[B-Greek] FILONEIKOS as "arbitrary" (1 Cor. 11:16)
Webb
webb at selftest.net
Mon May 7 15:41:26 EDT 2007
Dear Carl,
You said,
It seems to me that Lattimore has done two different things here: ... (2)
he's softening the sense of FILONEIKOS by making it "arbitrary." I rather
question that...
I think "arbitrary" is weak, but I suspect that I can reconstruct
Lattimore's train of thought. First, he concluded that Paul was being
euphemistic in excusing his own un-budging attitude on a subject that he had
reason to think his respondents would regard as petty and, indeed,
"arbitrary". Secondly, in translating FILONEIKOS, he had to avoid leaving
the impression that Paul would accede to the role of aggressor in the
dispute. Paul, as the keeper of the tradition, couldn't characterize himself
as "contentious", as though he wanted a dispute--he was simply being
(according to Lattimore's reading of TIS) obstinate in refusing to give in.
So what is the position of the person in authority who refuses to back down?
Not "contentious"--that is what the person who challenges authority and
refuses to back down could be accused of. "Arbitrary" is Lattimore's
solution, implying that Paul is conceding that he could be accused of
saying, "No, because I say so", while hastening to add that it's not just
his way of doing things, but that of all the churches.
Webb Mealy
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