[B-Greek] Lexical Semantics and METASCHMATIZW (1 Cor 4:6)

Paul Toseland toseland at blueyonder.co.uk
Fri Apr 23 19:59:07 EDT 2004


Dear Harold,

Thanks. I agree that 'transfer to' or 'apply to' might well make good 
sense in context. A few
comments in reply.

I wrote:

>I do NOT want to raise here the difficult exegetical question of what
>METASCHMATISA *actually means* 1 Cor 4:6.

and you responded,

>HH: But the question of what it means is central to the whole discussion.

Given that 1 Cor 4:6a is the only known instance of the construction 
METASCHMATIZW TI EIS TINA, I guess that the only way to settle definitively
the question the I raised is indeed to discover the meaning in that passage.
However, as I have said, that is no easy task. I would be very happy to 
discuss the issues on any appriate forum, but I am concerned that an adequate
discussion would take us far beyond the normal parameters of the B-Greek 
list. One problem is that one must determine the precise reference of TAUTA. 
Does it refer simply to the SCHMATA of Paul and Apollos as servants, gardeners,
builders and stewards? Or is Paul going back to the slogans of 1:12? For some
scholars think that Paul has substituted his own name, and that of Apollos, 
for the names of certain members of the community, the leaders of the factions; 
indeed, this interpretive tradition dates back to Ambrosiaster and 
Chrysostom. If they thought this a natural enough interpretation of the 
Greek,maybe we shouldn't dismiss it too easily? 

I like the sense 'trransferred'; but if we are driven to conjecture
the sense of METASCHMATIZEIN in 1 Cor 4:6, the sense 'exemplified by' 
also has substantial scholarly support. So, despite the plausibility of
your etymological argument, I am still wondering if we are justified 
in rejecting the sense, 'I have changed the appearance of these things 
into myself and Apollos', *on the grounds that the construction 
METASCHMATIZW TI EIS TINA (as opposed to TI EIS TI or TINA EIS TINA) 
is not elsewhere attested*.

Best regards
Paul Toseland





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