[B-Greek] EINAI TON CRISTON IHSOUN, Act 18:5

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Tue Nov 13 07:18:19 EST 2007


>>
>> Perhaps George who has an e-version of Wallace would like to post
>> pages 194-197 where this issue is discussed in some detail. I doubt
>> if there is a solid answer to your question. Word order isn't going
>> to answer it. The article with CRISTON doesn't answer it (contra
>> Barrett) because IHSOUN is a proper name. Parsons-Culy seem to think
>> the proximity of TON CRISTON to EINAI favors taking TON CRISTON as
>> the subject. But Wallace disagrees and Wallace occasionally gets
>> something right even though his general approach has been the object
>> of regular criticism in this forum.
>
> I have the e-text of Wallace, but after reading through it, I really
> don't think what he says is conclusive; it seems to me that he's
> reasonably honest here in recognizing that the choice between
> alternative ways of understanding the Greek in these passages may be
> subjective or arbitrary rather than clearly resolved by unquestionable
> criteria. My own subjective choice is "that Jesus is the Christ" --
> and I guess the criterion I prefer to go with is that the predicate
> term is the one marked by the article. "Ya pays yer money and ya takes
> yer choice."
>
> I've decided to post only a part of those pages. This is under
> accusative usage; the specific section relevant to our passage is 5.
> Accusative Subject of the Infinitive, which begins on page 192. Under
> '(5) c. illustrations' he discusses "Problematic Texts""
> ---------------
> 3)  Problematic Texts
> Phil 1:7  διὰ τὸ ἔχειν με ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ
> ὑμᾶς DIA TO ECEIN ME EN THi KARDIAi hUMAS
> because I have you in [my] heart or
> because you have me in [your] heart
> This is the one passage that Cripe felt was highly ambiguous. It is
> possible to translate, “because you have me in your heart . . .” or
> “because I have you in my heart . . .” Either is possible because:
> (a) both subject and direct object are in the acc.; (b) the article
> τῇ (καρδίᾳ KARDIAi) implies possession (which could be
> either “my” or “your”); and (c) in Pauline literature
> “heart” is often used as a collective singular (i.e., referring to
> plural possession). The context must be determinative. But this has
> been argued both ways. In cases such as this, the best approach is to
> bring in word order—not as though nothing else mattered, but as the
> factor that tips the scales.77

How does word order tip the scales? The context implies fairly clearly - to me at least - that the 
intended sense must be "because you have me in your heart". Paul is talking about how the 
Philippians have shown their love and concern for him while in prison. Because they have shown that, 
he can be confident that they are on the right path and God will complete the work he has already 
begun in them. It is a pity that KJV got it wrong, and consequently most English versions followed 
that.
Furthermore, it is very unusual to have an explicit subject with these ECEIN constructions, but 
having an object is very common.

> Acts 18:5, 28 (S-P). Both Acts passages
> read, εἶναι τὸν χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν EINAI TON
> CRISTON IHSOUN. Note the differences in translation: “Jesus was the
> Christ” (AV, NASB, NIV) vs. “the Christ was Jesus” (RSV, NEB).

There are similar constructions in Acts, e.g.
Acts 9:20-22 EKHRUSSEN TON IHSOUN hOTI hOUTOS ESTIN hO hUIOS TOU QEOU...
(he proclaimed (about) Jesus that he is the son of God)...
SUMBIBAZWN hOTI hOUTOS ESTIN hO CRISTOS.
(demonstrating that this one is the Messiah)

Acta 17:3 hOTI hOUTOS ESTIN hO CRISTOS [hO] IHSOUS hON EGW KATAGGELW hUMIN
(that this one is the Messiah, this Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you)

Because of such related passages, it seems to me that the intended sense of 18:5 and 28 is also that 
Paul was proclaiming to the Jews that Jesus (whom they had heard about) was indeed the expected 
Messiah. I also think the word order suggests that the new information comes first and known 
information comes last, but I accept that we have different views about the use of word order, so I 
won't press that argument.

Iver Larsen 




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