[B-Greek] Col. 2:11 Going beyond grammar?

George F Somsel gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Sat Aug 15 17:14:27 EDT 2009


Col 1.22
 νυνὶ δὲ ἀποκατήλλαξεν ἐν τῷ σώματι τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ διὰ τοῦ θανάτου παραστῆσαι ὑμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους καὶ ἀνεγκλήτους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ, 
NUNI DE APOKATHLLACEN EN TWi SWMATI THS SARKOS AUTOU DIA TOU QANATOU PARASTHSAI hUMAS hAGIOUS KAI AMWMOUS KAI ANEKLHTOU KATENWPION AUTOU

Col 2.11
 Ἐν ᾧ καὶ περιετμήθητε περιτομῇ ἀχειροποιήτῳ ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει τοῦ σώματος τῆς σαρκός, ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, 
EN hWi KAI PERIETIMHQHTE PERITOMHi AXEIROPOIHTWi EN THi APEKDUSEI TOU SWMATOS THS SARKOS, EN THi PERITOMHi TOU XRISTOU

One must be careful to distinguish when Paul changes the terms of the argument.  In Col 1.22 with τῷ σώματι τῆς σαρκὸς [TWi SWMATI THS SARKOS] he is clearly speaking of Christ's body.  In 2.11, however, it is not at all clear that he is applying the phrase τοῦ σώματος τῆς σαρκός [TOU SWMATOS THS SARKOS] to Christ.  In fact, due to the absence of either αὐτοῦ [AUTOU] or Χριστοῦ [XRISTOU] in relation to τοῦ σώματος τῆς σαρκός [TOU SWMATOS THS SARKOS] which is to be / has been removed together with the fact that it is accomplished ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ [EN THi PERITOMHi TOU XRISTOU] seems to indicate that this is NOT the same as "his dead body" in 1.22.  Since it is those to whom he is writing who are "circumcised", it would seem to utterly preclude its being a reference to Christ's body.  In other words, the bodies are different in the two
 passages.

 george
gfsomsel 


… search for truth, hear truth, 
learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth, 
defend the truth till death.


- Jan Hus
_________ 




________________________________
From: John Ottens <johnandrewottens at gmail.com>
To: George F Somsel <gfsomsel at yahoo.com>
Cc: "yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net" <yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net>; greek B-Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>; Ken Berry <ken at wbtc.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 15, 2009 12:55:25 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Col. 2:11 Going beyond grammar?

>This is a very unusual exegesis of APEKDUSEI TOU SWMATOS THS SARKOS, different
from anything I have ever heard or seen. Without arguments you cannot expect us
to accept such a novel idea as correct.

Iver,

In fact this really is not such a novel idea, and, when this verse is compared with Col 1.22 (in which TWi SWMATI THS SARKOS clearly does refer to Christ's body), it seems instead to be the more natural reading of the passage.

John Ottens


      


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