[B-Greek] Study of PERITEMNO

Bart Torbert Bart.Torbert at ihsenergy.com
Sat Apr 3 18:55:09 EST 2004






Hello All,

 Going back to the discussion of whether Paul did the actual circumcision
 of Timothy, I undertook a crude attempt to catalog the use of PERITEMNO
 elsewhere in the Bible.  This was not very fancy, but here goes.

 Looking in Strong's, I found that this is word 4059.  I then looked at the
 other verses where this word is used.  The majority of them concern
 circumcision as a general concept.   They do not contain references to
 anyone being circumcised by a particular person.

 However, look at Acts 7:8
 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and  so  [Abraham] begat
Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day

I doubt anyonne would argue that someone else other than Abraham would have
circumcised Isaac.

Look also at Gen 21:4 where this is first reported.
And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old
The online Greek Bible at http://www.apostolicbible.com has PERITEMNO in
this verse.  I guess they are using the LXX.  I can not find which
manuscript(s) their Greek Old Testament comes from.

So, my thoughts are that in most cases the word is used in a non-specific
fashion as to who did what to whom.   But when specific names are brought
in, then the intent is to show exactly who preformed the ritual on whom.
I think this case is bolstered by the parrallels found in the two verses in
Acts.  A single author will tend to ahere to a style.

So I think the most likely interpretation of Acts 16:3, given the
linguistic evidence and the cultural permissabillity of Paul doing the
actual deed, is that Paul really did it.

Okay, you all can tear this up now.

Bart Torbert
bart.torbert at ihsenergy.com




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