[B-Greek] TELEW in 2 Cor 12:9
Kenneth Litwak
javajedi2 at yahoo.com
Fri Jan 28 13:00:39 EST 2005
--- Iver Larsen <ialarsen at multitechweb.com> wrote:
> >
> > 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.
Iver, I'm suggesting that rendering TELEIN as "make
perfect" is an unusual meaning for TELEIN, and that
12:9 can readily be understood as contrasting Paul's
power (I was not aware of the presence of MOU in some
MSS) that ends in his weakness (he's weak and cannot
change it, thus indicating that his power is virtually
gone) with Christ's power. I realize the common
interpretation is otherwise, but it may well be, now
that I've had this pointed out to me, that the common
interpretation is wrong. (A parallel instance might
be the many translations that perform eisegesis at 1
Cor 11:10 in taking EXOUSIAN as "veil" or some other
"sign of authority," a sense I am 110% positive no
Greek speaker would have ever granted to EXOUSIAN--so
much for the common interpretation.) If Paul had
wanted to say Christ's power was made perfect in
Paul's weakness, he could have easily used TELEIAW,
though his only use of this word, in Philippians 3, is
negative.
Ken Litwak
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