[B-Greek] Philippians 1:28
Yancy Smith
yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net
Mon Jul 20 12:15:51 EDT 2009
Right you are, and it sounds like something Teresa of Avila is reputed to have said, "God, if you treat your friends this way, no wonder you have so few." But it makes sense coming from a person who is in Roman custody and is eager to reinterpret both his disgrace as grace and honor as well as his audiences struggle with similar set-backs. Really they are advances, seen in the proper light of faith in Christ Jesus. It seems one of the functions of Philippians (especially in this passage) is to help the reads re-interpret what seem negative experiences as gifts of God. That is a typical ancient consolatory pastoral rhetorical move.
I am reminded of Henri Nouwen, who taught that in lifes deepest wounds are hidden the graces of God.
Yancy Smith
Yancy W. Smith, PhD
World Bible Translation Center
4028 Daley Ave., Suite 201
Fort Worth, TX 76180
p 817-595-1664
f 817580-7013
yancy at wbtc.org
Be kinder than necessary for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.
-----Original Message-----
From: George F Somsel [mailto:gfsomsel at yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2009 10:53 AM
To: yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net; greek B-Greek
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Philippians 1:28
With "gifts" like that, who needs plagues?
george
gfsomsel
… search for truth, hear truth,
learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth,
defend the truth till death.
- Jan Hus
_________
----- Original Message ----
From: "yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net" <yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net>
To: greek B-Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2009 6:22:48 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Philippians 1:28
Donald EGRAPSE,
> I would venture to say that καὶ τοῦτο ἀπὸ θεοῦ,
> KAI TOUTO APO QEOU, refers
> globally to the hostility towards the readers, in whch it has been
> "freely
> given" (i.e., by God) to suffer for Christ. The demonstrative, then,
> does
> not refer back to a specific word (ENDEIXIS, SWTHRIA, etc.) but to the
> general situation Paul is evoking.
I agree with Donald and Iver, the TOUTO is a DEICTIC pronoun referring
to the hostility of the opponents, but I would add that it also refers
both the the opportunity afforded by that hostility but especially to
the results of that hostility, the resistance and unified endurance of
the beleivers to which Paul alludes. That resistance is encouraged by
Paul's words, STHKETE ... MIAi YUCHi SUNAQLOUNTES THi PISTEI TOU
EUAGGELIOU." Resistance on the part of those who were considered in
some measure (however small) as non-patriotic or enemies of Rome would
be interpretted as a 'demonstration' of their rapidly approaching
demise APWLEIAS, they would suffer the consequence of their obstinate
refusal to abandon the worship of a Judean Rabbi turned divine being.
People loyal to Rome were under oath to persecute those they suspected
of not being loyal to Rome. On the other hand, Paul interprets their
resistance in the light of the gospel as a proof of their salvation,
SWTERIAS. The TOUTO refers to the entire situation as the opportunity
to turn opposition and supposed destruction into salvation. The whole
statement is very likely ironic, because the unbelieving opponents
would have interpreted the suffering of the believers as "APO QEOS"
just as the on-lookers in the servant song of Isaiah 53 interpreted
the suffering of the servant as of one "smitten by God."
Yancy Smith, PhD
yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net
Y.W.Smith at tcu.edu
yancy at wbtc.com
5636 Wedgworth Road
Fort Worth, TX 76133
817-361-7565
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