[B-Greek] Phi 3:14 genitive use

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Wed Apr 13 09:54:13 EDT 2011


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Oun Kwon" <kwonbbl at gmail.com>
To: "B-Greek List" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 13. april 2011 02:21
Subject: [B-Greek] Phi 3:14 genitive use


> The relevant paragraph is quoted here;
>
> Phi 3:12-16
> 12 OUC OTI HDH ELABON H HDH TETELEIWMAI DIWKW DE EI KAI KATALABW, EF
> hW KAI KATELHMFQHN hUPO CRISTOU
> 13 ADELFOI, EGW EMAUTON OUPW LOGIZOMAI KATEILHFENAI hEN DE TA MEN
> OPISW EPILANQANOMENOS TOIS DE EMPROSQEN EPEKTEINOMENOS
> 14 KATA SKOPON DIWKW EIS TO BRABEION THS ANW KLHSEWS TOU QEOU EN CRISTW IHSOU
> 15 hOSOI OUN TELEIOI TOUTO FRONWMEN: KAI EI TI hETERWS FRONEITE KAI
> TOUTO hO QEOS hUMIN APOKALUYEI:
> 16 PLHN EIS hO EFQASAMEN TWi AUTWi STOICEIN.
>
> My question is on v. 14.
>
> 1. Am I on the right tract to understand (EIS TO BRABEION) THS ANW
> KLHSEWS as appositive genitive?
>
> On this, I find just a few on my side, e.g. GNB ("...prize, which is
> God's call ....") and NET (its footnote -  Grk "prize, namely, the
> heavenly calling of God").
>
> While most leave it as ambiguous as 'prize of ~', some have different
> understanding: Cf. HCSB (" ... prize promised by God’s heavenly call
> ...", and NIV ("...prize for which God has called me..."). In that
> case, a question has to be answered - what is this prize.

Well, I don't know what an appositive genitive is. The genitive simply says that 
the prize is in some way connected to the calling. How this connection is to be 
understood is based on the meaning of both prize and calling. For this, one 
would need to look both at the immediate context and other places where the same 
words are used in the NT.

The word prize and the context point to a racing metaphor where the prize is 
given as a reward at the completion of the race. In this case, it is not an 
ordinary race, but a spiritual race which is a fulfillment of the calling 
(ministry) that God has given to Paul (and Christians in general.) The prize is 
given in Heaven after the race has ended.

>
> 2. What is thematically referred by SKOPOS  in the phrase KATA SKOPON?

SKOPOS is the aim or goal for the race, the finishing line that you fix your 
eyes at while running. One has to run according to the aim in the sense that the 
aim/goal is to finish the race and receive the prize.

>
> 3. What is nuance of ANW - a high,  noble, or heavenly (calling)?

It might be high or heavenly. I would go for heavenly, mainly because the 
calling is referred to as hAGIA in 2 Tim 1:9 and EPOURANIOS (heavenly) in Heb 
3:1.

Iver Larsen 




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