[B-Greek] SUGKEKERASMENOUS in Hebrews 4:2
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Mon Sep 1 01:58:31 EDT 2008
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vasile Stancu" <stancu at mail.dnttm.ro>
To: "'Carl Conrad'" <cwconrad2 at mac.com>; "'Leonard Jayawardena'" <leonardj at live.com>
Cc: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 31. august 2008 17:04
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] SUGKEKERASMENOUS in Hebrews 4:2
> It is a little bit hard for me to grasp the idea that the result of appropriately receiving the
> good news would be to "join in faith with those who had heeded the proclamation", especially
> because the possibility is there to interpret the τοῖς ἀκούσασιν TOIS AKOUSASIN as qualifying
> ἐκείνους EKEINOUS - setting a limitation on it - in a sense like, "... did not profit those, i.e.
> those who heard...", as if the Greek text would read:
>
> ... ἀλλ’ οὐκ ὠφέλησεν ὁ λόγος τῆς ἀκοῆς ἐκείνους, [i.e., τοῖς ἀκούσασιν], τῇ πίστει μὴ
> συγκεκερασμένους [i.e., again,] τοῖς ἀκούσασιν.
>
> ALL' OUK WFELHSEN O LOGOS THS AKOHS EKEINOUS [i.e., TOIS AKOUSASIN] THi PISTEI MH SUGKEKRASMENOUS
> [i.e., again] TOIS AKOUSASIN
>
> Vasile STANCU
The first post in this thread suggested that one text was grammatical and the other was not.
However, both are grammatically correct. It is just that they are different texts and therefore have
different structures and analyses.
The singular participle is found in only one Greek manuscript, Sinaiticus, so the plural has
overwhelming textual support and is also on the surface the more difficult reading. So, it is almost
sure to be original as noted in the NET note at this place. Sinaiticus is known for making
"editorial corrections" as well as careless mistakes.
As Carl has pointed out, the Greek AKOUW is much broader in meaning than the English "hear". It
includes the sense of "obey" which Louw and Nida cites for Matt 17:5. BAGD lists under their sense
4: "Abs. obey, listen ... Ac 28:28; cf. Mt 18:16; J 5:25b; agree 9:27a."
The famous incident alluded to in Hebr 4:2 is found in Exodus 13-14, recounted in Deut 1 and also
referred to in Num 32:6-13. There were two groups among the people. A small group led by Caleb,
Joshua, Moses and Aaron, who believed that God would give them victory, so Moses and Aaron were the
two most prominent people who "heard/believed" the good news (the report - AKOH) of Joshua and Caleb
that God would give them the land. The majority of the people followed the other 10 spies and did
not believe the good news of the minority.
So, if we take EKEINOUS to be the majority who did not believe and AKOUSASIN to be the other group
who listened and believed, the text with the plural makes good sense, especially in the context of
Hebrews 3-4. After all, the key topic here is to listen with faith and obey. The EKEINOUS did not
join with the AKOUSASIN because they did not have faith. (Carl also suggested the participle to be
semantically middle, rather than passive, and I AKH/KOA.)
Iver Larsen
> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of
> Carl Conrad
> Sent: Friday, August 29, 2008 7:38 PM
> To: Leonard Jayawardena
> Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] SUGKEKERASMENOUS in Hebrews 4:2
>
>
> On Aug 29, 2008, at 12:49 AM, Leonard Jayawardena wrote:
>
>>
>> Hebrews 4:2--KAI GAR ESMEN EUHGGELISMENOI KAQAPER KAKEINOI, ALL' OUK
>> WFELHSAN hO LOGOS THS AKOHS EKEINOUS MH SUGKEKERASMENOUS THi PISTEI
>> TOIS AKOUSASIN.
>>
>> Why is SUGKEKERASMENOUS in the accusative and why is it plural,
>> since it is to be understood with hO LOGOS THS AKOHS?
>> SUGKEKERASMENOS, which is what, I think, would be grammatically
>> correct, is found in some manuscripts, but the editors of the
>> critical text of Nestle Aland and UBS appparently thought
>> SUGKEKERASMENOUS most probably stood in the original text. Is the
>> form of the word due its proximity to EKEINOUS? and Is it a
>> "solecism"?
>
> I'm not going to reproduce it here, but a a couple earlier efforts I
> made to elucidate the problems of this text are set forth in a message
> which I addressed to the list on September 24, 2003 8:37:36 AM EDT
> under the subject header, "Re: [B-Greek] Two datives in Heb. 4:2." In
> the archives at:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-greek/2003-September/026418.html
> = http://tinyurl.com/6ck7yw
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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