[B-Greek] 1 Cor 2:7
Mont Cessna
montc at earthlink.net
Tue Mar 8 00:35:33 EST 2005
Dear Carlton,
Thanks for your reply.
You said:
> EN with the dative can be locative of instrumental. Here I would say
> that it is instrumental, "by means of a mystery." Paul finds this
> device useful to explain the unexpected turns in the experiences of
> the church
So does, "by means of a mystery" mean that Paul is speaking this way now
or that
the wisdom of God had been hidden by means of a mystery, or in a
mystery?
You also said:
> The preceding verse as well as the following verse present the
> contrast between the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of God.
I see that from 1:17 through chapter 3 this theme of God's wisdom and
being
wise appears numerous times in contrast to the wisdom of the world, or
human
wisdom.
You concluded:
> Note the modifiers of "wisdom." 1) which has been hidden, 2)which was
> foreordained, 3) which no one of the rulers of this age knows. This
> is Paul's use of the concept of the mystery of God, that which cannot
> be understood apart from knowledge of God in faith. In other places
> it refers to God's plan to redeem the Gentiles, Paul's life work.
Here is where it gets a little fuzzy for me. I understand the modifiers
of wisdom, but your next sentence puzzles me. It seems that you switch
from
talking about wisdom to the mystery. If mystery is taken as an
instrumental
dative, wouldn't that give us the means by which this wisdom was
originally
given, i.e., this wisdom was kept secret until it was revealed. And in
this
context that which was kept secret was God's wisdom demonstrated in the
cross.
Then in other contexts we see other mysteries that God kept hidden until
the
right time to reveal them.
In Him,
Mont Cessna, Sr.
Harrisburg, PA
montc at earthlink.net
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