Re: 1 Thessalonians 3:2

From: Carlton Winbery (winberyc@popalex1.linknet.net)
Date: Mon Aug 24 1998 - 11:47:07 EDT


Kyle Dillon wrote;
>In 1 Thessalonians 3:2, it says: ...TIMOQEON, TON ADELFON hHMWN KAI SUNERGON
>TOU QEOU...
>
>Would this be better translated as "Timothy, our brother and fellow worker
>for God" or "Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker?"
>
>Relating to this, what are the different functions of the Genitive case
>(like partitive, possessive, etc.)?

This expression caused the scribes some difficulty as can be seen by the
number of variations listed below;

        TIMOQEON, TON ADELFON hHMWN KAI SUNERGON TOU QEOU in D, 33, b, and
Ambrosiaster (text N-A27)

        TIMOQEON, TON ADELFON hHMWN KAI SUNERGON KAI DIAKONON TOU QEOU -
Aleph, A, P, Psi, 0278, some strong minuscules, most of the old Latin and
Vulgate, and Coptic.
        TIMOQEON, TON ADELFON hHMWN KAI TOU QEOU KAI SUNERGON hHMWN -
corrector of D, majority of mss not listed elsewhere, some mss of the
Vulgate, and Syriac Peshetta
        TIMOQEON, TON ADELFON hHMWN DIAKONON KAI SUNERGON TOU QEOU - F and
G (conflate)

It appears that the scribes thought that the text as shown in N-A27 was too
bold a claim. Indeed they were probable right that Paul would not make
such a claim. However, I think they misunderstood Paul. The genitive here
is probably a genitive of possession. Paul considers his fellow workers
along with himself as belonging to God not as fellow workers with God as we
understand the phrase as though we could say "God is my co-pilot." I don't
think that Paul would have been so brash.

There could be a possible relationship of advantage here like in John 10:7
"I am hH QURA TWN PROBATWN - door for the sheep." Maybe, but you can be
sure Paul would not see himself as a "fellowworker with God" as we conceive
of the expression.

Carlton L. Winbery
Fogleman Professor of Religion
Louisiana College
Pineville, LA 71359
winberyc@popalex1.linknet.net
winbery@andria.lacollege.edu

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