[B-Greek] PANTWS in 1 Cor 9:10

Emanuel Contac vaisamar at gmail.com
Mon Jun 1 08:23:23 EDT 2009


 1 Cor. 9:9-10 says as follows:

 

9 EN GAR TW MWUSEWS NOMW GEGRAPTAI: OU KHMWSEIS BOUN ALOWNTA. MH TWN BOWN
MELEI TW QEW 10 H DI hHMAS PANTWS LEGEI? DI hHMAS GAR EGRAFH OTI OFEILEI EP
ELPIDI ktl.

 

  I would be curious to know what the value of PANTWS is here. Should it be
translated:

1) completely/entirely

or

2) mostly/par excellence/essentially?

 

 If we choose the first choice, it appears that Paul is denying completely
the "literal" meaning, which has to do with maintaining a humane attitude
towards animals (e.g. oxen threshing).

 

 I for one am inclined to take the second view, simply for the fact that
Paul could not have been "spiritualizing" the text by denying its primary
meaning. However, I would like to know what other people, more experienced
in Greek, have to say.

 

  Emanuel Contac, Romania




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