[B-Greek] ev, "behave thyself in the house of God"
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at ioa.com
Wed Sep 28 13:00:27 EDT 2005
On Sep 28, 2005, at 11:29 AM, Gary Smith wrote:
> Dear Group:
>
> I appreciate the excellent responses on this list and the manner in
> which it is conducted. It is by far the best I have found on the net.
>
> My question has to do with the precise understanding of ev in the
> expression "how thou ought to behave thyself in the house of God"
> in I Tim. 3:15. The KJV reads as above. The ASV reads "how men
> ought to behave themselves" which I think captures the sense of the
> text better. However I am wondering if perhaps Berry's Interlinear
> is the best rendering which reads "how one ought to behave
> oneself." Since the context is dealing with the qualifications of
> Elders and deacons I think the idea has to do with behavior based
> on such qualifications. However some may make a case for the
> persistent admonitions of Paul toward Timothy such as "stir up the
> gift that is in thee" and "let no man despise thy youth; but be
> thou an example" and etc. At the moment I lean toward Berry's
> rendering, but I do wonder of the significance of the infinitive
> avastrephesthai. I hope to hear severeal opinions and reasons on
> this one. Thanks Gary S Smith.
It's unclear whether your question is about the Greek itself or about
the reliability of KJV and ASV. You should cite the Greek of the text
in question. It is:
hINA EIDHiS PWS DEI EN OIKWi QEOU ANASTREFESQAI ...
There's nothing tricky about EN here: it is used with a locative
dative. As for the versions, none of them is "literal" in the old-
fashioned sense of a word-for-word translation. That would be: "how
it is obligatory to behave in a household of God." There's no
significant difference in sense in the versions you've cited, unless
it be that some are more archaic than others. Isn't "behave yourself"
sort of archaic? Does it mean something different from a simple
"behave"?
As for the sense of of 1 Tim 3:14-15, I'd understand it roughly as "I
do expect to be with you soon, but I've written as I have so that,
even if I don't get there right away, you'll have a good idea of what
behavior is appropriate in a household of God."
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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