[B-Greek] Is GRAFH in the singular used in Josephus or Philo for all the scriptures?
Leonard Jayawardena
leonardj at live.com
Sat Feb 16 00:59:09 EST 2008
I am returning to the B-Greek list after a long spell of absence. I was forced to drop out of B-Greek due to what I believe to be some technical problem with my earlier dial-up e-mail account. My question relates to an issue that I raised in some earlier posts. According to "Theological Dictionary of the NT" (article "graphe") by Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, abridged in one volume by Geoffrey Bromiley, "The use of the singular [of GRAFH] for all scripture does not occur in Philo or Josephus." In a note on Galatians 3:22 in his commentary "St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians," J. B. Lightfoot expresses the view that, in the NT, GRAFH in the singular always means a particular scriptural passage and says, "The biblical usage is followed also by the earliest fathers. The transition from the 'Scriptures' to the 'Scripture' is analagous to the transition from [TA BIBLIA] to the 'Bible.'" Unfortunately, I don't have the tools to verify the above statements (within the quotes) and would greatly appreciate it if list members could confirm them, or, if they disagree, mention the particular passages in which they think the singular is used for all the scriptures in Philo or Josephus, indicating also whether the definite article is used in the original Greek in those passages. Please also comment on the second sentence of the quote from Lightfoot.
Whether GRAFH is used in the singular in Josephus or Philo to refer to all the scriptures has an important bearing on the question of how this word is used in the NT, especially on the translation of 2 Timothy 3:16. Leonard JayawardenaSri Lanka
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