[B-Greek] Galatians 1:6-7
Donald COBB
docobb at orange.fr
Wed Jun 10 01:24:06 EDT 2009
Gal 1:6-7: Θαυμάζω ὅτι οὕτως ταχέως μετατίθεσθε ἀπὸ τοῦ καλέσαντος ὑμᾶς ἐν
χάριτι [Χριστοῦ] εἰς ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον, ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο, εἰ μή τινές εἰσιν
οἱ ταράσσοντες ὑμᾶς καὶ θέλοντες μεταστρέψαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Χριστοῦ,
QAUMAZW hOTI hOUTWS TACEWS METATIQESQE APO TOU KALESANTOS hUMAS EN CARITI
[CRISTOU] EIS hETERON EUAGGELION, hO OUK ESTIN ALLO, EI MH TINES EISIN hOI
TARASSONTES hUMAS KAI QELONTES METASTREYAI TO EUAGGELION TOU CRISTOU.
Hello Charles,
Welcome to the wonderful world of Paul's sometimes tortuous syntax!
A few comments quite briefly:
First, EI MH can be a simple adversative, translated as "but". BDAG gives
two examples, one being Mt 12:4: πῶς εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ
τοὺς ἄρτους τῆς προθέσεως ἔφαγον, ὃ οὐκ ἐξὸν ἦν αὐτῷ φαγεῖν οὐδὲ τοῖς μετ᾽
αὐτοῦ εἰ μὴ τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν μόνοις; PWS EISHLQEN EIS TON OIKON TOU QEOU KAI
TOUS ARTOUS THS PROQESEWS EFAGON, hO OUK EXON HN AUTWi FAGEIN OUDE TOIS MET᾽
AUTOU EI MH TOIS hIEREUSIN MONOIS;
The last part of this verse should be translated "which was not permitted
them to eat of, nor those with him, *but* the priests alone".
The other is a non biblical example: οὐκ ἀφῶ αὐτοὺς καθεσθῆναι εἰς τὴν
σκίαν, εἰ μὴ ὑπὸ ἡλίου ἔξω, OUK AFW AUTOUS KAQESQHNAI EIS THN SKIAN, EI MH
hUPO hHLIOU EXW: "I will not let them sit in the shade, *but* outside in the
sun."
Nothing else in v. 6-7 really lends itself to the idea that Paul "would have
been surprised except that...", and so there's no reason to go against the
usual renderings. As far as charting the verse, your QAUMA shows the limits
inherent in trying to fit Paul's ways of expressing himself into what are,
from our point of view, neat grammatical patterns. Paul starts with an
expression of surprise QAUMAZW hOTI..., over his readers. Commentators
usually take the statement as a "rebuke formula", not uncommon rhetoric in
greco-roman epistolography. Paul's real intention though, at that point, is
especially to underscore that the gospel itself is being perverted, so the
seemingly parenthetical comment is the one he then develops in the following
sentences. The repetition of EUAGGELION et EUAGGELIZOMAI in v. 7-9 shows
where the burden really lies.
All in all, that kind of construction is not uncommon in Paul, whose logic
often has to be reconstructed from the overall argument he's developing.
Hope that helps.
Donald Cobb
Aix-en-Provence, France
----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Johnson" <cpj5117 at gmail.com>
To: "B Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 12:22 AM
Subject: [B-Greek] Galatians 1:6-7
>I have a question about how certain clauses are connected in Galatians
> 1:6-7. I'm looking particularly at the clause in v.7 beginning with ει μη.
> Many versions seem to render it as a subordinate clause under ο ουκ εστιν
> αλλο. Leedy's NT diagrams in Bibleworks agree. I see that several versions
> indicate that relationship and some others appear to be more ambiguous.
> So,
> understanding that I'm probably wrong, I thought I would propose an
> alternate solution.
>
> I cannot make good logical sense out of "which is not another [gospel],
> except there are some who trouble you...." I further struggle with the
> idea
> of placing a subordinate clause under what appears to be a parenthetical
> statement. Rather, would it be possible to connect the ει μη back to
> θαυμαζω
> in v. 6? The distinctive force of ει μη as "except" makes good sense in
> this
> arrangement. The paraphrase would be as follows:
>
> "I [would be] amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you
> by
> the grace of Christ for a different gospel (not that there is another),
> except [I know] there are some who trouble you...."
>
> The words in brackets are my amplifications. In other words, Paul is
> saying
> he would be amazed except that he knows about this dangerous threat. Using
> the naked indicative in the main clause highlights his amazement. Is my
> idea
> a possibility?
> ---
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