Re: Gal 1:6

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Fri Dec 10 1999 - 10:05:39 EST


At 1:20 AM -0800 12/10/99, Byron Knutson wrote:
>List members:
>
>I am wondering what it is I'm missing in Gal 1:6. It reads as follows:
>
>...APO TOU KALESANTOS UMAS EN CARITI CRISTOU....
>
>Every English version I consulted translated this in the same fashion, e.g.,
>KJV:...from him that called you into the grace OF CHRIST.... My question
>is - Why don't they take the phrase KALESANTOS UMAS EN CARITI as an
>adjectival phrase modifying APO TOU ... CRISTOU meaning essentially -
>"...from the Christ who has called you..."?

Well, it seems a bit more natural to take CRISTOU as genitive dependent
upon CARITI. I don't see anything really wrong with understanding CRISTOU
as appositive to the substantival participle TOU KALESANTOS hUMAS, although
it seems to me that to make KALESANTOS an attributive participle to a
larger enclosure, TOU ... CRISTOU is less common for Koine Greek.

While this doesn't respond directly to your question, you might note,
nevertheless, that there is some question as to whether or not CRISTOU
really belongs in this verse; it is included in square brackets in USB4. In
view of what was said about majority vote in an editorial committee
deciding on what belongs in a recension a couple days ago, I find it not a
little bit amusing that Metzger's textual commentary on this passage
concludes as follows: " ... a majority of the Committee was unwilling to
adopt a reading that is supported by only part of the Western tradition;
therefore it was decided to print CRISTOU on the strength of its strong
external support, but to enclose the word within square brackets out of
deference to its omission by p46vid and certain Western witnesses." This
appears to be one good instance of the Committee's "having its cake and
eating it too." What has to be remembered about our printed versions of the
GNT is that we are generally given information about variants enabling us,
in our own wisdom or folly, to substitute our own judgments in place of the
Committee's judgment.

This last paragraph certainly was not meant as an invitation to renew the
squabble over philosophies of textual criticism in this forum. I meant only
to call attention to a problem affecting the question being raised.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu

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