[B-Greek] 2Cor 3:15-16 hHNIKA ... AN

Bryant J. Williams III bjwvmw at com-pair.net
Thu Feb 4 15:54:29 EST 2010


Dear Elizabeth, Donald, et al,

There is a very good discussion of this verse by Peter Balla, in Commentary on
the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, edited by G. K. Beale and D. A.
Carson, pp. 753-762. There is just too much material to quote. I would highly
recommend that it be read. I would say that Balla's conclusion is that Exodus
34:29-35 is the key to understanding II Corinthians 3:15-16. In fact, 2:14-7:4
is the longest section of the Pauline corpus that gives Paul's understanding of
the OT.

II Corinthians 3:15-16 falls into the latter section of 2:14 - 3:18. 2:14 -17 is
a prayer, while 3:1-18 is broken down into 2 sections describing the ministry
that he has: 3:1-7 gives the Paul's sufficiency for the ministry, while 3:8-18
describes the contrast between the new covenant and old covenant (pp. 753). The
first section contrasts the "tablets of stone" vs "tablets of human heart." The
second section is an exposition of Exodus 34:29-35 in which the key word is ECHW
(3:4, 12; also 4:1, 7, 13) including the thematic theme of ministry. Thus, one
should not separate 3:1-7 from 3:8-18 in the exposition.

En Xristwi,

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Donald Cobb" <docobb at orange.fr>
To: "Elizabeth Kline" <kline_dekooning at earthlink.net>
Cc: "greek B-Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 9:37 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] 2Cor 3:15-16 hHNIKA ... AN


> Elizabeth,
>
> You raise a good point with v. 15. The connotation there is simply temporal.
>
> I think the Exodus passage really is the key, given the total absence of
> hHNIKA elsewhere in Paul and the NT. Paul is quoting/re-rwiting Exodus
> to talk about what happens to New Covenant believers. But given that 1)
> he doesn't use the term elsewhere, and 2) the fact that he is fairly
> clearly quoting, I think it would be unwise to assume that he's giving
> any other meaning to hHNIKA AN  than what it has in Ex 34.
>
> In the Exodus passage, the use of hHNIKA D' AN has nothing causal or
> conditional about it. It merely states when: "every time that". I don't
> think we can safely say that Paul has any other meaning in mind.
>
> Donald Cobb
> Aix-en-Provence, France
>
>
> Elizabeth Kline a écrit :
> >
> > It seems to me that 2Cor. 3:15 undermines Brian's reading:
> >
> > On Feb 3, 2010, at 10:51 AM, Brian Abasciano wrote:
> >
> >
> >> I actually think it is pretty certain that a causal/conditional
relationship
> >> is implied.
> >>
> >
> >
> > There doesn't seem to be any conditional or causal element in 2Cor. 3:15
> >
> >  ALL᾿ hEWS SHMERON hHNIKA AN ANAGINWSKHTAI MWUSHS, KALUMMA EPI THN KARDIAN
AUTWN KEITAI·
> >
> > Paul isn't saying that the KALUMMA EPI THN KARDIAN AUTWN KEITAI is somehow
contingent on ANAGINWSKHTAI MWUSHS, as if the veil was lifted when they stopped
reading. In English, a straight reading of  v16 appears to make  PERIAIREITAI TO
KALUMMA contingent of EPISTREYHi PROS KURION. However, because "we do this in
English" it is a good idea to be skeptical about reading it that way in Greek.
It is far too easy to read our native language habits in to the text.
> >
> > Re: the Exodus passage, not sure what to do with that. It explains the use
of  hHNIKA AN but I not certain how it helps to resolve the issue of conditional
and/or causal semantic features in  2Cor. 3:15-16.
> >
> >
> > Elizabeth Kline
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---
> > B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
> > B-Greek mailing list
> > B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
> >
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
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>


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