[B-Greek] Mark 10.15: Like a child
Mark Lightman
lightmanmark at yahoo.com
Wed Feb 23 22:19:15 EST 2011
I can't help but think again here about Montaigne and his cat.
When I receive the Kingdom of God, how do I know that the Kingdom of God is not
receiving me?
Mark L
FWSFOROS MARKOS
________________________________
From: Stephen Carlson <stemmatic at gmail.com>
To: Mark Hoffman <markgvh at gmail.com>
Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Wed, February 23, 2011 8:03:30 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Mark 10.15: Like a child
On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 11:01 AM, Mark Hoffman <markgvh at gmail.com> wrote:
> Mark 10.15: AMHN LEGW hUMIN, hOS AN MH DEXHTAI THN BASILEIAN TOU QEOU hWS
> PAIDION, OU MH EISELQHi EIS AUTHN.
> ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ὃς ἂν μὴ δέξηται τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ ὡς παιδίον, οὐ μὴ ε
> ἰσέλθῃ εἰς αὐτήν.
>
> As an accusative: Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as [one would
> receive] a child will never enter it.
This is an intriguing proposal. I'm still mulling it over and so I
have some questions about it.
> I'm thinking the accusative is preferable because:
>
> a) The context is that of Jesus receiving/welcoming children. It makes
> better sense if Jesus receives children and then says that is how one is to
> receive the kingdom. Verse 15 would then be read in complete coherence with
> the previous verse: "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them;
> for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs." >> Ie, if the
> kingdom belongs to children, then just as one receives children one is
> receiving the kingdom of God.
Yes, the context is that of Jesus of receiving/welcoming children.
But it is also of the disciples not receiving/welcoming children.
Whose behavior is encompassed by the proposal of "as one receives
children"? Jesus's? The disciples?
This diversity of different ways of receiving (or not receiving) a
child within the immediate context seems to militate against a generic
subject of the verb. Granted, it would work better if the text said
"as I [scil. Jesus] receive a child," but can the ellipsis reasonably
bring in a different subject like this?
There's also the issue of whether "receiving the kingdom of God" has
an idiomatic sense, such as "participating in God's demonstration of
his sovereignty over the earth" (so Joel Marcus). If it does, then
the accusative interpretation of TO PAIDION would lending somewhat
different semantics to DEXHTAI has different semantics (i.e. a more
literal receiving of a child). I'm not sure that the best way to
resolve an ambiguous is to chose the interpretation that involves
syllepsis.
> I think the main reason why the nominative reading has been so dominant is
> because of Matthew 18.3: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become
> like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." This verse,
> however, should not be the primary key for reading Mark 10.15.
Well, yes and no. Of course Matthew is not Mark and Matthew has his
own point of view, but Matthew is our earliest interpreter of Mark, in
many cases making what is obscure in Mark more clear. Though Matt
18:3 does not dispose of the meaning of Mark, it is evidence for how
an early, first-century interpreter of Mark read the text. Unless we
have reason to believe that Matthew would have rejected or wanted to
change the accusative of reading of Mark 10:15 (and Matt 18:5 would
point against that), Matthew's interpretation should have some weight
for how to resolve an ambiguity.
Stephen
--
Stephen C. Carlson
Graduate Program in Religion
Duke University
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