls one just as one is, so don't think
> > you
> > have to change who you are {as though by one's own efforts one can
make
> > the calling "complete."}
> 
> As I understand it, BDAG does not suggest that EPISPASQAI in 4 Macc
5.2
> is a different word from EPISPASQW, only that it does not reflect
"this
> special use," i.e., the special use of EPISPAOMAI (EPISPAW in BDAG) in
> 1 Cor 7.18 for the undoing of circumcision.
> 
> It is not possible to take EPISPASQAI to mean "add circumcision." In
> this case the exhortation MH EPISPASQW would make no sense, seeing
that
> it is the already-circumcised to whom it is addressed (PERITETMHMENOS
> TIS EKLHQH, MH EPISPASQW). In this case we would have, "Was anyone at
> the time of his call circumcised? Let him not add circumcision."
> ============
> 
> Steven R. Lo Vullo
> Madison, WI
> 
> 
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