[B-Greek] GENOMENOS in Phil. 2:8
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Fri Mar 12 13:23:04 EST 2010
On Mar 12, 2010, at 1:02 PM, Blue Meeksbay wrote:
> KAI SCHMATI hEUREQEIS hWS ANQRWPOS ETAPEINWSEN hEAUTON GENOMENOS hUPHKOOS MECRI QANATOU, QANATOU DE STAUROU. Phil 2:8 (or 2:7b-8)
>
> I am wondering if the aorist participle GENOMENOS in this verse can be understood in a stative sense – i.e. “being” – “…he humbled himself, *being* obedient until death, even death of the cross.” I take the particle MECRI as indicating this state continued all the way till death.
>
> Many English translators prefer to see GENOMENOS as “becoming,” which makes the obedience dependent on his act of humbling.
>
> “And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.” RSV
>
> Others prefer to understand the act of humbling to simply be a manifestation of an obedient act… as is shown by the ESV.
>
> “And being found in human form, he humbled himself *by* becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” ESV
>
> I prefer to understand his act of humbling to be based on his obedient state or attitude. Let me give a paraphrase to explain what I mean.
>
> “And being found in human form, and because of his obedient mindset that was his until death, he humbled himself, even to the death of a cross.”
>
> The only English versions I could find that came close to this thought is the New Century Version –
>
> “And when he was living as a man, he humbled himself and was fully obedient to God, even when that caused his death—death on a cross.”
>
> As far as other languages, (if I can trust Google translate), the German “Hoffnung für Alle” comes close –
>
> “Er erniedrigte sich selbst und war Gott gehorsam bis zum Tod, ja, bis zum schändlichen Tod am Kreuz.”
>
> “He humbled Himself and God was obedient unto death, even to the shameful death on the cross.” (Google translate).
>
> And the “Het Boek” of the Netherlands seems to convey a similar thought.
>
> “Herkenbaar als mens, vernederde Hij Zich en gehoorzaamde tot het uiterste, zelfs tot in de dood aan het kruis.”
>
> “Recognizable as human, He humbled Himself and obeyed to the utmost, even unto death on the cross.” (Google translate).
>
> It seems, from looking at most translations, this understanding of GENOMENOS with this stative sense of “being” is a minority view, but can anyone see a reason why it should be disallowed?
All this frantic consultation of all the translations as a means to get at the sense of the Greek! When each one is, obviously, an interpretation of what the Greek says/means. GENOMENOS is an aorist participle and points to assumption of the obedient stance as a single event. It says nothing about "continuation" in a "state" of obedience but rather points to "obedience" as characterizing the one who ETAPEINWSEN hEAUTON.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list