[B-Greek] Col 2:3 APOKRUFOI hidden treasures or treasures arehidden?

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Fri Oct 20 04:09:03 EDT 2006


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Oun Kwon" <kwonbbl at gmail.com>
> Col 2:3
>
> EN hWi EISIN PANTES hOI QHSAUROI THS SOFIAS KAI FNWSEWS APOKRUFOI
>
> Is it "All the hidden treasures are in Him"
> vs. "All the treasures are hidden in Him."
>
> Which one is correct understanding of the Gk? The difference is not
> small.  Since the mystery is what was hidden but not revealed, the
> latter is of suspect when it emphasizes 'being hidden'. As for the
> former, I may understand as 'All the treasures which had been hidden
> are in Him."
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> Oun Kwon.

Grammatically speaking, "all the hidden treasures" should have been PANTES hOI APOKRUFOI QHSAUROI.

Semantically, I agree with your understanding of "all the treasure which had been hidden are in him". The word "hidden" 
is not the best word in English and the present tense "are hidden" can be confusing. APOKRUFOI EN hWI in this context 
probably means something like "only accessible through him". I think the TEV did a good job of expressing the intended 
meaning, in spite of the fact that they put hidden and treasure together:
"He is the key that opens all the hidden treasures of God's wisdom and knowledge."

Meaning is much more than grammar. It is helpful to look at how Paul develops this concept in other places like 1 Cor 
2:7, Eph 3:9, and Col 1:26, all of which contain both MUSTHRION and a perfect tense of APOKRUPTW.

Iver Larsen




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