On Wed, 2002-04-10 at 23:17, Mark Wilson wrote: > > ALLA LALOUMEN SOFIAN QEOU EN MUSTHRIWi > THN APOKEKRUMMENHN hHN PROWRISEN hO QEOS > PRO TWN AIWNWN EIS DOXAN hHMWN [TR text] > > Some have EN MUSTHRIWi modifying LALOUMEN; others see > it modifying APOKEKRUMMENHN. > > Are both equally likely? Which is more likely? I think LALOUMEN. ISTM the issue boils down to how you're going to take MUSTHRION. I take it to refer to something which was hidden from the general population but is revealed to a group of people. See Louw & Nida. If one takes MUSTHRION to refer to a mystery, that is, something which is not known but is eventually uncovered through a process of investigation and deduction, then it makes no sense--in this context--for Paul to say "we speak God's wisdom in a way which hides it from people so they have to do a lot of detective work to figure it out." If that's what MUSTHRION means, then it makes more sense for EN MUSTHRIWi to modify the following participle. Although, for me, that gets real awkward. I've just tried for a number of minutes to make that work and I keep bumping up against things which don't quite fit the syntax and/or the flow of thought. However, taking it the way I understand MUSTHRION results in something more like this: We speak God's wisdom in a manner which reveals this secret wisdom to a specific group of people. The thing kept secret, which God saw before history began (was) to be for our glory, which... Paul then goes on to say that the then leadership didn't know this wisdom either, that the wisdom is phenomenal, that it's for those who love him. It is to these people that God has revealed it. So, what Paul goes on to say are simply restatements and clarifications of what he has just said. In other words, at least for me, it hangs together rather well. FWIW: I've noticed in other places Paul doing this type of thing. He places something on the table in the accusative case, it's the main object he talks about, and then he proceeds through various clauses to massage it and mold it, sooner or later bringing in the main subject and the main action. I think he does that here. -- Mike Sangrey msangrey@BlueFeltHat.org Landisburg, Pa. "The first one last wins." "A net of highly cohesive details reveals the truth." --- B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [jwrobie@mindspring.com] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-327Q@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu