[B-Greek] TELEW in 2 Cor 12:9
Kenneth Litwak
javajedi2 at yahoo.com
Mon Jan 31 02:58:42 EST 2005
--- "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
wrote:
> At 10:00 AM -0800 1/28/05, Kenneth Litwak wrote:
> >--- 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.
>
> There is no verb TELEIAW, and if you mean TELEIOW,
> that's the denominative
> (causative) from the adjective TELEIOS, meaning
> "cause to be TELEIOS."
> Moreover, if you'll look carefully at BDAG s.v.
> TELEW, §1 "to complete an
> activity or process, bring to an end, finish,
> complete"--the sense is
> "consummate", "complete," "satisfy fully," NOT
> "close out."
>
Carl, okay, a small mistake: TELEIOW, a verb Paul
only uses once, in a negative sense.
As for TELEW, what I notice when I look at BDAG
(which, IMHO is always trumped by Louw-Nida), listing
1 gives
"to complete an activity or process, bring to an end,
finish, complete." Examples are provided, usch as
Luke 2:39. Here, it clearly means that Joseph and Mry
finished, as in carried out and were done with
something. Matt 13:53 means that Jesus finished
(which means what, besides that he stopped, i.e., did
not tell, any more) parables. It is used of timer
periods to say taht they are done. If the issue is
over whether TELEW means "stop" as in come to a sudden
halt (like the light turned red), I didn't make that
argument. I further note that when BDAG is discussing
2 Cor 12:9, they give essentially a novel meaning to
TELEW, "power finds its consummation or reaches
perfection...." It is not evident from any examples
givne up to that point why this unqiue translation is
offered, and whenever a lexicon offers a truly unqiue,
unjustified translatin like that, it shold raise red
flags. (In response to Steve, I never said that TELEW
had no other sense.)
Paul says that (some unsated person's) power is
brought to an end, completed, finished (not
perfected--that's not part of TELEW's semantic domain
that I can see) and therefore, Paul relies upon
CHrist's power. If Christ's power is completed in
weakness, how could Paul rely upon it? Christ's power
is carried out? What might that mean? Christ's pwoer
is finished in weakness. What might that mean? I'm
suggesting that the meaning of TELEW, and the
following OUN clause suggests, as I heard explained,
that TELEW would not refer to Christ's power (which is
not finished or carried out or completed or brought to
an end in suffering) but Paul's power comes to an end,
and therefore, he relies upon Christ's power.
Otherwise, the OUN afrer TELEW makes no sense. Well,
you obvioulsy don[t find htis compelling, but when I
see that a word is regularly translated in a sense
that I do not see justified from its use elsewhere
(like EXOUSIAN in 1 Cor 11:10) I get suspicious, and I
tink this passage fitsthat category. "make perfect" is
a gloss in BDAG, for which they do not cite any other
text where that's the required sense.
Kenneth Litwak, Ph.D.
Adjunct Profesor of NT
Asbury Theological Seminary
Wilmore, KY
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