Eph 4:20 EMAQETE TON CRISTON - why accusative?

From: Jonathan Robie (jwrobie@mindspring.com)
Date: Fri Feb 14 1997 - 08:50:29 EST


Ephe 4:20 (GNT) humeis de ouc houtws emaqete ton Criston

Why is TON CRISTON accusative here?

Isn't the direct object of MANQANW the thing which is learned? Consider this:

1Cor 14:35 (GNT) ei de ti maqein qelousin, en oikw tous idious andras
eperwtatwsan: aiscron gar estin gunaiki lalein en ekklhsia.

If TON CRISTON refers to something which is learned in 4:20, could the
phrase mean "learn about Christ", "learn the things of Christ", or
"Christian teaching (as BAGD suggests)? Is it a synonym for M. TON TOU
CRISTIASMOU LOGON (M Pol 10:1, cited in BAGD)?

Weymouth translates this "learned from Christ". ICB translates it "learned
in Christ". Can these translations be justified?

HKOUSATE is also used with the accusative in 4:21:

Ephe 4:21 (GNT) ei ge auton hkousate kai en autw edidacqhte, kaqws estin
alhqeia en tw Ihsou

Does this mean "heard of him"? This seems parallel to Philemon 1:5, where
AKOUW + acc is used to say "heard of your love and your faith/fulnes":

Phle 1:5 (GNT) akouwn sou thn agaphn kai thn pistin, hn eceis pros ton
kurion Ihsoun kai eis pantas tous agious

Jonathan

P.S., the KJV translates 4:21 "But ye have not so learned Christ". A nice,
literal translation of the words which I don't know how to read. In my
dialect, if I say "I learned him", that means that I taught him, so I found
this amusing.

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Jonathan Robie
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