[B-Greek] Eph 2:1 KAI hUMAS ONTAS NEKROUS TOIS PARAPTWMASIN KAI TAIS hAMARTIAIS hUMWN

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Apr 14 07:44:33 EDT 2005


At 9:39 PM -0500 4/13/05, David Bielby wrote:
>Eph 2:1  KAI hUMAS ONTAS NEKROUS TOIS PARAPTWMASIN KAI TAIS hAMARTIAIS hUMWN
>
>
>
>I read in Stott's commentary on Ephesians that PARAPTWMASIN refers here to
>'commission' and
>
>hAMARTIAIS refers to 'ommission' sins. He says that hAMARTIAIS refers to
>'missing the mark'.  It seems
>
>to me that both terms may include both concepts and I cannot find as neat of
>a dividing line in my lexicons.
>
>
>
>Does anyone have some insight on the distinction between PARAPTWMASIN and
>hAMARTIAIS in Eph 2:1?
>
>What does that mean exactly?

I don't think there's an ounce of distinction in this verse, especially
inasmuch as both words are plural and must refer to acts committed.
hAMARTIA is a more general word and can refer (in the singular) to a state
of being singful or to a state consequent upon having sinned, but
PARAPTWMA, a relatively rare word comparatively, regularly refers to a
specific sinful action. One should not be led astray by etymologizing here,
as both words are metaphorical in origin, the one (hAMARTIA) originally
referring to missing what one aims at, the other (PARAPTWMA) originally
referring to going off course or stumbling.

At any rate, in Eph 2:1 I think the difference between hAMARTIA and
PARAPTWMA is equivalent to the difference between "six" and "a half dozen."
-- 

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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