[B-Greek] Eph. 1:12 EIS TO EINAI hHMAS ...TOUS PROHLPIKOTAS EN TWiCRISTWi

Webb webb at selftest.net
Wed May 17 15:21:52 EDT 2006


Responding to Carl Conrad and George Somsel:

There's some exegetical and contextual analysis hiding behind my rendering
of EINAI...PROHLPIKOTAS. If I try to take the participle the way Carl has
taken it --"to hope beforehand", then I reminded of the fact that one of the
main themes of Ephesians is the idea of the Jews supposedly being "near" to
God and the good things of God, and the Gentiles (and most of the Ephesians
are Gentiles) being "far", but the bringing of the gospel to the Gentiles
bringing them close and breaking down the barrier between the two parties.
Painting with a broad brush, Paul's/the author's general perspective seems
to be that the original hearers, believers and promulgators of the good news
are the Jewish Christians who have evangelized the Gentiles including those
in Asia Minor, to whom this circular letter is sent.

Paul says in 1:11-12, "we...[PROHLPIKOTAS] in Christ...in whom *you also*,
having heard the good news...believed too". What's the difference between
"we" and "you"? And why does he concentrate on God's intention--or on the
result of God's action--that "we" will be for the honor of God's glory? Why
not everybody? Well, yes, everybody (Jews and Gentiles alike) is for the
honor of God's glory. But we in particular, otherwise the statement becomes
insipid. The general answer seems to be that "we" (the original Jewish
believers) would be to the honor of God's glory because we'd not only
believe the good news ourselves, but God has worked it out (KATA PROQESIN
TOU TA PANTA ENERGOUNTOS THN BOULHN TOU QELHMATOS AUTOU) so that "we" would
turn around and promulgate the good news to "you" (the Gentiles). 

Maybe I'm reading too much from Romans in here, but PROHLPIKOTAS says to me,
there's a reason in God's plan that "we" Jews received and believed the good
news first--and that is so that "we" would bring honor and glory to God by
sharing the good news with the Gentiles. So it's not only "we" as such--in
distinction from others--but the fact that "we", according to God's overall
plan, came first to hope in Christ, that ultimately brings (or is intended
by God to bring) honor and glory to God. That is where my slightly less
literal rendering comes from: 

That way, our having been the first to put hope in Christ will be for the
honor of God's glory.

The logic of the sentence falls apart for me if I attempt to take
PROELPIKOTAS in the general sense that would naturally apply equally both to
original Jewish believers and later Gentile believers (or equally to
evangelists and recipients of the gospel). What's the point of "we" being
for the honor of God's glory, in that case?

Webb Mealy





More information about the B-Greek mailing list