[B-Greek] Colossians 1:16 TA PANTA ... EITE ... EITE

Nicky de Jong nicky_dejong at sil.org
Fri Feb 19 14:20:01 EST 2010


I am trying to understand how the third part of Col. 1:16 relates to the rest of the verse.

 

ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, 

τὰ ὁρατὰ καὶ τὰ ἀόρατα, 

εἴτε θρόνοι εἴτε κυριότητες εἴτε ἀρχαὶ εἴτε ἐξουσίαι· 

τὰ πάντα δι᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἔκτισται·

hOTI EN AUTWi EKTISQH TA PANTA EN TOIS OURANOIS KAI EPI THS GHS,

TA hORATA KAI TA ANORATA,

EITE QRONOI EITE KURIOTHTES EITE ARCAI EITE EXOUSIAI·

TA PANTA DI’ AUTOU KAI EIS AUTON EKTISAI·

 

Mostly it is said that the EITE … EXOUSIAI phrase amplifies only TA ANORATA. Why would this be the preferred understanding? Is there anything in the grammar that justifies that? Since the first and fourth parts have TA PANTA I would assume that the EITE phrase applies to both TA hORATA and TA ANORATA. 

Verse 20 has a similar pattern: … τὰ πάντα … εἴτε τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς εἴτε τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς … TA PANTA … EITE TA EPI THS GHS EITE TA EN TOIS OURANOIS.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Nicky de Jong



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