[B-Greek] Ephesians 3:16-17

Harold R. Holmyard III hholmyard at ont.com
Sat Jan 15 08:07:46 EST 2005


Dear Jeremiah,

>  >>   I was hoping someone here might be able to help me out with this
>>>  passage (Eph. 3:16-17):
>>>
>  >> INA DWi UMIN KATA TO PLOUTOS THS DOXHS AUTOU DUNAMEI KRATAIWQHNAI
>>>  DIA
>  >> TOU PNEUMATOS AUTOU EIS TON ESW ANQRWPON, (17) KATOIKHSAI TON
>>>  CRISTON
>>>  DIA THS PISTEWS EN TAIS KARDIAS UMWN, EN AGAPH ERRIZWMENOI KAI
>>>  TEQEMELIWMENOI
>>>
>>>  So far I've translated it as:
>>>  (16) So that he might give to you out of his glorious riches to be
>>>  strengthened in power through his spirit. In the inner man (17)
>>>  dwells
>>>  Christ through the faith (which is) in your hearts, which is
>>>  established
>>>  and strengthened in love.
>>>
>>>  I'm assuming that the EIS in 16 in working with the infinitive in 17
>>>  to
>>>  indicate purpose. However, most major translations take EIS TON ESW
>>>  ANQRWPON to go with the previous phrase, giving something such as
>>>  "...strengthened in power through his spirit in your inner
>>>  being..."
>>>  (NIV). Am I missing something or is my translation valid? If it's
>>>  valid,
>>>  is it likely to be correct, or is there a reason why the NIV and
>>>  NASB
>>>  (the translations I've checked so far) chose to go a different
>>>  route
>>>  that I haven't seen yet?
>>>
>>>  Jeremiah McGowan
>>___________________
>>
>>"Grant" rather than "give" would yield a smoother translation.
>>I would take EIS TON ESW ANQRWPON with what precedes rather than putting
>>a full stop before it since it indicates where the strengthening is to
>>take place.
>>TON XRISTON in the acc. is the subject of the inf. KATOIKHSAI.
>
>I would add that EIS TON ESW ANQRWPON does not express purpose but is
>rather an accusative of specification "as to," "with respect to"
>strengthened with an EIS, which is not really essential for this but is
>more commonly used in later Greek.

HH: Also, KATOIKHSAI is a purpose infinitive like KRATAIWQHNAI, 
continuing the thought verse 16 with a translation like: "so that 
Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith."

				Yours,
				Harold Holmyard




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