[B-Greek] MNEIA hUMWN Phil 1:3
Kimmo Huovila
kimmo.huovila at kolumbus.fi
Fri Oct 24 11:35:54 EDT 2008
On perjantai 24 lokakuu 2008, Elizabeth Kline wrote:
> Rom. 12:9-13
>
> 9 hH AGAPH ANUPOKRITOS. APOSTUGOUNTES TO PONHRON, KOLLWMENOI TWi
> AGAQWi, 10 THi FILADELFIAi EIS ALLHLOUS FILOSTORGOI, THi TIMHi
> ALLHLOUS PROHGOUMENOI, 11 THi SPOUDHi MH OKNHROI, TWi PNEUMATI
> ZEONTES, TWi KURIWi DOULEUONTES, 12 THi ELPIDI CAIRONTES, THi QLIYEI
> hUPOMENONTES, THi PROSEUCHi PROSKARTEROUNTES, 13 TAIS CREIAIS
> [MNEIAIS] TWN hAGIWN KOINWNOUNTES, THN FILOXENIAN DIWKONTES.
>
> The variant reading MNEIAIS for CREIAIS in Rom. 12:13 has been
> accepted by K.Barth:1933 (Romans p.450 n. 2, changed his mind later?)
> T.Zahn (p. 551). MNEIAIS in Rom. 12:13 is taken to mean something like
> practical assistance/aid. Among the majority who reject this approach,
> several do so on the basis that no lexical semantic support can be
> found for this understanding of MNEIA. If they are correct then what
> about P.T.O'Brien's comments on MNEIA in Phil. 1:3?
Thank you for this interesting piece of information. I have not yet met a
clear example of MNEIA meaning practical assistance. But I did find a text on
this passage understanding it as an objetive genitive:
TAS MNEIAS TWN hAGIWN KOINWNEIN hO APOSTOLOS PARAINEI, GINWSKWN hOTI TO MNHMHN
POIEISQAI TWN huGIWS META KARDIAS hAPASHS EN PISTEI DIAGENOMENWN EPISTHRIZEI
TOUS MIMEISQAI TA KREITTW QELONTAS.
I am more than 1/4 through in my reading of occurrences of MNEIA, and I am
getting the impression that an objective genitive is much more likely for
Phil 1:3. No doubt Paul's memories of the Philippians included their
practical assistance, but that is beside the point.
Also, I doubt that the EPI + dative means on every occasion of reminiscing the
Philippians (as many translations take the phrase), since EUCARISTEW often
takes EPI+dative for the thing thanked for. Thus the likely sense (not yet a
final conclusion, but a preliminary result of my studies so far) is that Paul
thanked God for every memory that he had of the Philippians. For some reason
translations do not seem to agree for the most part, but at least for now, I
do not see any linguistic reason why this should be so.
Kimmo Huovila
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