[B-Greek] 1Co 13:7 PANTA believe all? and PISTEUW
Mark Lightman
lightmanmark at yahoo.com
Sat May 14 10:54:36 EDT 2011
Iver wrote
< MH PISTEUETE TWi BDAG EN PANTI)>
Or, as President Reagan would say, "trust, but verify."
πίστευε μέν, ἐπαλήθευε δέ. (PISTEUE MEN, EPALHQEUE DE
Mark L
Φωσφορος
FWSFOROS MARKOS
--- On Sat, 5/14/11, Iver Larsen <iver_larsen at sil.org> wrote:
From: Iver Larsen <iver_larsen at sil.org>
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] 1Co 13:7 PANTA believe all? and PISTEUW
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Saturday, May 14, 2011, 8:06 AM
Let me add a bit to the discussion form the perspective of semantics and being a
translator. In the African language I have worked with the most, we need to use
three difference words to translate PISTEUW, depending on the semantics and
context. One word entails complete trust in a person. The other means to respond
positively to an event or statement. The third means to accept a statement or
word as true.
PISTEUW can be described as having two different case frames with slightly
different meanings. This
is not explained properly in the standard dictionaries
because they generally ignore semantics and limit themselves to syntax. (So,
BDAG cannot always be trusted - MH PISTEUETE TWi BDAG EN PANTI)
One frame has three participants, an Agent, a Patient and a Goal/Direction. The
basic meaning would be "entrust". So, if A entrusts P to G we have the full case
frame. You find this in
Jn 2:24 IHSOUS OUK EPISTEUEN AUTON AUTOIS - Jesus was not entrusting him(self)
to them. Jesus is Agent, him(self) is Patient and AUTOIS is the Goal/Direction.
It is normal for the semantic Patient to be encoded with the accusative case and
the Goal with the Dative case or a preposition such as EIS and occasionally EN
or EPI.
In many instances of this verb, the Patient is not expressed openly, but
assumed, and in that case it refers to the same person as the Agent. In Jn 3:15
you find hO PISTEUWN EN AUTWi and the next verse
has the variation with the same
meaning hO PISTEUWN EIS AUTON. Jn 4:21 has PISTEUE MOI - entrust (yourself) to
me. This is the same as "put your trust in me" or "believe in me." Jn 10:38 KAN
EMOI MH PISTEUHTE, TOIS ERGOIS PISTEUETE - If you do not trust me, then trust my
deeds. (The goal is not always a person, but something else that one can entrust
oneself to, see also 2 Th 2:11,12).
This tri-valent APG verb is sometimes used in the middle-passive. One of the
functions of passive is to make the Agent (or Goal) implicit. Usually the
Patient takes over the subject slot in a passive construction, but in some cases
the Goal can also be subject in Greek.
Examples:
1Co 9:17 OIKONOMIAN PEPISTEUMAI - a stewardship has been entrusted to me or: I
have been entrusted with a stewardship.
Implied/assumed Agent is God, Patient (accusative) is OIKONOMIAN and Goal is me,
expressed as
subject.
Gal 2:7 PEPISTEUMAI TO EUAGGELION - the gospel has been entrusted to me (also 1
Th 2:4)
1 Tim 1:11 TO EUAGGELION...hO EPISTEUQHN EGW - the gospel which has been
entrusted to me. (also Tit 1:3)
Rom 3:2 EPISTEUQHSAN TA LOGIA TOU QEOU - The words of God were entrusted to
them.
The implicit Agent is God, the Patient is TA LOGIA TOU QEOU and the Goal is
represented by the plural subject - they/them.
Now, the verb PISTEUW can also have only two frames with the meaning "accept as
true". In this case, we have the Agent (or Experiencer) and the Patient
(object). The Patient can be in the form of a clause introduced by hOTI or it
can be an infinitive (or participle) with accusative or it can be a noun that
stands for a statement.
Examples:
Mat 9:28 PISTEUTE hOTI DUNAMAI TOUTO POIHSAI - Do you accept as true that I am
able to do this?
Jn 17:9 (+21) EPISTEUSAN hOTI SU
ME APESTEILAS - They accepted as true that you
have sent me
Jn 11:27 EGW PEPISTEUKA hOTI SU EI hO CRISTOS hO hUIOS TOU QEOU - I have
accepted as true that you are the Messiah, the Son of God.
Acts 8:37b (v.l.) PISTEUW TON hUION TOU QEOU EINAI TON IHSOUN CRISTON - I accept
as true that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Jn 11:26 PISTEUEIS TOUTO - Do you accept this as true?
Rom 14:2 hOS PISTEUEI FAGEIN PANTA - he who accepts as true that he can eat
anything
1 Cor 13:7 PANTA PISTEUEI - it accepts all things as true
1 Jn 4:16 KAI hHMEIS EGNWKAMEN KAI PEPISTEUKAMEN THN AGAPAN hHN ECEI hO QEOS EN
hUMIN - and we have experienced and have come to accept as true the love which
God has for us. (The same meaning could be expressed differently: We accept as
true that God loves us. In English you can also talk about true love, I believe,
although with different connotations.)
Quite often
the verb is used without any object, and in such cases there is no
way to know whether it is the trivalent verb "entrust" or the di-valent verb
"accept as true". Context will usually clarify it, but not always.
One examples was listed below in the quote from BDAG:
Acts 15:11 PISTEUOMEN SWQHNAI - we believe for salvation
Here the implied goal for "entrust ourselves to" is Jesus. The infinitive is not
an accusative for "accept salvation as true." It is an infinitive of result as
also noted by BDAG in a parenthesis.
