[B-Greek] 2 Thess.1:12, POIMHN and DIDASKALOS

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Thu Aug 5 12:12:14 EDT 2004


> Iver said about APOSTOLOS, PROFHTHS, EUAGGELISTHS, POIMHN:
> Is it not possible or even likely that these words
>  were used in a more specific, technical and biblical sense in
> the GNT than in general usage?
>
> Ann: No, at the time the NT was written, such "technical" words
> appear to be
> used in their everyday, ordinary sense, but of course this changed with
> time. That is to say, there is no evidence that there was a special NT
> vocabulary, despite (now well and truly discredited) efforts by Turner to
> push this POV. Documentary lexicographical research has been done on the
> words you mention, and they were words used commonly in the
> secular context.

Although I think I am in general agreement, it seems to me from a linguistic
point of view that you are overstating your case.
Technical vocabulary may employ borrowed words. I won't go into that. If it
is not borrowed, it develops in two stages. First, a word in common use is
given a specific sense by the new context in which it is employed. Such
words have both a general sense and a more specific, technical sense.
Secondly, if the common sense is lost over time, only the technical sense
remains.
Any word must be and is interpreted in its context. Lexicographers tend to
put far too much meaning into the individual words and far too less into the
contextual implications. Your quote from Foucault is a good example of that,
IMO. On the other hand, I accept that there is often a fuzzy borderline
between what is communicated by the word in question and what is
communicated by the other words in the context.

Take a statement like "Please open another window." If this is spoken in a
lecture hall, the "window" referred to is probably an actual window which
lets in fresh air. However, if it spoken in a computer class where each
student is sitting with their own computer following instructions, then the
"window" is probably used in a technical sense, thanks to Microsoft.

APOSTOLOS was used in the common language to mean "messenger, envoy,
ambassador", but when combined with CRISTOU or set in a Christian context,
it is coloured by that context and ought to be interpreted within that
context. (It is used in at least two rather different senses in the NT. Such
different senses are well known to translators since we often have to employ
completely different words for different senses).

EUAGGELION has the following entry in LS:
... the reward of good tidings, given to the messenger, Od.; in pl.,
EUAGGELIA QUEIN to make a thankoffering for good tidings, Xen., etc.;
II. in Christian sense, the Glad Tidings, i.e. the Gospel (Saxon
gode-spell), N.T.;

Maybe the word is used in Hellenistic Greek to mean "good news" in general?
In any case, when used in the NT it does not refer to just any good news,
but to good news of a specific type and content.

On PROFHTHS LS says:
... one who speaks for a God and interprets his will to man, a prophet...
2. generally, an interpreter, declarer...
II. in N.T.,
1. one who possesses the gift of PROFHTEIA, an inspired preacher and
teacher.
2. the revealer of God's counsel for the future, a prophet (in the modern
sense of the word), a predicter of future events.

On PROFHTEIA LS says:
... the gift of interpreting the will of the gods, Orac. ap. Luc.
II. in N.T., the gift of expounding scripture, of speaking and preaching.

For these two words, I would agree that the NT sense is so close to the
common sense, that there is no need to make it a technical term in that time
and culture. The only difference is whether the person is speaking on behalf
of God or some other gods. The glosses given for the NT in LS indicate to me
how little these lexicographers have understood of the NT context. PROFETEIA
has nothing to do with expounding Scripture or preaching, but everything to
do with speaking on behalf of God through the Holy Spirit. For the usage of
these words in the NT, Bauer and L&N are much better than LS.

Or take words like PNEUMA and hAGIOS. They have a range of everyday senses,
but taken together, they acquire a more specific sense in the Bible,
especially the NT.

Iver Larsen




More information about the B-Greek mailing list