[B-Greek] SUGKEKERASMENOUS in Hebrews 4:2

Leonard Jayawardena leonardj at live.com
Tue Sep 2 03:30:58 EDT 2008


According to the post linked to by Carl Conrad, BDAG understands THi TOIS AKOUSASIN as "those who listened in faith," making TOIS AKOUSASIN the dative complement of SUGKEKERASMENOUS and THi PISTEI dependent on THi TOIS AKOUSASIN.
 
I think the BDAG interpretation of this construction dovetails neatly with hOI PISTEUSANTES of the following verse (v. 3) and so derives additional support for itself.
 
Verse 3 reads, EISERCOMEQA GAR EIS [THN] KATAPAUSIN hOI PISTEUSANTES....    In the view of the writer of Hebrews, those among the children of Israel who believed that God would fulfill his promise of giving them rest in the land of Canaan entered it (except Moses, who was disqualified for another reason). They were the OT type of those Christians who believed the gospel when it was preached to them (hOI PISTEUSANTES of v. 3) and so "are entering" (EISERCOMEQA) their rest. Therefore THi TOIS AKOUSASIN in v.2, i.e., "those who heard with faith" and so entered the promised rest under Joshua, correspond to and are the OT type of hOI PISTEUSANTES in v. 3, who are "are entering" their rest. hOI PISTEUSANTES points to "with those heard with faith" as being the correct meaning of THi TOIS AKOUSASIN. 
 
Charles Conrad's interpretation "they refused to join in faith with those who had heeded the proclamation" (found in the post linked to) does not seem to provide a neat parallel to hOI PISTEUSANTES in v. 3. Leonard JayawardenaSri Lanka
 
 
Message: 2Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2008 08:58:31 +0300From: "Iver Larsen" <iver_larsen at sil.org>Subject: Re: [B-Greek] SUGKEKERASMENOUS in Hebrews 4:2To: "Vasile Stancu" <stancu at mail.dnttm.ro>, "'Leonard Jayawardena'"<leonardj at live.com>Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.orgMessage-ID: <29D22A38D9F447FA92CB9E2A7F986106 at iveracer>Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="utf-8";reply-type=original----- 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 17:04Subject: 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 ???? ????????? TOIS AKOUSASIN as qualifying > ???????? 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:>> ... ???? ??? ???????? ? ????? ??? ????? ????????, [i.e., ???? ?????????], ?? ?????? ?? > ???????????????? [i.e., again,] ???? ?????????.>> ALL' OUK WFELHSEN O LOGOS THS AKOHS EKEINOUS [i.e., TOIS AKOUSASIN] THi PISTEI MH SUGKEKRASMENOUS > [i.e., again] TOIS AKOUSASIN>> Vasile STANCUThe 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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