Re: Many of the Galatians witnessed the Crucifixion

From: Jonathan Robie (jwrobie@mindspring.com)
Date: Wed Jul 09 1997 - 07:45:11 EDT


At 10:00 PM 7/8/97 PDT, Brian Lantz wrote:
>NT Galatians 3:1 V/W avno,htoi Gala,tai( ti,j u`ma/j
>evba,skanen( oi-j katV ovfqalmou.j VIhsou/j Cristo.j
>proegra,fh evstaurwme,nojé

I find that very difficult to read. It looks like a dump from some program.
I would find it helpful if you could type in the verse in a readable format.

>API < prographo means to make a public record of.
>with the adjectival predicate usage of the PFP participle
>Transl:
>"Before whose eyes was Christ made a public record (as)
>executed on a cross stake"
>
>Paul's private
>letters to the Galatians not recorded in the Bible
>are not public record, contrary to the current line
>of commentaries. NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT
>THEM!

Well, the Galatians presumably did, if such letters existed. For them, such
letters would have been public record.

>The "public record" which the Galatians
>observed having been made of the crucifixion
>was the placard written in Aramaic, Latin and
>GREEK! In otherwords, the Galatians actually
>witnessed the crucifixion of Christ when they
>were in Jerusalem! This translation is closest to
>the NRS!

I see some difficulties with this interpretation. First, Galatians 4:12 -
4:20 seems to indicate that the Galatians first received the gospel when
Paul came to them as the result of a sickness. Second, why would the
Galatians have been in Jerusalem before they became Christians, since the
Galatian church did not exist before then, and it is hard to imagine that
all those living in Galatia would have been in Jerusalem at that time?

Yet Galatians 3:1 *does* say "TIS hUMAS EBASKANEN, HOIS KAT' OFQALMOUS
IHSOUS XRISTOS PROEGRAFH ESTAURWMENOS?" There are two puzzling questions
here: (1) what does PROEGRAFH mean? (2) what does KAT OFQALMOUS mean - in
what sense did this happen "before their eyes"?

As for question (1), PRO-GRAFW has two meanings. It can mean either "write
previously" or "show forth or portray publically, placard publically". The
word occurs four times in the Greek New Testament, and only the Galatians
passage is generally translated with the second meaning. Here are the four
passages:

Roma 15:4 (NASU) For whatever was written in earlier times was written for
our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the
Scriptures we might have hope.
Gala 3:1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes
Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed [as] crucified?
Ephe 3:3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I
wrote before in brief.
Jude 1:4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long
beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the
grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord,
Jesus Christ.

At first blush, it would seem possible to translate Galatians 3:1 with the
same meaning given the word in the other passages in the Greek New
Testament: "before whose eyes Jesus Christ was previously portrayed as
crucified". That would be easier for me to understand, yet none of the
translations I'm looking at translate it this way, which makes me think that
I'm missing something here. Louw and Nida suggest "portray vividly" as the
best translation here:

Louw and Nida 33.191 "PROGRAFW: to provide information in a vivid manner -
'to describe vividly; to portray.' ... It would be wrong to assume that
PROGRAFW in Galatians 3:1 refers to some kind of theatrical demonstration.
The portrayal mentioned here was evidently a vivid verbal description."

But if the portrayal was verbal, why was it before their eyes (KAT
OFQALMOUS)? This brings us to the second question. I wonder if perhaps
Christ was portrayed as crucified through the life of Paul, who was
crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20), and lived among the Galatians?

This passage raises some very interesting questions, and I don't think I
have a grasp on the answers yet, so this could turn into an interesting
discussion!

Jonathan

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Jonathan Robie jwrobie@mindspring.com http://www.mindspring.com/~jwrobie
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