[B-Greek] Rev. 1:10

Lira rosangelalira at terra.com.br
Tue Dec 2 02:59:44 EST 2003


Dear Gfsomel:

What happens is that the only Greek manuscript available of the epistle to the Magnesians _ Codex Mediceus (which is older than the Latin manuscripts) contains the whole phrase: KATA KURIAKEN ZOHN ZWNTES - please notice that the word ZOHN is in the original text. Bauckham, in "Lord's Day", p. 228, writes, "This passage has provoked textual debate, since the only Greek manuscript extant reads kata kyriaken zoen zontes, which could be translated 'living according to the Lord's life.'" It is the Latin version which omits the word for "life" and scholars in general have opted for the Latin text. But the passage is debatable. 
As to the context, please notice that the paragraph begins with the words "For the divinest prophets lived according to Christ Jesus." So "living according to the Lord's life" would be a closer parallel than "living according to the Lord's day". What has been pointed out is that the author is contrasting ways of life here, not contrasting the Sabbath and Sunday, that is, that the Sabbath should be observed not in the way the legalist Jews observe it, but as Jesus observed it. 
Although the longer form of the epistle to the Magnesians is by almost universal consent of scholars and critics pronounced the work of some centuries after the time of Ignatius, it says: 
  "Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness; for `he that does not work, let him not eat.' For, say the [holy] oracles, `In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.' But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them. And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's day as a festival, the resurrection day, the queen and chief of all the days [of the week]. Looking forward to this, the prophet declared, `To the end, for the eighth day,' on which our life both sprang up again, and the victory over death was obtained in Christ," etc. Chapter ix.

As you know, the Sabbath and Sunday were kept by the Eastern Church side by side until at least the fourth century. 

As to the grammatical aspect, I'm not qualified to discuss it with you, but I see no difference between KURIAKHN [hEMERAN] ZWNTES and KURIAKHN ZOHN ZWNTES. 

Rosangela.


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