[B-Greek] Ephesians 5:31c

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Mar 24 20:19:18 EST 2004


At 2:41 PM -0800 3/24/04, Mitch Larramore wrote:
>KAI ESONTAI hOI DUO EIS SARKA MIAN
>
>I have 3 questions in this short clause.
>
>1. Why the future of EIMI used here instead of the
>future of GINOMAI? Most translate ESONTAI as "shall
>become." It seems that the idea is that the two (man
>and woman) become something new/different, which would
>be better represented with GINOMAI than EIMI, right?
>
>2. How should EIS be translated? "As" one flesh?
>
>3. SARX must have some metaphorical usage here. What
>really does "flesh" mean in this context? Does SARX
>here mean as one "person"?

I think it is important to realize in the first place that this is a
word-for-word literal translation of the Hebrew text of Gen 2;24 into
Greek, so that it is indeed literally "and the two will be into-one-flesh."

Surely the phrasing is intended to suggest (a) sexual union of man and
woman, and also (b) establishment of a permanent relationship between man
and woman.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



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