[B-Greek] FQANW in Mt 12:28

Mark admin at asarian-host.net
Sat Apr 16 11:27:46 EDT 2005


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carl W. Conrad [mailto:cwconrad at ioa.com]
> Sent: zaterdag 16 april 2005 16:54
> To: Mark
> Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] FQANW in Mt 12:28
>
> > Thayer's Lexicon says about the verb FQANW that it has a meaning of
> > 'prior-ity', in the sense of "to come before, to preceed,"
> > as in: "We who are still living when the Lord returns will not rise to
> > meet him ahead of those who are in their graves" (1Th 4:15; NLT).
> > But also that the sense of 'prior-ity' is often absent, meaning simply
> > "to come to, to arrive at; to reach, to attain" -- or rather,
> > following my own intuition, the sense of 'prior-ity' is embedded in
> > the sense of somethinhg having 'drawn near' (from an event set in
> > motion in the past), as in: "But the anger of God has caught up with
> > them at last" (1Th 2:16; NLT).
> >
> > At any rate, to me, it made perfect sense to translate Mt 12:28 as
> > follows (for content):
> >
> > "But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then you
> > can be sure the Kingdom of God has arrived {at last}!"
> >
> > In the sense of having 'caught up' with them: it is finally
> > here; which is to say, "the Kingdom of God has drawn near" (Mk 1:15).
> >

Dear Dr. Conrad,

Thank you or your reply (more below).

> I think that you misunderstood my version: it was not literal and I
> don't really think that you and I are in any disagreement about what
> the Greek text means.

I really did not think you meant it literal, of course. :)

> But it's not so simply "has arrived"; there's an element that is clear
> from the context of the Jesus-saying that those whom he addresses didn't
> recognize the fact of the Kingdom's arrival: its arrival "snuck up on
> them."

Now that is a very interesting observation.

"Then the Kingdom of God has arrived here before you were aware of it!"

It reminds me of Gospel of Thomas 51:

"His disciples said to him, ... "When will the new world come?" He said to
them, "That which you are waiting for has already come, but for your part
you do not recognize it."

> Nor do I think that the statement of
> Jesus in Mt 12;28 is quite equivalent to the HGGIKEN hH BASILEIA TOU
> QEOU; the latter is a proclamation;

I agree; Mk 1:15 was not the best example.

> the element of surprise
> is clearly evident, however, in Mt 12;28 from the EF' hUMAS.

So as to say, "sprung 'upon you'", so to speak?

> Incidentally, hereafter please use a full-name signature in
> accordance with B-Greek protocol (if you haven't yet read the BG-FAQ,
> please read it carefully at  http://www.ibiblio.org/b-greek/faq.txt ).

That document seems absent; but I get the point. :)

Thank you,

- Mark P.Th. Kramer




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