[B-Greek] 1 Tim. 3:16 and Greek poetry

tmcos at rogers.com tmcos at rogers.com
Fri Apr 23 13:06:12 EDT 2004


If I could add one point, I believe that 1 Tim 3:16 is considered a hymn/creed. The use of the relative pronoun hOS is one of the distinguising marks in hymns in the NT (cf.Phil.2:6ff; Col.1:15ff)


Tony Costa
Toronto, Canada

> From: Ted Shoemaker <tedsmath at yahoo.com>
> Date: 2004/04/23 Fri PM 12:53:40 EDT
> To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [B-Greek] 1 Tim. 3:16 and Greek poetry
> 
>  
> Hello,
> 
> 1 Timothy 3:16 reads, in part:
>      hOS EFANERWQH EN SARKI
>      EDIKAIWQH EN PNEUMATI
>      WFQH AGGELOIS
>      EKHRUCQH EN EQNESIN
>      EPISTEUQH EN KOSMW
>      ANELHMFQH EN DOXH
> 
> We are told that the above-quoted parts of 1 Tim. 3:16 are poetry. 
> How so?  I could not discern any *regular* cadence in this passage,
> and I'm told that Greek poetry depends heavily on meter.  The lines
> come *close* to having a meter, but it appears that they closely miss
> it.  Or else, quite likely, I've misunderstood.
> 
> I can see that the phrases are somewhat parallel, but not in the same
> way that the Psalms display parallel *clauses*.  And parallelism is
> more Semitic than Greek, anyway, isn't it?  
> 
> So my questions are:
> *  What devices are used to distinguish ancient Greek poetry from
> prose?
> *  Can you direct me to some examples of ancient Greek poetry,
> whether in the NT or elsewhere, that are accessible to the beginner?
> 
> Thank you very much!
> 
> 
> =====
> Ted Shoemaker
>  
> A tantrum on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
> 
> 
> 	
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