meirakion, pais, ephebos

Steven Craig Miller scmiller at www.plantnet.com
Fri Dec 3 16:05:11 EST 1999


To: Christopher Hutson,

Garland Shinn wrote: << Regarding PAIS, I note that the word is used of the 
centurion's servant in Matt 8:5-13 while Luke uses the word DOULOS in what 
is apparently the same incident in 7:1-10. I would welcome your take on how 
is PAIS being used in the Matthean account. Is there some cultural 
phenomenon occurring here? >>

SCM: << Sure, PAIS could also be used to refer to a servant or slave. In a 
similar manner, the English term "boy" was used to refer to a male servant 
or slave. >>

CH: << Yes.  And that would be an option, if one wanted to harmonize Matt 
and Luke.  Matt 14:2 clearly uses PAIS to mean something like "slave" or 
"henchman." Reading Matt alone, however, it seems most natural to read the 
centurion's PAIS as his son. >>

Most natural? How did you determine this?

FWIW, W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, commenting on Mt 8:6, write:

<< ... only once in the NT does PAIS clearly mean 'son' (Jn 4.51). For the 
rest it seems to mean 'servant' (cf. Mt 14.2; 12.18) or 'youngster' (cf. 
17.18). And in the LXX PAIS rarely translates ben: it is most commonly the 
equivalent of `ebed. So we prefer to translate 'servant.' One should think 
of a house slave >> (2:21).

-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller at www.plantnet.com

"Words are like people. To know them well one must meet them on their own 
level, in their own environment. In different circumstances they react 
differently. Like a face they take on varying expressions. Some of them 
move from place to place; some never return to their earlier familiar 
surroundings. But to know their past is to know a little better what makes 
them act as they do in the present" (Frederick W. Danker, "Multipurpose 
Tools for Bible Study," 1993:135).




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