[B-Greek] Phil 2:11 Revisited

mrt mrt at hisurfer.net
Mon Jan 12 18:50:48 EST 2004


Richard Ghilardi writes:
>Some time ago I suggested on this list that the words KURIOS IHSOUS CRISTOS
might be taken as an exclamation of praise "Lord Jesus Christ!" rather than
a nominal sentence, "Jesus Christ is Lord."

Philippians 2:11 KAI PASA GLWSSA EXOMOLOGHSHTAI hOTI KURIOS IHSOUS CRISTOS
EIS DOXAN QEOU PATROS

I suppose then that in your reading of the passage you take hOTI only as a
recitative ("").

Richard G. writes:
>What I would like to know from the members of this list is this:
Where in the GNT and the LXX do we find nominal sentences similar to KURIOS
IHSOUS CRISTOS that meet the following restrictions: 1) They must NOT
contain: definite articles, copula, pronouns, adjectives, participles  2)
They may contain: proper nouns, titles, common nouns

Richard, I think your criteria is too limiting and negates me to say that
"Jesus Christ is Lord" is a common early Christian acclamation; cf 1 Cor
12:3; Romans 10:9;  KURION IHSOUN CRISTON (Act 11:17); 1 Cor. 8:6 ALL' hHMIN
hEIS QEOS hO PATHR EX hOU TA PANTA KAI hHMEIS EIS AUTON, KAI hEIS KURIOS
IHSOUS CRISTOS  {But to us (there is) one God the Father out of whom exists
all things even us by him, and one Lord Jesus Christ}

Now I did a search for EXOMOLOGEW followed by hOTI.  Perhaps for you to
prove your point it would be good to be able to find an example of
EXOMOLOGEW with hOTI with a declaration of praise in the way you suggest.
The only example I found via a search of "EXOMOLOG* hOTI" is Dan 3:90.  But
the hOTI there appears causal, and so it's not helping us.  Therefore you
might want to do an extra-biblical search.

There are some factors that weight against reading the verb as such:
(1)  Often it appears that the dative usually follows EXOMOLOGEW to indicate
the one receiving praise.  Not always, but usually we find the sense of
EXOMOLOGEW as "praise" when there is a dative object. But here we don't find
that. (see BADG 4. or simply do a search on the root of EXOMOLOGEW) e.g.
EXOMOLOGOUMAI SOI, PATER, KUPIE TOU OURANOU KAI THS GHS  (I give thanks to
you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth (cf. Lk 10:21)

(2) the passage at hand is probably an allusion to Isaiah 45:23; note the
similarities.  LXX reads: EMOI KAMYEI PAN GONU KAI EXOMOLOGHSETAI PASA
GLWSSA TWi QEWi (to me every knee shall bend, and every tongue shall swear
by God).  Paul alluded to this very passage before (cf. also Rom 14:11).
Thus the idea remains the same confession instead of praise.

(3)  Looking at the context, which is really our deciding factor, v.9 says
the Father bestowed on Jesus TO ONOMA TO hUPER PAN ONOMA (the title/name
that is above every name).  Again v.10 he speaks about "the name"  EN TWi
ONOMATI IHSOU = not an epexegetical genitive ie. at the name, (namely)
Jesus.  But at Jesus' name.  So far we've been hearing about "the name" but
haven't seen it... thus we are anticipating it, what is it?  So it seems the
sense of the passage is not leading up to an outburst of praise.  But rather
a public confession of the Messiah's most glorious name, with the name as
the focus.  In fact all of this presses me to render KURIOS ---> LORD (all
caps); as I acknowledge kurios to reflect YHWH, a bone fide name contra a
title.  And we should bear in mind that this confession is a *doxology to
God the Father EIS DOXAN QEOU PATROS (Phil 2:11c).  So there's our praise.

My definition of EXOMOLOGEW at Phil 2:11 is ~an open acknowledgement, a
public confession.

Michael Tarver
Oregon, USA
<'\\><  laus Deo




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