[B-Greek] Phil 3:13 causal ptc

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Mar 1 06:06:13 EST 2006


On Feb 28, 2006, at 8:30 PM, Mitch Larramore wrote:

> ADELFOI, EGW EMAUTON OU LOGIZOMAI KATEILHFENAI. hEN
> DE, TA MEN OPISW EPILANQANOMENOS TOIS DE EMPROSQEN
> EPEKTEINOMENOS, KATA SKOPON DIWKW EIS TO BRABEION
THS ANW KLHSEWS TOU QEOU EN CRISTWi IHSOU.

For clarity's sake, I think that it helps to have the main clause  
filled in.

> I was wondering if it could be understood to be saying
> that Paul disregarded those thing behind him BECAUSE
> OF his preoccupation with stretching toward the things
> ahead. It seems to me that what is preoccupying Paul
> is not the conscious act of assessing and disregarding
> the things behind him, but rather his attention, is so
> drawn to what lies ahead, that he "ipso facto"
> disregards the things behind. Would the DE however
> make a causal participle more unlikely?

Inasmuch as both participles, EPILANQANOMENOS and EPEKTEINOMENOS, are  
present tense and are, as you note, coordinated with the MEN ... DE  
markers of parallelism/antithesis, I think both should function the  
same way in relationship to the main verb DIWKW. I really think both  
these participles point to attitudes taken while the athlete is "in  
the chase." Seems to me it's almost as if he's saying, "Whenever I'm  
on course for the prize of the upward call, I forget what's behind me  
and press toward what's before me ..." Perhaps the discourse analysts  
have a principle regarding this, but I've noticed that the real  
emphasis of a statement is sometimes in the participle rather than in  
the main verb.

At any rate, I don't think that the verbal action indicated by one of  
these coordinated participles could be related CAUSALLY to the verbal  
action indicated by the other.

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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