[B-Greek] Eph 2:8; Question about comment from Abraham Kuyper
Arie Dirkzwager
dirkzwager at pandora.be
Fri May 14 14:27:15 EDT 2004
In order to answer to this question one has to study the older commentaries
mentioned by Kuyper.
I checked Bengel, Gnomon Novi Testamenti, Berolini 1855 (= 1773³), a.l. He
says that KAI TOUTO refers to credere sive fides, i.e. to believe or faith.
I also checked Zanchius, Commentarius in epistolam Sancti Pauli ad Ephesios,
I, Amstelodami 1888 (reprint, ed. De Hartog), a.l. He writes: Illud enim
'Idque', ad utrumque est referendum: ad id, quod dixit, 'Servati estis', &
ad illud 'per Fidem'. So according to Zanchius it refers to both ESTE
SESWiSMENOI and to DIA PISTEWS.
As a have no more time, I only want to add some lines about DWRON.
When I taught NT exegesis in the Evangelical Theological Faculty of Heverlee
(Belgium) one of my students who had to prepare the beginning of Eph 2,
proposed that DWRON does not mean "gift" here. In later Greek it was
obsolated and was only used to refer to a (religious) sacrifice (as gift). I
thought *then* that he was probably right.
As I said, I have no time to look up these things, but I thought that this
element could no be missing in the discussion. If QEOU TO DWRON means that
God organized the sacrifice (of Christ of course) there are consequences for
TOUTO too.
Arie
Dr. A. Dirkzwager
Hoeselt, Belgium
e-mail dirkzwager at pandora.be
----- Oorspronkelijk bericht -----
Van: <dhoxworth at charter.net>
Aan: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Verzonden: vrijdag 14 mei 2004 17:30
Onderwerp: [B-Greek] Eph 2:8; Question about comment from Abraham Kuyper
> Does the following hold any water from Abraham Kuyper, "The Work of the
Holy Spirit" pg. 407-414?
>
> http://kuyper.org/kuyper/whs/vol2_c7.html
>
> First, that the construction of a neuter pronoun with a feminine noun as
its antecedent is not a mistake, but excellent Greek.
>
> Second, that the Church had reasons why until now she made the words ?and
that not of yourselves? refer to faith.
>
> In regard to the first point, we refer not to a Hellenistic exception, but
to the ordinary rule, which is found in every good Greek syntax, and which
every exegete ought to know.
>
> A rule which, among others, was formulated by Kühner, in his ?Ausführliche
Grammatik der Griech. Sprache,? vol. ii., I, p. 54 (Han., 1870), and which
is as follows: ?Besonders häufig steht das Neutrum eines demonstrativen
Pronomens in Beziehung auf ein männliches oder weibliehes Substantiv, indem
der Begrif desselben ganz allgemein als blosses Ding oder Wesen, oder auch
als ein ganzer Gedanke aufgefasst wird.? Which is in English: A neutral
demonstrative pronoun is frequently used to refer to a preceding masculine
or feminine noun, when the meaning expressed by this word is taken in a
general sense, etc.
>
> ...But it is evident that these citations upset all the quasi-learning of
this defective scholarship; and that the words, ?And that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God,? just with the neutral pronoun, in purest Greek, can
refer to faith; hence that all this fuss about the difference of gender, not
only is without any foundation, but also leaves a very poor impression
regarding the scholarship of the men who raised the objection.
>
> Moreover, we must also show not only that the ancient rendering of Ephes.
2: 8 may be correct, but also that it can not be anything else but correct.
>
> Doug Hoxworth
>
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