[B-Greek] Titus 2:13 / Revelation 12:14

Harold Holmyard hholmyard at ont.com
Sat Aug 26 22:56:23 EDT 2006


Dear Yancy,

>>1) DOXA seems parallel with ELPIDA. We are waiting for our hope in  > Jesus> to be realized. We are waiting for the appearing of Jesus.
>>    
>>
>This seems to me a very weak argument indeed, since nothing precludes  understanding "the manifestation of the glory" to refer to anything  other than Jesus.
>  
>


HH: It's the grammar that I'm struggling with because "blessed hope" 
seems to need some kind of modifier to clarify what idea is in view. So 
is it the blessed hope of the glory, or is it the blessed hope of our 
God and Savior Jesus Christ? It can go both ways, since Jesus is 
described elsewhere as our hope (1 Tim 1:1), but also Pauline texts use 
phrases like "the hope of glory" (Col 1:27).

>It is probably best to take DOXHS in this case as a case of metonymy  or sunekdoke,  the use of a single characteristic to identify a more  complex entity which is one of the basic characteristics of  cognition. Thus, in the phrase:
>  ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς δόξης τοῦ μεγάλου  θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ  Χριστοῦ(EPIFANEIAN THS DOXHS TOU MEGALOU QEOU KAI SWTHROS IHSOU CRISTOU)
>it implies Jesus himself.
>


HH: Yes, I understand the idea.


>HH said:> 2) The word ELPIDA has an adjectival modifier, but there is no  > adjective> from the root DOX-, so if one wants such a modifier, he would need to> use the noun DOXA in the genitive.
>What about ENDOXOS, -ON (Luke 7:25)?
>  
>



HH: I didn't think of that word, thanks, but DOXA is used all the time 
in the way I am describing.


>>3) This gives a good pairing of concepts: "blessed hope" and "glorious> appearing."
>>    
>>
>This is not so much a pairing of concepts as a restatement  ("epexegetical" KAI) where "the blessed hope" is precisely the  "manifestation of the glory of our the great God and our Savior" (or,  our Great God and Savior).
>  
>



HH: Yes, but they both may be modified by the same thing if they are 
modified by "of our God and Savior Jesus Christ." That's what made them 
a pair too, in my thinking. If DOXA just goes with EPIFANEIA as an 
objective genitive ("appearing of the glory"), that would cut off 
"blessed hope" from "of our God and Savior Jesus Christ." Then you would 
not have the double modification, and that would leave "blessed hope" 
somewhat abstract. With the "and" it might even be vague.


>>5) In actuality, we are waiting for Jesus rather than glory. The> translation "glorious appearing" keeps the focus on Jesus a bit better> in my mind. It gets us to him a bit faster. So I think that> stylistically the adjectival rendering is preferable.
>>    
>>
>Harold reads this as "we are waiting," which is a dangerous path to  take in translation, since Titus was not primarily written "to us."
>



HH: This is incorrect. The text says "us" in verse 12, which is the same 
sentence. The verse relates to all believers.

>  The immediate context shows that 2:10-13 must be relevant to slaves  (see below).
>



HH: There is a paragraph division at verse 11 in the UBS text and most 
translations.


> I am surprised by this argument and frankly, don't know  what to make of it. Is this an argument from theology or from grammar  or style, if of style, then from what category of style? You might  cf. Phil 3:21.
>  
>


HH: You just seem to have missed part of the meaning here. The grace of 
God has appeared to all men, not just slaves. So the "us" is all men. We 
are to live in a new way; there is also a "we" in verse 12. And there is 
an "our" in verse 13. This is the great God and Savior of all men. And 
the text continues in this vein in verse 14 with "us" twice.


>Other uses of DOXA as metonym or sunekdoke for a spirit/god/God being2 Pet 2:10 beings:αὐθάδεις, δόξας οὐ  τρέμουσινAUTHADEIS, DOXAS OU TREMOUSIN‘arrogant people showing no respect for the glorious powers above’Rom 6:4 ὥσπερ ἠγέρθη Χριστὸς ἐκ  νεκρῶν διὰ τῆς δόξης τοῦ πατρόςhWSPER HGERQH CRISTOS EK NEKRWN DIA THS DOXHS TOU PATROS2 Pet 1:17ὑπὸ τῆς μεγαλοπρεποῦς δόξηςhUPO THS MEGALOPREPOUS DOXHS‘from the Sublime Glory’
>  
>


HH: I don't know if you're saying that DOXA here is equivalent to 
Christ, but it does not seem that way because it is modified by "Jesus 
Christ." So unless you are viewing that as a genitive of apposition, 
equating DOXA with Jesus, I would not equate the usage exactly with 2 
Pet 1:17. However, your idea of a synecdoche could still work, with the 
appearing of the glory implying the appearing of the rest of Christ. It 
is interesting that this word EPIFANEIA occurs six times in the NT, and 
every other occurrence refers to Jesus Christ's coming (2 Th 2:8; 1 Tim 
6:14; 2 Tim 1:10; 4:1, 8). That might favor the appearing being that of 
Jesus, but the synecdoche idea would  allow that.

HH: I have to agree with you that William has a good point. Not only are 
grace and glory appearing,  but both are modified by "of God," and a 
word suggesting salvation is present in both cases (SWTHRIOS [v. 11]; 
SWTHROS [v. 12]). So it could be that we are waiting for the blessed 
hope of the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and we are 
waiting for the appearing of the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

HH: The KJV has "glorious appearing," and the ASV made a deliberate 
change to "appearing of the glory," kept by the NASB. The NRSV also made 
that change, preserving an early change seen in the RSV that may go 
back  to the RV. The ESV also retained that reading.

>Finally, William Ross' observation of two "manifestations" in Tit  2:1-10 is shrewd and right on the money, and his reading connects  this passage better to the immediately preceding context. 2:10-13 is  given as grounds for the admonition of slaves to maintain proper  submission for their human masters. The grounds statement is that the  manifestation of the grace of God teaches a life of reverent  "waiting." Particularly pertinent to slaves is that, at the end of  the waiting period there is an a manifestation of glory. Even though  the glory directly refers to the glory of the Savior a secondary  effect of this reading would be the implication that the slaves in  question would share in that glory by being honored by Jesus Christ for their faithful service in adorning the teaching of God our Savior.
>  
>


HH: That makes sense, Yancy. The terms SWTHROS and QEOU, some form of 
which appear in verses 11 and 12, appear earlier in verse 10 in words 
about the slaves.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard




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