[B-Greek] Parousia/Adventum?

George F Somsel gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Wed Feb 2 13:37:57 EST 2011



2 Corinthians 10:10
 
10ὅτι αἱ ἐπιστολαὶ μέν, φησίν, βαρεῖαι καὶ ἰσχυραί, ἡ δὲ παρουσία τοῦ σώματος 
ἀσθενὴς καὶ ὁ λόγος ἐξουθενημένος. 

 
10 hOTI hAI EPISTOLAI MEN, FHSIN, BAREIAI KAI ISXURAI, hH DE PAROUSIA TOU 
SWMATOS ASQENHS KAI hO LOGOS ECOUQENHMENOS.
 
I think it is fairly obvious that Paul is not here referencing merely his 
arrival but is rather referring to his continued presence for at least a brief 
time.  While BDAG notes the two senses -- arrival // presence -- I think Moulton 
and Milligan make it even clearer.
 For 
What, however, more especially concerns us in connexion with the NT usage of 
Moulton, James Hope and George Milligan. The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament. 
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1930.
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: Mike Burke <michaelgburk at yahoo.com>
To: B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Wed, February 2, 2011 11:17:20 AM
Subject: [B-Greek] Parousia/Adventum?

>>>>The normal understanding of the 
words is that "coming" is punctiliar and refers to the point of arrival 
while "presence" is durative and refers to someone who has arrived and is 
here. However, while durativity is a semantic property (it is not 
dependent on the context and cannot be canceled) punctuality is a pragmatic 
property (it must be construed by help of the context and can be canceled), 
and therefore punctiliarity is much more difficult to pinpoint. (Se for 
instance Matt 24:30 where even ERCOMAI is durative as are the Aramaic words 
quoted.) 

There can be no doubt that PAROUSIA in the NT in some cases has a durative 
meaning. This is seen by the parallel between the word and "the days 
(plural) of Noah" in Matt 24:37-39 and that it is contrasted with APOUSIA 
in Philippians 2:12. But what kind of tests or what kind of expressions 
could show that only the moment of arrival was focussed upon? Take the 
English expression "Sit down!" as an example. In almost all cases the 
meaning is resultative. We usually do not focus upon the downward movement 
when the person takes her seat or the moment when this movement ends, but 
rather on the result - the state of sitting. So how can we know that this 
is not the case with PAROUSIA as well, and that the noun has the same 
meaning as the verb hHKW, a possibility mentioned by Carl (in the thread 
"coming or presence)?<<<<
 
Would Adventum still be a fair translation of parousia?
 
Could advetum (in some contexts) also have a durative meaning?



      
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παρουσίαin the general sense of "presence," "arrival," as in the later books of 
the LXX (Judith 10:18, 2 Macc 8:12, al.), it is sufficient to cite P Oxy III. 
48615 (a.d. 131) ἡ ἐπι̣μ̣[έ]λ̣ε̣ι̣α̣ τ̣ῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ ποτ[α]μοῦ παρασεσυρμένων 
χρῄζει μου τῆς παρουσία[ς, "the repair of what has been swept away by the river 
requires my presence" (Edd.), ib. XIV. 166825 (iii/a.d.) τὴν ὑμῶν παρουσίαν 
ἐγδεχόμεθα, "we await your presence," a man to his "brothers," ib. I. 11832 
(late iii/a.d.) οὐδὲν γὰρ ὄφελος ὑστερησάντων(l. ὑστερήσαντος) τῶν χρειωδῶν τῇ 
παρουσίᾳ αὐτοῦ, "it is no use if a person comes too late for what required his 
presence" (Edd.), and ib. VI. 90315 (iv/a.d.), where a woman declares that her 
husband ὤμοσεν ἐπὶ παρουσίᾳ τῶν ἐπισκόπων καὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτοῦ ὅτι ἀπεντεῦθεν 
οὐ μὴ κρύψω αὐτὴ<ν> πάσας μου τὰς κλεῖς, "swore in the presence of the bishops 
and of his own brothers, ‘Henceforward I will not hide all my keys from her’" 
(Edd.).παρουσίαis the quasi-technical force of the word from Ptolemaic times 
onwards to denote the "visit" of a King, Emperor, or other person in authority, 
the official character of the "visit" being further emphasized by the taxes or 
payments that were exacted to make preparations for it. Thus in P Petr II. 
39(e)18 (iii/b.c.) mention is made of contributions for a "crown" (στεφάνου) to 
be presented to the King on his "arrival" (παρουσίας), and in a letter of b.c. 
264 or 227, P Grenf II. 14(b)2, a certain Appenneus writes that he has prepared 
ἐπὶ τὴν παρουσίαν τὴν Χρυσίππου, "for the visit of Chrysippus" (the dioecetes) 
by laying in a number of birds for his consumption. Other exx. from the papyri 
are P Par 26i. 18 (b.c. 163–2) (= Selections, p. 15), where the Serapeum Twins 
lay their grievances before King Ptolemy Philometor and Queen Cleopatra on the 
occasion of their royal visits to Memphis—καθʼ ἃς ἐποεῖσθʼ ἐν Μέμφει παρουσίας, 
and P Tebt I. 4814 (c. b.c. 113) τὴν ἐπιγεγραμμένην πρὸς τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως 
ταρουσίαν ἀγορὰν (πυροῦ) (ἀρταβῶν) π̅, "the 80 artabae of wheat for the supplies 
imposed in connexion with the King’s visit" (Edd.). 


      


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