[B-Greek] Phil 2:6 Concessive or causal participle

Dr. Don Wilkins drdwilkins at verizon.net
Mon Oct 20 16:52:42 EDT 2008


To his credit, Wallace does not try to conceal the significance of  
theology in his interpretation, though he may be trying to downplay  
it. But I think his argument for the concessive meaning in ftnote 56  
(p. 635) with hARPAGMON as "something to be grasped for" is forced.  
It could even be risky from a theological viewpoint, given his  
explanation that Christ either "did not attempt to become equal to  
God" or "did not fell compelled to maintain his equality...."  
Doctrinally, Christ is always equal to God. I have not read O'Brien,  
but it seems to me that the causal interpretation basically is "since  
he already had it, he did not consider it something to be obtained."  
As Plato might say, one does not need or lack what one already  
possesses. As Wallace points out, the concessive interpretation goes  
well with hARPAGMON as "something to be retained," so long as you  
take MORFHi QEOU to refer to one of the benefits (for want of a  
better word) of deity that was suppressed by the incarnation.

But you need to sort out the difference between MORFHi QEOU and TO  
EINAI ISA QEWi. For the concessive view, consider taking the former  
to be more specific and the latter to be something like "equality in  
all respects," including MORFHi (with hARPAGMON as "retained"). For  
the causal, consider both to refer essentially to the same thing, but  
the latter to be more of an abstraction, as if it could be placed in  
quotes within the text (taking hARPAGMON as "grasped for").

Don Wilkins

On Oct 20, 2008, at 4:24 AM, Norman Wood wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Phil 2:6 has
> "hOS EN MORFH QEOU hUPARCWN OUC hARPAGMON hHGHSATO TO EINAI ISA QEOU"
>
> Wallace describes this occurence of hUPARCWN as concessive  
> p634Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics.
> However O'Brien (NIGTC)p 214 argues that this ought not to be  
> rendered as concessive, but as causal. Could someone offer  
> suggestions on how to approach this problem?
>
> Best Wishes
> Norman Wood
> Scotland
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