[B-Greek] Eph. 1:12 EIS TO EINAI hHMAS ...TOUS PROHLPIKOTAS ENTWi CRISTWi
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue May 16 17:19:24 EDT 2006
On May 16, 2006, at 4:26 PM, Dave Smith (REL110, 211,212) wrote:
> Mr. Conrad's parallel of the whole context, vv. 3-14, to Homeric
> discourse
> caught my attention. I would have thought that Ephesians in
> general, and vv.
> 3-14 in particular, had broken away from a Greek epistletory form
> altogether
> and morphed a Hebrew/Semitic berekhah or blessing.
Let me just say, for clarification's sake, that I had no intention of
suggestion
any INFLUENCE of Homeric style upon what we see here in this opening
string in Ephesians, but rather a similarity in the looseness of
connection
between the clauses.
> This only happens three
> times in the NT: Here (Ephesians 1:3ff), II Corinthians 1:3, and I
> Peter
> 1:3. In this case, I think the EIS TO EINAI references back to the
> first
> instance of this construction in 1:6, EIS EPAINON DOXHS being
> identical in
> both, and the terminology being similar in both, including PROORIZW
> (vv.
> 5,11), and followed by EN Wi (7, 13) preceded by a reference to
> Christ (EN
> TWi HGAPHMENWi, v. 6; EN TWi CRISTWi, v.12). So instead of seeing
> loosely
> attached clauses, I see a good possibility for Synonymous and/or
> Synthetic
> parallelism, which might be expected in a Semitic literary form,
> such as a
> blessing/berekhah. The form may also alert us to seeing the Hebrew
> preposition bet (Be) in EN or EIS, with its connotations and usages.
> Repetitions and parenthetical materials are plentiful in the whole
> passage,
> giving us a further clue. Pondering a bit of Semitic influence upon
> this
> Epistle could explain a few of its grammatical difficulties.
>
> Dave Smith
> Hudson, NC
>
> From: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
> To: <webb at selftest.net>
> Cc: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 14:33
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Eph. 1:12 EIS TO EINAI hHMAS ...TOUS
> PROHLPIKOTAS
> ENTWi CRISTWi
>
>
>>
>> On May 16, 2006, at 1:51 PM, Webb wrote:
>>
>>> EIS TO EINAI hHMAS EIS EPAINON DOXHS AUTOU TOUS PROHLPIKOTAS EN TWi
>>> CRISTWi
>>>
>>> That way, our being the first to trust in Christ will be for the
>>> honor of
>>> God's glory.
>>>
>>> Is this a possible way of taking the relationship between the EINAI
>>> and
>>> PROHLPIKOTAS?
>>
>> Well, it's certainly a way of putting highly-contorted Greek into a
>> highly-contorted English! Of course, the entire string of clauslets
>> in the sequence Eph 1:3-14 is extraordinary and (I think)
>> extraordinarily difficult in its articulation (or non-articulation).
>> This string has always seemed to me somewhat like the LEXIS EIROMENH
>> or "strung style" of Homeric discourse, wherein units loosely
>> attached to each other like beads on a string contribute to a
>> totality that is somehow intelligible. Here in the opening string of
>> Ephesians, it's often seemed to me that we have something like
>> loosely-strung subject-and-predicate clauslets that are half
>> petitions and half catechetical elements such as we have heard
>> formulated in an oral prayer where the speaker hasn't really given
>> much thought in advance to where the sentence is supposed to end.
>>
>> It is unclear whether to initial EIS TO + inf. is meant to express
>> purpose or result, as either would possibly relate to the ...
>> PROORISQENTES KATA PROQESIN ... of the preceding clauslet. I suppose
>> "that way" is intended to preserve the ambiguity -- as well as the
>> fragile linkage of this clauslet to that preceding it.
>>
>> But -- the phrase EIS EPAINON DOXHS AUTOU is not so easily disposed
>> of, I think. Your phrasing suggests that this phrase is the climax of
>> the larger clause, and I'm not sure that it is; you also seem to
>> suggest that hHMAS ... TOUS PROHLPIKOTAS EN TWi CRISTWi is the
>> subject of EINAI and EIS EPAINON DOXHS AUTOU is predicative with
>> EINAI. I won't say that could NOT be the case (I don't know that one
>> could positively rule out any of a variety of ways of construing the
>> elements here), but I really think that here hHMAS is the subject of
>> EINAI and TOUS PROHLPIKOTAS EN TWi CRISTWi is the predicate phrase --
>> and that EIS EPAINON DOXHS AUTOU is an adverbial phrase that is
>> commonly appended to catechetical or liturgical assertions about
>> God's action, a sort of "Alleluia" or "Hallelujah" attendant upon
>> each item in a list of God's mighty works.
>>
>> The upshot: if I were trying to reduce this verse to a single English
>> sentence, I think I'd render it rather as "and so we have come to
>> have hope in advance in Christ, praise be to His Glory!"
>>
>> Carl W. Conrad
>> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
>> 1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
>> cwconrad2 at mac.com
>> WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
>>
>>
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Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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