[B-Greek] Ephesians 5:18 PLHROUSQE EN PNEUMATI

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sun Feb 18 14:47:47 EST 2007


Upon further review,  I see that I didn't really respond to your  
major question, whether PLHROUSQAI EN PNEUMATI as indicated in Eph  
5:18 isn't a positive term for "possession."

Part of the problem with this question lies in terminology: my  
dictionary defines "possession" (in the sense you're using it) as,  
"the state of being controlled by a demon or spirit : 'they prayed  
for protection against demonic possession.'" That is to say, the  
standard sense of "possession" of a human psyche is pretty much akin  
to a "hostile takeover" of one's conscious self. The term is not, so  
far as I know, ordinarily used for the presence of the divine spirit  
in the human psyche, whether to control or to assist.

Let me return to my example of 1 Cor 12:2-3, expanding it to include  
verse 3: 12:2 OIDATE hOTI hOTE EQNH HTE PROS TA EIDWLA TA AFWNA hWS  
AN HGESQE APAGOMENOI 3  DIO GNWRIZW hUMIN hOTI OUDEIS EN PNEUMATI  
QEOU LALWN LEGEI ANAQEMA IHSOUS KAI OUDEIS DUNATAI EIPEIN KURIOS  
IHSOUS EI MH EN PNEUMATI hAGIWi. Others will interpret this passage  
differently, but my own take on it is that Paul is attempting to  
distinguish between "possession" by "dumb idols" (religious  
experience of control by alien spirits) from the believer's  
experience of the presence of the Holy Spirit. I interpret this to  
mean that the believer does not lose self-consciousness in the  
presence of the Holy Spirit and cannot but confess the Lordship of  
Jesus, while pronouncement of a curse upon Jesus is impossible when  
one is governed by the Holy Spirit.

I don't think there's one-word expression for the sense of the  
presence of the divine in the psyche; older Greek used the word  
ENQOUSIASMOS (< ENQOUSIAZW <EN-QEOS/ON) the 'immanence' of deity in a  
person. I think that in the GNT the expressions that come closest to  
this are the verbal expressions EN PNEUMATI EINAI (Rom 8:9) and EN  
PNEUMATI GENESQAI (Rev 1:10, 4:2).

On Feb 18, 2007, at 9:02 AM, Carl W. Conrad wrote:

>
> On Feb 18, 2007, at 8:09 AM, Ted Scheck wrote:
>
>> I was reading Ephesians 5:18 and decided to pursue the note at the
>> bottom of my bible on the complexities of Greek "be filled" and I
>> opened up doors I previously did not know existed. Checked out your
>> website; I'm interested in Greek. Two years ago I tried teaching some
>> classic Greek words in Gym class, and the kids looked at me like I  
>> was
>> nuts. Maybe I was.
>>
>> Question:
>>
>> Is the word 'possession' in the Bible anywhere? As in, 'by demons' or
>> 'by the Devil'?
>>
>> Isn't to 'be filled' a form of positive possession, of the Holy
>> Spirit?
>> Or would you describe the Holy Spirit taking possession, as a new
>> couple does, moving in and taking ownership of a new house?
>>
>> If you have time, reply, if not, I understand.
>>
>> Thanks for doing this kind of work. I bet it is much under
>> appreciated.
>
> You've certainly raised an interesting question and one that is not
> so simply answered without appealing to Greek words and Greek
> phrases; perhaps that will be sufficient encouragement to you to take
> serious steps toward acquisition of some degree of facility with
> Biblical Greek.
>
> In the NT the more common term for "be possessed by a demon" is the
> verb DAIMONIZOMAI, but there are several phrases formed with the noun
> DAIMONION ("demonic spirit") in the singular or plural: ECEIN
> DAIMONION means the same thing as DAIMONIZESQAI ("be possessed");
> EKBALLEIN DAIMONION/A means "exorcise/cast out a demon/s."
>
> There are various references to ecstatic states apparently understood
> as involving somethinng akin to possession. One such is 1 Cor 12:2
> OIDATE hOTI hOTE EQNH HTE PROS TA EIDWLA TA AFWNA hWS AN HGESQE
> APAGOMENOI ("You're well away that before you became believers you
> used to get carried away toward lifeless [speechless] gods"). Others
> don't understand this verse to refer to ecstatic experience but I
> think that meaning is called for by the context.
>
> 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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