[B-Greek] Titus 1:12-13

yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net
Wed Dec 9 09:16:23 EST 2009


Can the reel Paul, or, in this case, the writer of the letter to Titus, tell a joke? Can he pose a conundrum? Can he speak with irony? He says:

	εἶπέν τις ἐξ αὐτῶν ἴδιος αὐτῶν προφήτης·
	Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται, κακὰ θηρία, γαστέρες ἀργαί. 
 	ἡ μαρτυρία αὕτη ἐστὶν ἀληθής. δι᾿ ἣν αἰτίαν ἔλεγχε αὐτοὺς ἀποτόμως, ἵνα ὑγιαίνωσιν ἐν τῇ πίστει, 
	EIPEN TIS EX AUTWN IDIOS AUTWN PROFHTHS—
	KRHTES AEI YEUSTAI, KAKA QHRIA, GASTERES ARGAI.
	hH MARTURIA hAUTH ESTIN ALHQHS. DI hHN AITIAN ELEGCE AUTOUS APOTOMWS, hHINA hUGIAINWSIN EN THi PISTEI

Check out Phil Towner's comments on this verse in his commentary on the Pastorals. The figure of irony here is neither philosophical nor contentious. The author refers it to a PROFHTHS, but also says it himself, but with an attitude or sly voice distinct from that of the original saying. I would say that one of the greatest hindrances to reading Greek is the failure of imagination. Can they do that in the Greek New Testament???? Of course. Even the use of the word PROFHTHS is verbal irony. The statement that "Cretans are always liars, etc. ..." was an old saw, and especially "true" with regard to religious matters, because, as is fairly well recognized, Cretans appear to have spouted the idea that Zeus was born on Crete and his tomb is there too. Such ethnic humor as the reel Paul here uses was a way of characterizing ethnicity and claiming identity in a contentious culture. The writer of Titus siezes upon popular a popular sentiment to encourage Titus. Hey, even Cretans are not beyond the reach of redemption. You may have to sharply confront them, but they can hHUGIAINEIN EN THi PISTEI with the best of them. The greater issue, is of course, what is the writer doing with these words? Here we might remind ourselves of JL Austin, "How to Do Things with Words" who begins with this: “What I shall have to say here is neither difficult nor contentious; the only merit I should like to claim for it is that of being true, at least in parts.”

Yancy Smith
yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net
Y.W.Smith at tcu.edu
yancy at wbtc.com
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On Dec 9, 2009, at 12:05 AM, George F Somsel wrote:

>  I hardly think this was written to pose a logical conundrum.




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