[B-Greek] Circumstantial Participle

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Wed Mar 12 16:21:05 EDT 2008


Bryant,

After reading the context and R.Buth's comments once again I find  
this passage somewhat difficult to analyze.

Eph. 4:7 Ἑνὶ δὲ ἑκάστῳ ἡμῶν ἐδόθη ἡ  
χάρις κατὰ τὸ μέτρον τῆς δωρεᾶς  
τοῦ Χριστοῦ.  8 διὸ λέγει· ἀναβὰς  
εἰς ὕψος ᾐχμαλώτευσεν  
αἰχμαλωσίαν, ἔδωκεν δόματα τοῖς  
ἀνθρώποις.  9 τὸ δὲ ἀνέβη τί ἐστιν,  
εἰ μὴ ὅτι καὶ κατέβη εἰς τὰ  
κατώτερα [μέρη] τῆς γῆς;  10 ὁ  
καταβὰς αὐτός ἐστιν καὶ ὁ ἀναβὰς  
ὑπεράνω πάντων τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἵνα  
πληρώσῃ τὰ πάντα.  11 Καὶ αὐτὸς  
ἔδωκεν τοὺς μὲν ἀποστόλους, τοὺς  
δὲ προφήτας, τοὺς δὲ εὐαγγελιστάς,  
τοὺς δὲ ποιμένας καὶ διδασκάλους,

EPH. 4:7 hENI DE hEKASTWi hHMWN EDOQH hH CARIS KATA TO METRON THS  
DWREAS TOU CRISTOU.  8 DIO LEGEI: ANABAS EIS hUYOS HiCMALWTEUSEN  
AICMALWSIAN, EDWKEN DOMATA TOIS ANQRWPOIS.  9 TO DE ANEBH TI ESTIN,  
EI MH hOTI KAI KATEBH EIS TA KATWTERA [MERH] THS GHS;  10 hO KATABAS  
AUTOS ESTIN KAI hO ANABAS hUPERANW PANTWN TWN OURANWN, hINA PLHRWSHi  
TA PANTA.  11 KAI AUTOS EDWKEN TOUS MEN APOSTOLOUS, TOUS DE PROFHTAS,  
TOUS DE EUAGGELISTAS, TOUS DE POIMENAS KAI DIDASKALOUS,

First of all what is 'Paul'(?) talking about in Eph 4:7-8? Let's  
assume for the sake of discussion that Paul is talking about THS  
DWREAS TOU CRISTOU which hENI hEKASTWi hHMWN EDOQH. If that is the  
case then what is going on in verse 8? If ANABAS EIS hUYOS is  
backgrounded or in a 'demoted relationship' does if follow that  
HiCMALWTEUSEN AICMALWSIAN is in focus[1]?  HiCMALWTEUSEN AICMALWSIAN  
may be in the foreground relative to ANABAS EIS hUYOS but I would  
venture to suggest that EDWKEN DOMATA TOIS ANQRWPOIS is in focus,  
however ...

Assuming (?) we have correctly identified what is Paul talking about  
then verses nine and ten seem to be 'off topic' where the formerly  
backgrounded ANABAS is now a main verb used to introduce a mini  
discourse on KATABASIS and ANABASIS. In verse eleven are back to the  
topic identified in verse seven.

These are just some preliminary thoughts, subject to revision, to  
move the discussion along.

Elizabeth Kline

[1] I have intentionally confused two different categories here.  
Background is the answer to foreground, focus is a different issue,  
in some frameworks focus is the answer to topic, i.e. background/ 
foreground, topic/focus. Topic here is a text linguistic category,  
and it doesn't equate with my use of topic and off topic in the  
preceding paragraphs.






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