EN PASHi KTISEI
Harold R. Holmyard III
hholmyard at ont.com
Sun Jun 4 22:03:50 EDT 2000
Dear Mark,
You write:
>Col. 1:23
>TOU KHRUCQENTOS EN PASHi KTISEI THi hUPO TON OURANON
>It is a trifle hard for me to believe that the gospel had been preached to
>every creature or in all creation. But not only does Paul seem to say
>that, he even seems to qualify it further with THi hUPO TON OURANON.
>Is it significant that PAS is singular?
>I assume it is not to be taken ìliterallyî as the English translations
>render it, for example:
>ìwhich was preached to every creature under heaven.î (NKJV)
>How would one translate this?
A lexicon will tell you that the word KTISIS can mean "creation" or
"creature"; so context is important. Here your own reasoning suggests one
good reason why it is "creation" not "creature." The word EN is also
suggestive to me. If Paul had in mind a person, you would expect him to use
something like a simple dative. EN suggests a geographical area.
Yours,
Harold Holmyard
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