[B-Greek] 1 Tim 3:4 What does dignity go with?

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Sat Dec 3 20:34:40 EST 2005


On Dec 3, 2005, at 8:11 PM, Yancy Smith wrote:

> MIke,
> 	1 Tim. 3:1-7 details the character of candidates to the episcopate.
> 3:1 is the heading. 3:2-3 represents the general moral character of
> the candidate. 3:4-5 details his character as a manager/leader of his
> household, 3:6 refers to his status within the Church, stipulating
> that he cannot be a new convert and gives the reason why, while 3:7
> stipulates that outsiders must have a good opinion of him and gives
> the reason why.  It seems to me that the phrase META PASHS SEMNOTHTOS
> (μετὰ πάσης σεμνότητος) in this context is best
> understood as an adverbial phrase of manner modifying PROISTAMENON,
> which should be read either as a modal participle "he should lead" or
> as a complementary participle, functioning in the same way an
> infinitive would, as subject of DEI (cf. ECEIN in v. 7). The
> adverbial phrase of manner "with all seriousness" then refers to the
> way the EPISKOPOS (v. 2) should manage his own household. The
> parenthetical statement gives the reason why the EPISKOPOS should be
> serious about leading his own house well, "If someone does not know
> how to lead his own household, how will he care for the church of
> God?" This rhetorical question repeats essentially the language of
> 3:4a. Phrased to show the relationships, the verses look like this
>
> TOU IDIOU OIKOU KALWS 			PROISTAMENOS
> TEKNA ECONTA EN hUPOTAGH
> 									META PASHS SEMNOTHTOS
> (EI DE TIS TOU IDIOU OIKOU 			PROSTHNAI OUK OIDEN
> PWS EKKLHSIAS QEOU 				EPIMELHSETAI;

I would question that arrangement of the elements, which doesn't seem  
to me to do justice to the sequence. Let's put that text back  
together the way it stands:

TOU IDIOU OIKOU KALWS PROISTAMENON, TEKNA ECONTA EN hUPOTAGHi META  
PASHS SEMNOTHTOS

It is, as you accurately noted in the preceding paragraph  
PROISTAMENON rather than PROISTAMENOS. My sense of the verb  
PROISTAMAI is not so much "lead" (although that's offered as one of  
the primary meanings) so much as "govern" or "rule" or even "exercise  
discipline over."

What I find somewhat difficult to grasp in your interpretation is how  
META PASHS SEMNOTHTOS should construe with PROISTAMENON back on the  
other side of the prepositional phrase TEKNA ECONTA EN hUPOTAGHi.

My own sense of the tenor of this passage is that a good candidate  
for the episcopate must be a highly-respected disciplinarian over his  
own household. So I make it, more or less, "governing his own  
household well, keeping his children in their subordinate role with  
fully-respected authority." One might compare that with 1 Tim 5:9 and  
the ensuing description of hOI KALWS PROESTWTES PRESBUTEROI and the  
discipline that is to be maintained in the congregation as a household.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/




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