[B-Greek] Ephesians 2:1

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Apr 15 07:39:49 EDT 2005


At 1:08 PM +0200 4/15/05, A. J. Birch wrote:
>Dear 'B-Greekers',
>
>On the meaning of PARAPTWMA and hAMARTIA in Ephesians 2:1, in view of the
>'sin-vocabulary' both in Hebrew and in Greek, with various shades of
>meaning, etc., and in view of the etymological considerations already
>referred to, might it not be legitimate to see a slight shift of emphasis
>between, say, 'leaving the right path' (PARAPTWMA) and 'not finding the
>right path in the first place' (hAMARTIA) - between 'sin' in (a) a more
>active, and (b) a more passive, sense?

While I don't doubt that hAMARTIA is a word used in different contexts in a
much broader array of senses (BDAG says "with meanings ranging from
involuntary mistake/error to serious offenses against a deity") than
PARAPTWMA, I would have to say nevertheless (i.e. reiterate) that the above
distinction seems to me based on nothing more than etymological
speculation, certainly not upon demonstrable distinction of usage in texts.
I believe that Eph 2:1 is the only text in which both words appear together
in the GNT.
-- 

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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