[B-Greek] (no subject)

Kenwuest kenwuest at earthlink.net
Fri Jan 21 10:18:55 EST 2005


This is my first post to this mailing list.

I am working on something.... look at Romans 8:4-8 (control by the flesh vs. control
by the Holy Spirit).  8:9-11 identifies that those "controlled by the Spirit"
are Christians; those controlled by the Sinful Nature are unsaved.  Romans 8 is 
about STATE--contrasting believer with unbeliever (such as John 3 contrasts the 
two with the issue of continued belief vs. continued unbelief).  I wonder how Gal.
5 and Eph. 5--dealing with COMMAND relates--"walk by means of the Spirit"
(Gal. 5:16-25) and "be filled by means of the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18) vs. 
being controlled by the sinful nature.

Notice Gal. 5:18 has "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law"
(NIV)--STATE.... similar to Romans 8:14--"those who are led by the Spirit of
God are sons of God." (NIV).

In Greek, the statements in Romans 8, Eph. 5, and Gal. 5, appear to be almost identical.
Could being controlled by the Spirit be not so much a command for believers but 
the state in which they are normally?  Eph. 5:18--"be filled by means of the
Spirit" , however, is imperative, passive (but also is present tense, refering
to continual state).  Passive also indicates that this is a state, I think.  A command,
but one in which something is done to us.  "Spirit" is in the dative of
instramental case (just as "faith" in Hebrews 11--"by means of faith"--is
dative of instramental).  What if, "be filled by means of the Spirit" 
refers not to control of the Spirit, but the Spirit filling us with spiritual content
(as Daniel Wallace and Peter T. O'Brien--who D.A. Carson was the best on Ephesians,
offered as comment on Eph. 5:18)?  "En" means "in" and is in
this verse, but is usually translated as "by", I think, even though it
means--"in"... could it be the verse means--"be filled with spiritual
content by means of and in the sphere of the Spirit"?  Could "en"
be an other evidence that this is to be a state?

Gal. 5:16--"walk by means of the Spirit" ("Spirit" is dative)
is also a command--"walk" is imperative and also present tense (state?)...
but differently from Eph. 5--it is active (not passive).
Gal. 5:25--"if we live by means of the Spirit, by means of the Spirit also 
walk" (Spirit is dative in both cases).  "Walk", again, is a command--imperative
and present tense (state?)...  "live" is a state, I would say... not a
command--but something that is the state of a believer--it is indicative (not imperative),
present tense... but also active.  The "kai" here I transated not as its
normal translation of "and", but "also".  "Walk" here
is present (state?), active... but is subjunctive, meaning something that may possibly
happen, but might not--it is not a definite (notice, however, the mood of command--imperative--is
not used).

What do you think?




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