[B-Greek] SWSON ... EK in JOHN 12:27

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Wed Mar 5 16:48:43 EST 2008


JOHN 12:27 NUN hH YUCH MOU TETARAKTAI, KAI TI EIPW; PATER, SWSON ME  
EK THS hWRAS TAUTHS; ALLA DIA TOUTO HLQON EIS THN hWRAN TAUTHN.

B.F.Westcott (John 1881) claims that the a number of commentators  
have misconstrued the meaning of Jesus prayer PATER, SWSON ME EK THS  
hWRAS TAUTHS. According to Westcott SWSON ME EK does not mean deliver  
me from having to experience "this hour" but rather deliver me out of  
the experience (awkward English). He wasn't the first to suggest this  
(see H.Alford). Westcott states that EK THS hWRAS TAUTHS should not  
be read as if it were APO THS hWRAS TAUTHS.

Here are some samples of SWZW + EK in the NT.

HEB. 5:7 hOS EN TAIS hHMERAIS THS SARKOS AUTOU DEHSEIS TE KAI  
hIKETHRIAS PROS TON DUNAMENON SWiZEIN AUTON EK QANATOU META KRAUGHS  
ISCURAS KAI DAKRUWN PROSENEGKAS KAI EISAKOUSQEIS APO THS EULABEIAS,

JAMES 5:20 GINWSKETW hOTI hO EPISTREYAS hAMARTWLON EK PLANHS hODOU  
AUTOU SWSEI YUCHN AUTOU EK QANATOU KAI KALUYEI PLHQOS hAMARTIWN.

JUDE 5 hUPOMNHSAI DE hUMAS BOULOMAI, EIDOTAS [hUMAS] PANTA hOTI [hO]  
KURIOS hAPAX LAON EK GHS AIGUPTOU SWSAS TO DEUTERON TOUS MH  
PISTEUSANTAS APWLESEN,

Perhaps Jude 5 EK GHS AIGUPTOU SWSAS lends some support to Westcott's  
(John 1881) reading of SWSON ... EK in  JOHN 12:27. However, HEB. 5:7  
is also a difficult text and Westcott (Hebrews 1891) seems to back  
off a little from his statements in the John commentary. He appears  
to admit two ways of reading SWiZEIN AUTON EK QANATOU in HEB. 5:7:  
"The phrase covers two distinct ideas, 'to save from physical death  
so that it should be escaped,'to  bring safe out of death into a new  
life.' In the first sense the prayer recorded in John xii.27 was not  
granted, that it might be granted in the second." The first reading  
'to save from physical death so that it should be escaped' runs into  
trouble at the end of verse 7: KAI EISAKOUSQEIS APO THS EULABEIAS.  
(See also Ellingworth Hebrews NIGTC p.288, Koester AB p.288.)  In  
what sense were Jesus prayers and petitions heard if he was asking to  
escape the experience of "physical death"[1]?

On the semantic distinction between APO + gen. and EK + gen. it seems  
that there is some overlap in NT usage. I am not certain how much  
weight we should place on this distinction.

Elizabeth Kline

[1] 120 years after Westcott's Hebrews the expression "physical  
death" seems to exclude some very real aspects of Jesus suffering and  
death, and what he might have been wishing to avoid if indeed he is  
asking to avoid here as in the prayer in the garden.]





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