[B-Greek] PEIRASMOS - need references

Jeffrey B. Gibson jgibson000 at comcast.net
Thu Aug 14 15:25:40 EDT 2003


Jonathan Robie wrote:

> I have been asked to lead a Sunday School class this quarter, and while I
> am deciding whether I have time to do it, I am preparing some of the first
> lessons to get a feel for the work involved. This class starts with James,
> and I ran smack dab into that word PEIRASMOS in the first chapter. I could
> use some good articles on this subject - does anyone have recommendations?
> I have read the Spicq article on the word, but was not able to find Jeffrey
> Gibson's article on the same subject.
>
> Written in the introduction of a letter addressed to the twelve tribes of
> the Diaspora,  this word seems to refer to 'testing' or 'trials', in the
> sense of 'persecution':
>
> James 1:2-3 PASAN CARAN HGHSASQE, ADELFOI MOU, hOTAN PEIRASMOIS PERIPESHTE
> POIKILOIS, GINWSKONTES hOTI TO DOKIMION hUMWN THS PISTEWS KATERGAZETAI
> hUPOMONHN.
>
> In verses 13-14, though, the word PEIRASMOS seems to be linked to a
> person's desires, which lead him astray:
>
> James 1:13-15 MHDEIS PEIRAZOMENOS LEGETW hOTI APW QEOU PEIRAZOMAI; hO GAR
> QEOS APEIRASTOS ESTI KAKON, PERAZEI DE AUTOS OUDENA. hEKASTOS DE PEIRAZETAI
> hUPO THS IDIAS EPIQUMIAS EXELKOMENOS KAI DELEAZOMENOS; EITA hH EPIQUMIA
> SULLABOUSA TIKTEI hAMARTIAN, hH DE hAMARTIA APOTELESQEISA APOKUEI QANATON.
>
> Especially the close linkage to the phrase EXELKOMENOS KAI DELEAZOMENOS,
> drawing the person out and baiting them, seems to refer to enticing someone
> or tempting them. In verses 2-3, PIERASMOS seems to refer to the ability to
> endure in the face of trials, in 13-15 it seems to refer to the ability to
> avoid being hooked like a fish by acting on our own appetites.
>
> To me, this indicates that the word PEIRASMOS refers to testing, which may
> include testing either by persecution or temptation.
>
> But this disagrees with Jeffrey Gibson's conclusions in the following email:
> http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/archives/97-07/0150.html
>
> >The question I wish to raise now is, Is this really what James is
> >saying? In an often cited, but seemingly little used article
> >entitled "The Meaning of APEIRASTOS in James 1:13" (NTS [24], pp.
> >386-392) Peter Davids makes what I think is an ultimately
> >convincing case that hO GAR QEOS APEIRASTOS ESTIN should actually
> >be taken as saying not "for God cannot be tempted" but "for God is
> >not to be put to the test". This interpretation seems to work well
> >not only linguistically, thematically, and grammatically, but
> >contextually, since James seems to be intent here to give reasons
> >why the believer who experiences PEIRASMOS and fails the test
> >should place the blame for this failure on God who wishes us all
> >good gifts. THAT would be to do challenge God's faithfulness.
>  >
>
> >And yet it puzzels me because it does not seem to take into account
> >what function KAKOWN ("evils", genitive plural) has within the
> >verse.
> >
> >To save Davids, I propose the following solution: That KAKWN goes
> >not with hO GAR QEOS APEIRASTOS ESTIN but with the following
> >phrase PEIRAZEI DE AUTOS OUDENA, and therefore allows James 1.13b
> >to say "for God himself puts no one to the test (by means) of
> >evils" or "with the intent of evil resulting"? The advantages of
> >taking KAKWN as linked with PEIRAZEI DE AUTOS OUDENA and with this
> >meaning are (1) that it allows PEIRAZW to retain the meaning it
> >characteristic of its usage elsewhere, namely, "test faithfulness
> >or integrity" not "tempt/solicit to evil", and (2) it relieves us
> >not only of having to say that here in James we find the first
> >known instance of PEIRAZW being used with the sense "tempt/solicit
> >to evil), but also of the conundrum of how much James 1:13 seems to
> >stand in contradiction with both the rest of James and the massive
> >biblical witness that God frequently "tests" people.
>
> I am trying to weigh the two interpretations against each other. If the
> root meaning of PEIRAZW is to test, and it could include either testing by
> persecution or testing by temptation, then I do not see the conflicts that
> seem to motivate Jeffrey. Am I missing something?
>
> Are there other passages or references in Greek literature that clearly
> require the meaning 'temptation'?
>

If we are referring to pre- 2nd century CE Greek literature, there is only one
-- and this is still only a possibility. It appears in the Greek Anthology. I'll
have to look up the citation.

In the meantime, I'll reformat my older research on PEIRASMOS as a PDF file and
send it on to you.

Yours,

Jeffrey


--
Jeffrey B. Gibson
Chicago, Illinois
e-mail jgibson000 at comcast.net





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