Iver Larsen
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vasile Stancu" <stancu.c.vasile at gmail.com>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 14. maj 2011 08:55
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] 1Co 13:7
PANTA believe all?
> To my 'intuitive perception' of Greek, the dative in such instances
> defines a kind of intermediate stage in the process of PISTEUEIN. In
> most of the cases, if a person is the object of believing, it is in the
> dative. Sometimes the person is in the accusative, but no directly - I
> cannot find examples where the believing has a person as its related
> object, where the accusative is employed directly, i.e., without some
> preposition like EIS, EN, EPI, e.g., PISTEUEIN EIS/EN/EPI AUTON, and not
> PISTEUEIN AUTON.
>
> On the other hand, when the 'substance' of believing, such as a
> principle/teaching/word/saying, is addressed, the same is used in the
> accusative, directly, without any preposition, e.g. PISTEUEIS TOUTO; (Jn
> 11:26) (a principle/teaching); EPISTEUSAN TA LOGIA TOU QEOU (Rom 3:2)
> (the words/system of teachings/commands);
PANTA PISTEUEI (1Co 13:7) (all
> possible/imaginable things); PEPISTEUKAMEN THN AGAPHN (1Jn 4:16)
> (something manifested by somebody).
>
> It is (again, intuitively) like in the case of AKOUW (with
> genitive/accusative this time): I hear somebody (in the genitive), but I
> hear something (in the accusative) that somebody produces (such as
> voice, words, music); it is not 'somebody', but rather 'something' which
> impresses my ears and yields the actual hearing.
>
> Vasile
>
>
>
> On 5/14/2011 5:45 AM, Louis Sorenson wrote:
>> I'd swear I had the header correct. Here is a repost under the correct
>> Subject: 1Co 13:7 PANTA believe all?
>>
>> Oun EGRAYE:
>>
>>> In the examples given by Vasile for comparison I see one from 1Jn 4:1.
>>> However, this is a typical 'PISTEUW + dative', which does not help
me
>>> while swimming in 'PISTEUW + accusative'.
>> .................
>>> Now, my problem is that I only recall 'PISTEUW + dative' and 'PISTEUW
>>> + EIS (EPI)'. Would 'accusative' belong to this group to give same
>>> nuance? Or should go to the direction of what NIV did? Are there any
>>> other examples I can see and compare other than 1Co?
>>>
>>> Oun Kwon.
>>>
>> BDAG's entry lists the accusative as the first
>> option. Accusative of content? The accusative is also used with the
>> infinitive construct:
>>
>> πιστεύω (Trag.+) impf. ἐπίστευον; 1 aor. ἐπίστευσα; pf. πεπίστευκα; plpf.
>> πεπιστεύκειν Ac 14:23 (on the omission of the augment s. B-D-F §66, 1; Mlt-H.
>> 190). Pass.: fut. 3 pl. πιστευθήσονται Gen 42, 20; 1
aor. ἐπιστεύθην; pf.
>> πεπίστευμαι (the word does not occur in Phlm, 2 Pt, 2 and 3J, Rv, MPol, or D.
>> But it is a special favorite of J and 1J, where it is found 96 times and 9
>> times respectively; πίστις is not found in the gospel at all, and occurs in
>> 1J only once, 5:4. Our lit. uses it quite predominantly in a transcendent
>> sense, or at least w. w. transcendent coloring).
>>
>>
>> ① to consider someth. to be true and therefore worthy of one’s trust, believe
>> ⓐ believe (in) someth., be convinced of someth., w. that which one believes
>> (in) indicated
>> α. by acc. of thing (Soph., Oed. Rex 646 τάδε; Aristot., Analyt. Pr. 2, 23,
>> 68b, 13 ἅπαντα; PSI 494, 14 μηθέν; UPZ 70, 29 [152/151 b.c.] π. τὰ ἐνύπνια;
>> ApcEsdr 7:12 p. 32, 26 τὸ βιβλίον
τοῦτο) ἡ ἀγάπη πάντα πιστεύει 1 Cor 13:7.
>> πεπιστεύκαμεν τὴν ἀγάπην we believe in the love 1J 4:16. πιστεύεις τοῦτο; J
>> 11:26b. Cp. Ac 13:41 (Hab 1:5). Pass. ἐπιστεύθη τὸ μαρτύριον ἡμῶν our
>> testimony was believed 2 Th 1:10b (cp. Aristot., EN 10, 2 p. 1172b, 15
>> ἐπιστεύοντο οἱ λόγοι; Gen 42:20).
>>
>> γ. by the acc. and inf. (pres. Pla., Gorg. 524a; PTebt 314, 3 [II a.d.]; 4
>> Macc 5:25; Jos., C. Ap. 2, 160; Just., A I, 8, 2 al.; Ath. 20, 3) πιστεύω τὸν
>> υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ εἶναι τὸν Ἰησοῦν Ac 8:37b.—GMary 463, 8.—IRo 10:2.—By the inf.
>> (Thu 2, 22, 1; Job 15:22; AscIs 2:10 εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀναβῆναι) πιστεύομεν σωθῆναι
>> Ac 15:11 (difft. JNolland, NTS
27, ’80, 112f [inf. of result: ‘we believe (in
>> order) to be saved’]).—By the acc. and ptc. ἐν σαρκὶ αὐτὸν πιστεύω ὄντα I
>> believe that he was in the flesh ISm 3:1.
>>
>> Louis Sorenson
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