[B-Greek] ANTI in Heb. 12:2 = local metaphor?

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Wed Jun 6 06:52:52 EDT 2007


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Calvin Lindstrom" <pclindstrom at yahoo.com>


I appreciated your question and thoughts. I wrestled with your same
question about 1 month ago.

Daniel Wallace (p. 368-9) in his Greek grammar notes:

If 'ANTI means because of, then Jesus endured the cross in
anticipation of the joy (i.e., glory, inheritance?) that would be his
afterwards. If it means instead of, then Jesus forsook the joy that
was his (cf. Phil. 2:6-7) that he might bring others into the kingdom
of God.

In footnote 36 he gives the following references:

Note the following: (1) because of: P. E. Hughes, A Commentary on the
Epistle to the Hebrews, 523-24; Waltke, “Theological Significations
of 'Anti and hUPER 1.176-80. (2) instead of: BAGD, s.v. 'ANTI, 1 (p.
73); Dana-Mantey, 100; Harris, “Prepositions and Theology,” 3.1180;
Turner, Insights, 172.

Unfortunately I was not able to come up with any firm conclusion.

Calvin Lindstrom
Church of Christian Liberty
Arlington Heights, IL

Iver Larsen:

BAGD gives both possibilities, either sense 1 (instead of) or sense 3 (for). BDAG has apparently 
revised the entry and added sense 4, but I don't know if they still put Heb 12:2 under sense 1 or 
both under 1 and 3. (I don't have a copy of BDAG.)
It seems to me that 1 is not likely, because ANTI is only used to mean "instead of" in a comparative 
construction, and we probably don't have that in Heb 12:2. A few commentaries but no actual Bible 
translation have taken this option. If we think of the basic locative meaning of "opposite", we can 
better understand how two different senses of the same word developed. The relevant sense in this 
context has to be that of "looking towards something, for the sake of something, considering 
something". So on the other side of the cross, "opposite" him, he can already see the goal of 
victory with its joy. Whether the English "for" is adequate to express that, I don't know. I might 
translate it: "Looking forward to the joy set before him he was able to endure..."

Iver Larsen 




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