[B-Greek] APOSTOLOS in 1 Cor 12

CWestf5155 at aol.com CWestf5155 at aol.com
Tue Aug 31 02:16:21 EDT 2004


In a message dated 8/30/2004 8:31:37 PM Mountain Standard Time, 
eddhanganu at hotmail.com writes:
I believe you make the mistake so common among people who lack basic 
linguistic knowledge and mix the "sense" of a word with its "meaning." You 
state:

"APOSTOLOS has a full range of meaning.  Coincidentally, so does PROFHTHS.  
I
suggest that the term in 1 Cor 12 encompasses that range."

You are probably referring to the "senses" or "denotations" of the word 
"APOSTOLOS," but the confusion is serious. "Sense" is the dictionary 
definition or a word, its "denotation." Most words are polysemic and have 1, 
2 or n "senses" or "denotations." One other important thing to know about 
the "sense" of a word is that "sense" is context independent.

The "meaning" of a word, on the other hand is entirely dependent on context, 
and is defined and limited by the context. A word cannot have "a full range 
of meaning" in a certain context, because this would lead to text ambiguity 
and make communication at least difficult if not impossible. To state that 
the word PROFHTS "encompasses that (full) range (of meaning)" in 1 Cor 12 is 
equal to affirming that the word PROFHTS has in that context multiple 
"meanings." If this is so, how can the reader figure out what is the 
writer's intended meaning for the word in that context? Does the writer use 
a pun, or double meaning? Does he mean what he says, or he plays with words?

I don't know where this discussion is going, but it seems to me that the 
hermeneutic used is similar to the one employed by Elisabeth Schüssler 
Fiorenza. Are you familiar with her writiings?

Eduard,

Actually, linguistics is one of my interests, particularly discourse 
analysis.  I don't always use technical vocabulary, because defining the terms makes 
the post so long.

This statement about the full range of meaning presumes the previous 
statements that I made about the constraint of the context has been processed.   As I 
said earlier, the context selects and constrains the meaning of a word.  In 
the case of 1 Cor 12, (or really we're looking at the later occurrences which 
were constrained by 1 Cor 12) the meaning was both constrained by the preceding 
co-text and by the "sent" status and the commissioning.  In the context of 
what I've said, "full range of meaning" doesn't mean mulitple denotations, 
totality transfer, or that all possible glosses can be applied to it.    

I was "echoing" Ralph Martin here on 2 Cor 8:23, who processes at least two 
other studies and concludes something like APOSTOLOS has a full range of 
meaning within terms of a delegate or messenger; it says noting about the content of 
a person's duty, only that the enterprise had been commissioned.  But he 
distinguishes the meaning of apostolos in 8:23 as "non-specific" in contrast with 
2 Cor. 1:1 which is "specific", which is what I have been contesting.

What I'm saying is that in Paul's writings
1.  Apostle was a spiritual gift 
2.  It extended beyond the circle of the 12 and Paul to include others, some 
of which are identified (add to the list Timothy and Silvanus in 1 Thess. 
2:6). 
3.   He saw it as still being sovereignly distributed by the Holy Spirit at 
the time of writing.
4.   While apostles were sent and commissioned by the Holy Spirit and the 
church, not all apostles had the same authority, function or status; it all 
depended on the commission.

Let me suggest that the "titles" or designations of PROFHTHS and APOSTOLOS 
activate a complexity of associations and functions (for which I favor the word 
scenario--check out Brown and Yule's "Discourse Analysis"), much like the 
title "Messiah" did in the second temple era.  APOSTOLOS, which involved 
"commissioning" and "sending" could have a broad range of functions and 
applications--not all apostles functioned like Paul.  

Possibly I don't know Fiorenza well enough, because I haven't a clue as to 
how this resembles her writings or her hermeneutic.  Do you really have anything 
specific in mind?  I think I much more resemble Fee's and Thistleton's 
commentaries on 1 Cor.

Cindy Westfall
Denver Seminary



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