[B-Greek] 1 Peter 2.19

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Apr 1 07:51:11 EST 2005


At 11:21 PM -0500 3/31/05, Gordon Goltz wrote:
>   I am working on a pericope in preparation for a sermon--1 Peter 2.18-25.
>In verse 19, Peter writes "EI DIA SUNEIDHSIN QEOU". Could this be an idiom
>used as an adverb?

I note that NET conveys this as

"19 For this finds God's favor, if because of conscience toward God someone
endures hardships in suffering unjustly."

and has notes on the phrase that are conceivably helpful, although they
clearly involve some guesswork:

A "translator's note" on SUNEIDHSIN QEOU says this means "an awareness of
God and allegiance to him"--which one may or may not find clearly implicit
in the phrase itself (my own opinion is that we tend to interpret adnominal
genitives --those having no clear contextual clarification--with a degree
of subjectivity depending upon our own experience and predispositions.

Then a note on the phrase itself acknowledges that the phrase is difficult:

"The expression "consciousness/conscience of God" (SUNEIDHSIN QEOU) is
unusual, occurring only here in the NT. Because qeouv was liable to
misinterpretation, several witnesses altered the text, either replacing it
with aÓgaqh/n (agathe¦n; C ¥ 323 614 630 945 1241 1505 1739 al sy) or
expanding the expression by adding AGAQHN before QEOU v (Pap 72 [A* 33]
81). Replacing QEOU v with AGAQHN conforms to other NT phrases, notably in
this same letter (Acts 23:1; 1 Tim 1:5, 19; 1 Pet 3:16, 21), suggesting
that such a reading is motivated. The reading QEOU v, however, has superior
support (Aleph Ac B P 049 M lat co), and best explains the rise of the
other readings."

I've searched the archives and can find only one discussion of this passage
or problem: June 8 and 9, 1999 with subject-header: "1 Peter 2:19" You
might access that thread at:
	http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/test-archives/html4/1999-06/31585.html
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



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