[B-Greek] The meaning of "theopneustos" in 2 Timothy 3:16
Bryant J. Williams III
bjwvmw at com-pair.net
Wed Jul 26 00:23:14 EDT 2006
Dear List,
To those who have better search engines in the classics, you will find the
following of interest to see if THEOPNEUSTOS or cognates is used in Plato's
Dialogues. See the following for references or
visithttp://www.bhsu.edu/artssciences/asfaculty/dsalomon/nyssa/boundaries.htm
which quotes from References on inspiration from Plato: Complete Works (edited
by John M. Cooper, Indianapolis, 1997) and the article is from "Boundaries" by
Gregory of Nyssa.
Reference is found in Barnes NT Notes, on II Tim 3:16, "...The idea seems to
have been, that the life was in the breath, and that an intelligent spirit was
communicated with the breath. The expression was used among the Greeks, and a
similar one was employed by the Romans. Plutarch ed. B. ix, p. 683, 9. touv
oneirouv touv yeopneustouv; Phocylid. 121. thv de yeopneustou sofihv logov estin
aristov. Perhaps, however, this is not an expression of Phocylides, but of the
pseudo Phocylides. So it is understood by Bloomfield. Cicero, pro Arch., 8.
poetam-quasi divino quodam spiritu infiari. The word does not occur in the
Septuagint, but is found in Josephus, C. Ap. i. 7. "The Scriptures of the
prophets who were taught according to the inspiration of God, kata t hn
epipnoian thn apo tou yeou."
Reference should also be made to Carl's response to Jim West dated 09/17/1999,
Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Sep 20 09:17:01 EDT 1999
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At 8:00 AM -0400 9/20/99, Jim West wrote:
>At 01:36 PM 9/20/99 +0200, you wrote:
>>I am looking for secular or other biblical uses of the word theopneustos
>>(as used in 2 Tim. 3:16).
>>
>>Was this a common word? How would you define God-breathed?
>
>It occurs in Ps.-Phocylides and some of the Sybilline oracles and some other
>obscure Greek inscriptions. In the NT it only occurs in 2 Tim.
>Whether we like it or not, I think that the word is used by the author to
>denote his idea that God "breathes" into his writer that which he wishes to
>have said- just as in Greek thought the Muse breathes the idea into the mind
>of the poet or writer. To put it mythologically, God is the Muse for the
>writers of various NT documents (so far as the author of 2 Tim is concerned).
What Jim says is right enough, but I think this way of putting it may make
what's being said sound more mystical than is necessary; just recognizing
that the -PNEU- in QEO-PNEU-STOS is cognate with the word for
"spirit"--PNEUMA--and recalling the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus in
John 3 where there is a deliberately play upon the double sense of PNEUMA
as "wind" and "spirit"
(John 3:8 TO PNEUMA hPOU QELEI PNEI KAI THN FWNHN AUTOU AKOUEIS, ALL' OUK
OIDAS POQEN ERCETAI KAI POU hUPAGEI; hOUTWS ESTIN PAS hO GEGENNHMENOS EK
TOU PNEUMATOS.),
or the same evangelist's account of the giving of the Spirit to the
disciples in John 20:22 (KAI TOUTO EIPWN ENEFUSHSEN KAI LEGEI AUTOIS:
LABETE PNEUMA hAGION),
where ENEFUSHSEN is the same word used in the LXX version of Genesis 2:7
for the inbreathing of the breath of life into the nostrils of the first
created man, we can see the associations of both life and spirit in the
words for "breath" and "breathe" that are to be found in many languages and
certainly in Greek and Hebrew; so QEOPNEUSTOS does mean literally
"God-breathed" but we may ask whether the usage of the word-root -PNEU- is
to be understood literally or metaphorically here, i.e. as a term normally
associated with a material phenomenon but clearly being used of something
non-material. I would agree with Jim's analogy of Holy Spirit as
functionally equivalent to the Muse of Greek poetry; so would Milton
(Paradise Lost, 1.6-10):
Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed
In the beginning how the heavens and earth
Rose out of Chaos:
One point Jim makes is, I would note, disputed: whether 2 Tim 3:16 is
referring to NT texts or only to Old Testament documents when saying "All
scripture is QEOPNEUSTOS." This has been discussed on more than one
occasion in the past on this list with different list-members arguing
different positions. I dont believe that the Greek text itself can resolve
that particular question.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
En Xristwi,
Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeffrey B. Gibson" <jgibson000 at comcast.net>
To: "Elizabeth Kline" <kline_dekooning at earthlink.net>
Cc: <B-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2006 07:53 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] The meaning of "theopneustos" in 2 Timothy 3:16
Elizabeth Kline wrote:
> On Jul 25, 2006, at 2:21 PM, Harold Holmyard wrote:
>
> > "Phocylid. 121 'tes de theopneustou sophies logos estin aristos'."
> >
> > The Columbia Encyclopedia has:
> >
> > "Phocylides: (fsl´dz) (KEY) , fl. 6th cent. B.C., Greek poet, b.
> > Miletus. His gnomic (aphoristic) verses exist in fragments."
> >
> > B. B. Warfield also seems to mention a reference in Plutarch, but
> > he was
> > a considerably younger contemporary of Paul:
> >
> > "Plut. de Placit. Philosoph. 5. 2, 'tous oneirous tous
> > theopneustous'."
>
> Well its been a while since Warfield. I searched Phocylides for all
> the sub strings in
> 'tes de theopneustou sophies logos estin aristos' using TLG and
> found nothing.
>
Nor did I. But I did see that the Plutarch adduced is actually
Pseudo-Plutarch and the reference is Placita philosophorum 904.F.6.
Jeffrey Gibson
--
Jeffrey B. Gibson, D.Phil. (Oxon)
1500 W. Pratt Blvd.
Chicago, Illinois
e-mail jgibson000 at comcast.net
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