[B-Greek] hISTHMI in Rom 3:31
Richard Ghilardi
qodeshlayhvh at juno.com
Mon Mar 22 23:05:42 EST 2004
Iver,
Since, as you say, this verse is an echo of Jesus' words in Mt 5:17, are
you claiming that hISTANOMEN here equals PLHROUMEN? Surely Paul is not
claiming that he and all believers fulfill the law in precisely the same
sense that Jesus claimed to fulfill it, i.e., by perfect obedience and
prophetically. I don't think that Paul is claiming a fulfillment of the
law IN HIS PERSON (or the persons of believers) AT ALL. (He does, of
course, make such a claim later on in 8:4, hINA TO DIKAIWMA TOU NOMOU
PLHRWQHi EN hHMIN. But there he very properly uses PLHROUN and not
hISTANAI.) Rather, he is claiming a validation of the law IN THE TERMS OF
HIS ARGUMENT, 3:19-31, specifically and all of Romans generally. In fact,
Paul is saying that his argument for justification by faith actually
SUPPORTS the Law! And that is how I would translate hISTANOMEN:
"So are we undermining the Law (by arguing for justification) by faith?
Absolutely not! Rather, we are supporting the Law (by arguing thus)."
How is this so? Well, after all who believe are justified by faith there
still remains the just judgement of the Law against those who do not.
Yours in His grace,
Richard Ghilardi -- qodeshlayhvh at juno.com
New Haven, CT USA
==============================================
On Sun, 21 Mar 2004 17:37:56 +0300 "Iver Larsen" <iver_larsen at sil.org>
writes:
> >
> > Perhaps can "vindicate" do?
> > English is not my first foreign language. So I cannot judge the
> matter
> > properly.
>
> Well, I don't think that fits very well, nor am I satisfied with
> "confirm"
> or "affirm" or "validate" or even
> "annul" for KATARGEW, because it narrows the sense to a legal
> contract. For
> KATARGEW I think "bring to an end" (put out of work) for the active
> and
> "come to an end" for the MP forms are more accurate, and therefore
> "(cause
> to) continue to exist" is one option for hISTHMI (present) as
> suggested by
> the LXX of Ezek 17:14.
>
> These various translation suggestions basically reflect how one
> interprets
> Paul's understanding of the role of the law for the believer or in
> what way
> it continues, and that leads us into theology which I shall try to
> steer
> clear of. But one has to compare this statement with other
> statements of
> Paul in order to fully understand what he is thinking of. For
> instance:
>
> Eph 2:15 AUTOS ... TON NOMON TWN ENTOLWN EN DOGMASIN KATARGHSAS
>
> What I am trying to grapple with is a balance between the old
> covenant/law
> with its specific ordinances and commandments having come to an end
> as in
> Eph 2:15, and at the same time not throwing away the torah as
> useless as
> must have been the charge Paul is defending himself against in Rom
> 3:31.
>
> Are there more linguistic evidence from contemporary Greek sources
> or the
> LXX that could throw light on the use of the present tense of
> hISTHMI?
>
> I have now found another example of an active present tense of this
> verb in
> the LXX. Isa 44:26 has a Hebrew parallelism. First, God is the one
> who
> "makes stand" (hISTWN) the words of his servant (RHMATA PAIDOS
> AUTOU), and
> secondly he "makes true" the (divine) plan/will as proclaimed by
> his
> messengers/prophets (KAI THN BOULHN TWN AGGELWN AUTOU ALHQEUWN). In
> the
> context of a prophetic word the meaning is apparently to fulfill. A
> prophetic word may "fall to the ground" if it is not fulfilled, but
> will
> "stand" if it is fulfilled. The NET translates Isa 44:26 like this:
> "who
> fulfills the oracles of his prophetic servants and brings to pass
> the
> announcement of his messengers." The corresponding Hebrew word in
> the hifil
> with "word", promise or covenant as object has the sense of "carry
> out,
> perform" according to Holladay, and then give as an example Deut 9:5
> (LXX:
> hINA STHSHi THN DIAQHKHN). Both NLT and REB use "fulfill" here,
> while others
> talk about "keeping the promise." Similarly 1 Ki 2:4 and probably
> others.
>
> So, if Paul sees the torah as a prophetic forerunner of the new
> covenant,
> then he might well be saying that the Christian in the new covenant
> fulfills
> the law/torah of the old. If so, that would be an echo of what Jesus
> said in
> Matt 5:17, and it would fit well with the rest of Paul's writings.
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