[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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