ὅτι in 1 Thessalonians 1.5
Posted: January 25th, 2015, 5:00 pm
4 εἰδότες, ἀδελφοὶ ἠγαπημένοι ὑπὸ [τοῦ] θεοῦ, τὴν ἐκλογὴν ὑμῶν, 5 ὅτι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἡμῶν οὐκ ἐγενήθη εἰς ὑμᾶς ἐν λόγῳ μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν δυνάμει καὶ ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ [ἐν] πληροφορίᾳ πολλῇ, καθὼς οἴδατε οἷοι ἐγενήθημεν [ἐν] ὑμῖν δι’ ὑμᾶς.
I read the ὅτι as something like 'that', introducing a further statement about what they know: knowing .. your election, that our gospel etc. It can't be epexegetical exactly, because that wouldn't quite make sense, but perhaps a related thought suggested by the previous one. Paul recalls how the gospel was preached in such power that some were chosen out to become believers, or something like that, perhaps.
But most say it's more like 'because' introducing a reason for the previous statement: knowing .. your election [ie that you are chosen]. For our gospel etc. OR knowing .. your election, because our gospel etc.
εἰδότες .. τὴν ἐκλογὴν ὑμῶν seems too bald to be a complete thought - I feel it needs a bit more. ὅτι seems to me to cry out to be related to εἰδότες - but I may be wrong.
In 1 Thess 2.1: 'Αὐτοὶ γὰρ οἴδατε, ἀδελφοί, τὴν εἴσοδον ἡμῶν τὴν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὅτι οὐ κενὴ γέγονεν,', ὅτι is clearly like 'that', not 'because' (see also Romans 13.11, 1 Cor 16.15, 2 Cor 12.3-4)
Any thoughts? Andrew
I read the ὅτι as something like 'that', introducing a further statement about what they know: knowing .. your election, that our gospel etc. It can't be epexegetical exactly, because that wouldn't quite make sense, but perhaps a related thought suggested by the previous one. Paul recalls how the gospel was preached in such power that some were chosen out to become believers, or something like that, perhaps.
But most say it's more like 'because' introducing a reason for the previous statement: knowing .. your election [ie that you are chosen]. For our gospel etc. OR knowing .. your election, because our gospel etc.
εἰδότες .. τὴν ἐκλογὴν ὑμῶν seems too bald to be a complete thought - I feel it needs a bit more. ὅτι seems to me to cry out to be related to εἰδότες - but I may be wrong.
In 1 Thess 2.1: 'Αὐτοὶ γὰρ οἴδατε, ἀδελφοί, τὴν εἴσοδον ἡμῶν τὴν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὅτι οὐ κενὴ γέγονεν,', ὅτι is clearly like 'that', not 'because' (see also Romans 13.11, 1 Cor 16.15, 2 Cor 12.3-4)
Any thoughts? Andrew