[B-Greek] PEIRASMOS in James 1:13: Follow-up

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Aug 18 13:49:19 EDT 2003


At 10:00 AM -0400 8/18/03, Jonathan Robie wrote:
>At 09:36 AM 8/18/2003, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>>In his footnote he says, 'The statements in James 1:13-14 (hEKASTOS DE
>>PEIRAZETAI hUPO THS IDIAS EPIQUMIAS EXELKOMENOS KAI DELEAZOMENOS) and 1 Tim
>>6:9 (hOI DE BOULOMENOI PLOUTEIN EMPIPTOUSIN EIS PEIRASMON KAI PAGIDA KAI
>>EPIQUMIAS POLLAS ANOHTOUS KAI BLABERAS, hAITINES BUQIZOUSIN TOUS ANQRWPOUS
>>EIS OLEQRON KAI APWLEIAN) noting that temptation springs from "lust" and
>>"desiring riches" respectively are often taken as constituting evidence
>>against this. But here EPIQUMIA (if not taken ... as a personified power),
>>and BOULOMENOI PLOUTEIN are actually portrayed here as THAT THROUGH WHICH
>>the forces of Evil attack man, and are therefore the channel rather than
>>the source or instigator of temptation.'
>
>But the James passage does not mention the forces of Evil, and indeed
>encourages us to recognize that it is our own desires (THS IDIAS EPIQUMIAS)
>that are enticing us:

"Desire" (singular--and perhaps personified, especially inasmuch as the
passive verb is followed by the agent-construction of hUPO + genitive).
Saturday I pointed out how Plato, who surely views EPIQUMIA or EPIQUMIAI as
part of the self rather than an external stimulus, nevertheless represents
EPIQUMIA or EPIQUMIAI as exercising a demonic impact. Saturday and again
this morning I called attention to Paul in Rom 7:7 ALLA THN hAMARTIAN OUK
EGNWN EI MH DIA NOMOU; THN TE GAR EPIQUMIAN OUK HiDEIN EI MH hO NOMOS
ELEGEN: OUK EPIQUMHSEIS. 8 AFORMHN DE LABOULSA hH hAMARTIA DIA THS ENTOLHS
KATEIRGASATO EN EMOI PASAN EPIQUMIAN; CWRIS GAR NOMOU hAMARTIA NEKRA. 9 EGW
DE EZWN CWRIS NOMOU POTE, ELQOUSHS DE THS ENTOLHS hH hAMARTIA ANEZHSEN. 10
EGW DE APEQANON ... This is where one might conceivably speak of
"entrapment." Paul appears to be speaking of hH hAMARTIA in a personified
fashion, as he also does sometimes of hO QANATOS. One might ask--although I
wouldn't urge any speculation on the question--whether "Sin" and "Death"
are to be understood as having any distinct ontological status; I'd rather
suppose that Paul is using them to represent as graphically as possible his
conception of the psychology of the inception of sin through desire. The
only point--or the chief point--that I intended to suggest is that the same
"demonic" role of hH EPIQUMIA seems involved in both the Rom 7 and the Jas
1 passages. I readily concede that in James there is no excuse allowed for
blaming sin or sinfulness upon an external agent; but hH EPIQUMIA as an
internal aspect of selfhood seems to be described as demonic.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



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