[B-Greek] Galatians 1:6-7
Donald COBB
docobb at orange.fr
Wed Jun 10 03:41:34 EDT 2009
Dear George,
Far be it from me to lop off your neck! (or your head, for that matter!)
I do have a little difficulty following your interpretation, though.
EUAGGELION without the article, in a different case and separated from the
participle, has little to commend to itself as the subject. Especially with
hO OUK ESTIN ALLO, Paul's thought seems to run smoothly: the Galatians have
turned to another gospel which is, in fact "not another 'Gospel'" at all.
How would you take the hO OUK ESTIN ALLO?
Paul uses the verbe KALEW three other times in Galatians; in two of those
occurences the subject is clearly God. The first comes just a few verses
later, in ch. 1:
Gal 1:15: Ὅτε δὲ εὐδόκησεν [ὁ θεὸς] ὁ ἀφορίσας με ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου καὶ
καλέσας διὰ τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ, hOTE DE EUDOKHSEN [hO QEOS] hO AFORISAS ME EK
KOILIAS MHTROS MOU KAI KALESAS DIA THS CARITOS AUTOU.
Gal 5:7: Ἐτρέχετε καλῶς· τίς ὑμᾶς ἐνέκοψεν [τῇ] ἀληθείᾳ μὴ πείθεσθαι; 8 ἡ
πεισμονὴ οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ καλοῦντος ὑμᾶς, ETRECETE KALWS· TIS hUMAS ENEKOYEN [THi]
ALHQEIAi MH PEIQESQAI; hH PEISMONH OUK EK TOU KALOUNTOS hUMAS.
In neither of these cases is the subject explicitly QEOS (unless the vl is
retained for 1:15), but I would have a hard time convincing myself that it
could be the Gospel (the third occurence is 5:15, passive voice). Outside
Galatians, when Paul uses the verb in the active voice in similar contexts,
if the subjet is specified or can be discerned from the context, it's always
QEOS. It's often in the passive, which should probably be construed as a
"passivum divinum".
2 Th 2:14 is an interesting confirmation: εἰς ὃ [καὶ] ἐκάλεσεν ὑμᾶς διὰ τοῦ
εὐαγγελίου ἡμῶν εἰς περιποίησιν δόξης τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, EIS hO
[KAI] EKALESEN hUMAS DIA TOU EUAGGELIOU hHMWN EIS PERIPOIHSIN DOXHS TOU
KURIOU hHMWN IHSOU CRISTOU.
The Gospel in this verse is the means of the calling, not the subjet.
Blessings,
Donald Cobb
Aix-en-Provence
----- Original Message -----
From: "George F Somsel" <gfsomsel at yahoo.com>
To: "Charles Johnson" <cpj5117 at gmail.com>; "B Greek"
<b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 8:23 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Galatians 1:6-7
> 6Θαυμάζω ὅτι οὕτως ταχέως μετατίθεσθε ἀπὸ τοῦ καλέσαντος ὑμᾶς ἐν χάριτι
> [Χριστοῦ]εἰς ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον, 7ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο, εἰ μή τινές εἰσιν οἱ
> ταράσσοντες ὑμᾶς καὶ θέλοντες μεταστρέψαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Χριστοῦ.
>
> QAUMAZW hOTI hOUTWS TAXEWS METATIQESQE APO TOU KALESANTOS hUMAS EN XARITI
> [XRISTOU] EIS hETERON EUAGGELION. 7 hO OUK ESTIN ALLO, EI MH TINES EISIN
> hOI TARASSONTES hUMAS KAI QELONTES METASTREYAI TO EUAGGELION TOU XRISTOU.
>
> I have a slightly different take on this from the normal. It is usual to
> supply the subject here as being [in the AV tradition] God. Therefore
> καλέσαντος KALESANTOS is generally construed as a aor masc gen sg part,
> but it could also be a aor neuter gen sg part. In that case, what would be
> the subject? The neut noun εὐαγγέλιον EUAGGELION ! Although one must also
> understand τοῦ εὐαγγελίου TOU EUAGGELIOU in the gen abs as one must
> understand τοῦ θεοῦ TOU QEOU in the usual understanding of the passage,
> the word is already right there to be brought to mind. Also, εἰ μή might
> be understood after the manner of the English "unless" which is really
> very similar to "except." The sense would then be that he is surprised
> that they are forsaking the GOSPEL WHICH CALLED them into Christ's favor
> for another gospel. He is surprised UNLESS some persons are disturbing
> them by trying to
> alter the gospel itself.
>
> I've attempted to avoid coming out and giving an actual translation though
> I realize that it is very close to being one. Hopefully this will make
> some sense.
> george
> gfsomsel
>
>
> … search for truth, hear truth,
> learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth,
> defend the truth till death.
>
>
> - Jan Hus
> _________
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Charles Johnson <cpj5117 at gmail.com>
> To: B Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 9, 2009 3:22:10 PM
> 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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