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

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Sun Aug 16 15:16:02 EDT 2009


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net>
To: "greek B-Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Cc: "Ken Berry" <ken at wbtc.com>
Sent: 15. august 2009 21:00
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Col. 2:11 Going beyond grammar?

<snip>
>
> So, is the above interpretation strange, new and idiosyncratic. I hope
> my musings have shown that it is not entirely so. But, just in case, I
> asked my off-list friend Ken L. Berry to offer some further comments.
> Here is Ken:
>> Hi Yancy,
>>
>> My earlier brief note regarding Col 2:11 was along these lines:
>>
>> Re “in the stripping off of the body of flesh, in the circumcision
>> of Christ,”  I am inclined to think both of these parallel phrases
>> refer to Christ’s death, with “body of flesh” simply meaning
>> “physical body.” This interpretation is favored by CFD Moule,
>> (CGTC, 94-96), Peter O’Brien (WBC, 117), JDG Dunn (NIGTC, 157-8),
>> Andrew Lincoln (NIB, 624), and Ben Witherington (157).

Thanks, I accept that the interpretation is not as new and novel as I thought. 
It was only new to me. I still think it is mistaken and strange, because it goes 
against the immediate and wider context, and very few commentators have taken 
this view.

The phrase SWMA THS SARKOS in Col 2:11 does not mean "physical body". It is 
equivalent to SWMA THS hAMARTIAS in Rom 6:6, but it is different from SWMA THS 
SARKOS AUTOU in Col 1:22. The AUTOU is very significant here and indicates that 
a different sense of SARX is intended. The contexts of Col 2:11 and Rom 6:6 are 
quite similar, but 1:22 is very different.

The Byzantine text (followed by KJV) has clarified the connection by having TOU 
SWMATOS TWN hAMARTIWN THS SARKOS in 2:11. I am not suggesting that this was the 
original text, only that it helps to see the connection between 2:11 and Rom 
6:6.

Iver Larsen 




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