[B-Greek] 1 Corinthians 12:30 and Logos user's guide

Steven Lo Vullo slovullo at mac.com
Fri Aug 27 20:34:53 EDT 2004


On Aug 27, 2004, at 11:19 AM, Jeffrey T. Requadt wrote:

> I'm new to this list, but I can't find this question in the archives. 
> Does
> anyone know why in 1 Corinthians 12:31, ZHLOUTE ("desire, seek") is
> translated/interpreted as an imperative in every version I can find 
> except
> The Message? (I use the "Every Version" tool in Logos, which has 20-odd
> English versions) According to Mounce's Analytical Lexicon, this form 
> can be
> either indicative, imperative, or subjunctive. I have cautiously ruled 
> out
> the subjunctive because I can't think of a way in context that it 
> would make
> sense (unless as a rhetorical question? But there are no other words 
> which
> would indicate this), but it seems to make more sense to me in the 
> context
> of the themes of the epistle, and especially in light of Paul's point 
> that
> every part is necessary to the body, and the toe shouldn't try to be 
> an eye,
> etc., that he would be using ZHLOUTE DE TA CHARISMATA TA MEIZONA 
> ("(you)
> seek the greater gifts") in an indicative sense. I.e., not "this is 
> what you
> should do" but "this is what you are doing." Then the meaning would be
> ironic, such as, "All of you have your own gift and purpose in the 
> church,
> but you continue to seek (or are seeking) the 'greater' gifts. And yet 
> I
> will show you a better way." Maybe I'm missing some detail in the 
> parsing,
> but as far as I can tell this is a 2nd person plural, present active
> indicative/imperative/subjunctive. So my question comes down to, what 
> in the
> text leads translators to believe that this an imperative, not an
> indicative? It seems to me that this could affect one's exegesis of the
> passage. Thanks for any help. And by the way, there is no NET note on 
> this
> word, so I'm lost.

Jeffrey, the imperative view is, in my opinion, virtually certain. Part 
of the evidence for it is precisely that the Corinthians WERE NOT 
seeking the greater gifts, as Paul defines "greater." There was another 
thread on this issue besides the one mentioned by Carl. The subject was 
"ZHLOUTE (I Cor 12:31)." [Note that the "I" in "I Cor" is the Roman 
numeral I, i.e., the capital letter I.] For some reason, some of the 
posts also ended up under the subject "NUN plus Aorist" (and perhaps 
under others). One of my posts 
<http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-greek/2002-November/023334.html> 
was a somewhat lengthy treatment of this question, which I think at 
least some found helpful. If I remember correctly, Iver Larsen 
contacted me off-list to inform me that as a result of this post he 
decided to correct the translation of 1Cor 12.31 in the Swedish version 
he had worked on.
============

Steven Lo Vullo
Madison, WI




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