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Can εἰσενέγκῃς have a passive meaning?

Posted: April 24th, 2021, 6:20 pm
by jgibson000
Is there a reason for claiming, as does C.F.D. Moule ("An Unsolved Problem in the Temptation Clause in the Lord's Prayer" Reformed Theological Review 33 [1974] 66), that καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμἄς εἰς “need mean no more than ‘do not let us be brought into’” besides how the phrase would then cohere on analogy with the phrase that is (in Matthew) it’s parallel (i.e. ἀλλὰ ῥὔσαι ἡμἄς ἀπὸ το πονηροὕ)? Can εἰσενέγκῃς have a passive meaning?

Re: Can εἰσενέγκῃς have a passive meaning?

Posted: April 25th, 2021, 5:31 am
by Alex Hopkins
εἰσενέγκῃς takes a direct object ἡμᾶς, and is not passive. On the other hand, there may be reasons for Moule's claiming that the expression quoted "need mean no more than ‘do not let us be brought into’." Such reasons are theologically based, however, and are not grammatically compelled. I haven't seen Moule's article, so what follows is simply a guess, viz, he's wrestling with the theological import of the text and his view of how best to convey his understanding of the words in English.

Jeffrey, I wonder if you have seen Margaret Demers' study 'The Tempation-Clause of the Lord's Prayer'? I've not read it so won't go so far as recommending it, but it does seem to deal with some of the questions you've raised recently, and I am guessing that it would at least give its readers an indication of issues raised around the sixth petition.

An abstract of that article (which may be viewed and downloaded from the link) is as follows http://hdl.handle.net/11375/11881:
The thesis begins with an exegetical review of the Our Father as word of the historical Jesus. It progresses through exegetical reviews of the same prayer in the Matthean and Lucan traditions respectively. In all three analyses, the focus is on the sixth petition: "Lead us not into temptation." By focusing on the sixth petition, the study brings maximum attention, first, to the difficulties raised by this text from early in the life of Christianity to the present time. Some of the incentive of the study derives from C. F. D. Moule's treatment of "An Unsolved Problem in the Temptation - Clause in the Lord's Prayer," Reformed Theological Review 33 (1974): 65-75. The study offers an answer to this "unsolved problem." Second, it attempts to answer the question of what is meant by the sixth petition not only at three phases in the tradition (Jesus, Matthew, Luke), but by reflection on the petition in all its parts, e.g., examining each of the words "and lead us not into temptation" and how each functions in the whole petition. (Hence, treatment of the verb εỉσεvεγκῃs, the preposition εἰs, and the noun πεipασμόv, their relationship to each other, and their collaboration to form one idea will be necessary.) In part two the object of reflection will be God's role in temptation as perceived in the Bible, and the point of praying "lead us not into temptation." The study does not neglect treatment of temptation in the Old Testament, nor does it fail to deal with the reasons accounting for why this theme has the distinct contour that it assumes in the New Testament.
Alex Hopkins
Melbourne, Australia

Re: Can εἰσενέγκῃς have a passive meaning?

Posted: April 25th, 2021, 9:20 am
by Barry Hofstetter
jgibson000 wrote: April 24th, 2021, 6:20 pm Is there a reason for claiming, as does C.F.D. Moule ("An Unsolved Problem in the Temptation Clause in the Lord's Prayer" Reformed Theological Review 33 [1974] 66), that καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμἄς εἰς “need mean no more than ‘do not let us be brought into’” besides how the phrase would then cohere on analogy with the phrase that is (in Matthew) it’s parallel (i.e. ἀλλὰ ῥὔσαι ἡμἄς ἀπὸ το πονηροὕ)? Can εἰσενέγκῃς have a passive meaning?
Alex's response is good. To answer the question directly, no, it's not passive, and no where else in Greek literature will you find the form so used. As for εἰς as part of the compound, it's quite common in Hellenistic Greek to repeat the preposition with the compound, so no special "meaning" can derived from the syntax. It really reads rather straightforwardly in Greek, but extended exegetical commentary becomes necessary when people try to draw theological conclusions.

Re: Can εἰσενέγκῃς have a passive meaning?

Posted: April 25th, 2021, 11:59 am
by jgibson000
Alex,

Thanks for the suggestion. As longstanding members of B-Greek know, I worked up my own examination of this text sometime ago. FWIW, it can be accessed here: https://www.academia.edu/39411351/Testi ... ation_Matt

Jeffrey