[B-Greek] TELEW in 2 Cor 12:9

Iver Larsen ialarsen at multitechweb.com
Fri Jan 28 00:15:12 EST 2005


>
>     I heard a presentation last night that argued that
> TELEITAI in 2 Cor 12:9 should be rendered with the
> standard meaning of TELEIN:  to end, finish, rather
> than the sense of "make perfect" or "mature" which is
> not the way the NT generally uses this verb.  This
> would then mean that Paul's power was ended by his
> weakness, and therefore he depends upon Christ's
> power, which is explicitly stated in 2 Cor 12:9b.
> That makes sense of the context (whereas the other
> meaning for TELEIN does not) and gives TELEW its more
> natural, common meaning.  Yet, translations virtually
> all take the rare meaning needlessly.  This seems
> compelling to me. Any comments?

Hi, Kenneth,

hH GAR DUNAMIS [MOU] EN ASQENEIAi TELEITAI

TELEW is a difficult word to render in English. It is not so much "end,
finish" in the sense of put a stop to something. It is rather "bring to
completion, reach a goal".

You seem to suggest that the DUNAMIS referred to is Paul's power, but the
common interpretation is to take it to refer to Christ's power as in the
next sentence. NET has the following note about the textual question whether
MOU was original or not:
"The majority of later manuscripts ... as well as some versional witnesses
... include the pronoun "my" here, but the omission of the pronoun has
excellent external support ... Scribes probably added the pronoun for
clarity, making the obvious referent explicit. This would also make "power"
more parallel with "my grace." Though the original text did not include
 "my," scribes who added the word were following the sense of Paul's
statement."

A more idiomatic rendering might be "for (my) power is made effective in/by
(your) powerlessness". As Paul indicates in the next sentence, he would
rather see the power of Christ be effective in his life than be seen as
strong in his own power.

A few less literal English translations:
REB: power is most fully seen in weakness
TEV: my power is greatest when you are weak
NLT: My power works best in your weakness
NET(note): my power comes to full strength in weakness
CEV,GW: My power is strongest when you are weak

Iver Larsen




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