[B-Greek] Enough already? Jn 2:4 TI EMOI KAI SOI, GUNAI

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Apr 1 19:43:06 EST 2005


I'm forwarding the message below to the list since other messages on the
topic have also come in during the day, and this suggestion of Plummer's,
though not new, is as relevant as other suggestions, perhaps more than some.

My own feeling about this discussion, as I indicated in my message several
hours ago, is that the various suggestions offered toward understanding
this passage really don't depend upon the Greek text itself but rather are
speculative and based upon passages elsewhere in the biblical corpus that
are proposed as sufficiently comparable to illuminate the question in John
2:4. The problem set forth is not: what does "TI EMOI KAI SOI, GUNAI?"
mean, but how does what we know it means fit into the context? What I see
the thread as doing is offering a number of possible explanations of how to
interpret the phrase in its context, but no overwhelming reason to accept
one explanation as more cogent than another. I think the question being
asked is one of Biblical interpretation, but not specifically a question
about the Greek text.

Nor am I (at this point, at least) calling a halt to the thread, but I
think what's being set forth here is commentary rather than explanation of
the Greek.


From: "Michael and Lesley Madden" <lma60435 at bigpond.net.au>
To: <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
Subject:  [B-Greek] Enough already? Jn 2:4 TI EMOI KAI SOI, GUNAI
Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2005 08:22:37 +1000

Dear Dr. Conrad,

This would have been my first posting to the list, but in deference to your
last comment, I thought to reply to you directly. If you feel my
contribution adds anything to the point, please past it on.

Alfred Plummer (1882 edition of his commentary) lists passages containing a
like expression: Judges xi. 12; 1 Kings xvii. 18; 2 Kings iii. 13; Matthew
viii. 29; Mark i. 24; Luke viii. 28, and suggests that they all imply, as he
thinks John 2:4 implies, a rebuke of some kind. The only exception he
mentions is 2 Chronicles xxxv. 21, which he reads as 'why should we
quarrel?', rather than 'what do we have in common'. He seems to suggest that
Mary is initially at cross purposes with Jesus, and is respectfully rebuked
for interfering. Plummer wrote: 'He will help, and He will manifest Himself,
but in His own way, and in His own time. ... Between the lines of His
refusal her faith reads a better answer to her appeal, and she is content to
leave all to Him.'

Kind regards,
Michael Madden
Queensland, Australia.
-- 

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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