[B-Greek] hUPOMONH in the Apocalypse

Harold R. Holmyard III hholmyard at ont.com
Wed Jun 2 11:27:04 EDT 2004


Dear George,

>We will simply have to disagree here.  I am not the least bit convinced
>of your position.  Even should one grant that hWDE is used with the
>significance of "calls for" or "requires" (which I don't grant), it still
>does not follow that hUPOMONH is used for "endurance."  I was also
>thinking of Jas 1.3
>
>TO DOKIMON hUMWN THS PISTEWS KATERGAZETAI hUPOMONH
>
>It has always seemed evident to me that even here "endurance" is an
>inappropriate rendering of hUPOMONH.  It just as likely that TO DOKIMON .
>. . THS PISTEWS would produce OLIGOYUXIA (?) [ > OLIGOYUXOS]
>"discoragement."   It would be more true to say that the trial of one's
>faith "requires" endurance though it is clearly stated that it produces
>hUPOMONH.  What a trial of one's faith would produce is rather
>"conviction" which is the opposite of James' ANHR DIYUXOS (Jas 1.8).

HH: Well, perhaps your understanding of Jas 1:3 is throwing off your 
understanding of the verses in Revelation, for hUPOMONH can certainly 
mean "endurance" here, and that it does is shown by the clearly 
parallel verse in Romans:

Rom. 5:3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because 
we know that suffering produces perseverance;

HH: The word "perseverance" in Rom 5:3 is hUPOMONH. The same verb 
KATERGAZOMAI occurs in both Rom 5:3 and Jas 1:3. The idea of 
"suffering" in Rom 5:3 is parallel to "the testing of your faith" in 
Jas 1:3, for the latter phrase is a way to describe "various kinds of 
trials" in Jas 1:2. So the two verses make essentially the same 
point, that hard times develop the quality of endurance in believers.

				Yours,
				Harold Holmyard



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