[B-Greek] Colossians 1:16 TA PANTA ... EITE ... EITE
Elizabeth Kline
kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Sat Feb 20 00:30:32 EST 2010
On Feb 19, 2010, at 11:20 AM, Nicky de Jong wrote:
> I am trying to understand how the third part of Col. 1:16 relates to the rest of the verse.
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> ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς,
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> τὰ ὁρατὰ καὶ τὰ ἀόρατα,
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> εἴτε θρόνοι εἴτε κυριότητες εἴτε ἀρχαὶ εἴτε ἐξουσίαι·
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> τὰ πάντα δι᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἔκτισται·
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> hOTI EN AUTWi EKTISQH TA PANTA EN TOIS OURANOIS KAI EPI THS GHS,
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> TA hORATA KAI TA ANORATA,
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> EITE QRONOI EITE KURIOTHTES EITE ARCAI EITE EXOUSIAI·
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> TA PANTA DI’ AUTOU KAI EIS AUTON EKTISAI·
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> 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.
Not all questions are resolved by grammar. In this case EITE QRONOI EITE KURIOTHTES EITE ARCAI EITE EXOUSIA all refer to entities which are known by the original intended audience to be TA ANORATA. It is a question of reference, not syntax.
Elizabeth Kline
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