[B-Greek] Fear of fear - 1Pe 3:6
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Mon May 3 03:31:44 EDT 2010
It seems to me that FOBEW and PTOEW function in a similar way and are also close
in meaning.
FOBEW means to frighten or cause fear in somebody. It is very commonly used in
the MP forms and rarely in the active. In the NT it never occurs in the active,
but 95 times in an MP form, since the focus and context is not on who or what
caused the fear but the person experiencing the fear. The corresponding noun is
FOBOS, the feeling that the person experiences. How would one express the
activity of frightening somebody in Greek? Is there a noun for that? Or maybe
they would use an active participle of FOBEW?
FOBHMA is a thing that causes fear, and so is FOBHTRON (Luk 21.11)
FOBHTOS refers to something or someone to be feared.
PTOEW means to cause someone to tremble (out of fear of attack or punishment). I
would say that the English word intimidate fits this meaning, but terrify might
be better in some contexts, depending on the severity of the threat.
The noun PTOHSIS is used only once in the LXX, in Pro 3:25:
καὶ οὐ φοβηθήσῃ πτόησιν ἐπελθοῦσαν οὐδὲ ὁρμὰς ἀσεβῶν ἐπερχομένας
KAI OU FOBHQHSHi PTOHSIN EPELQOUSAN OUDE hORMAS ASEBWN EPERCOMENAS
NETS translate as:
And you shall not be afraid of intimidation when it comes,
nor of attacks of the impious, when they approach.
1 Pet 3:6 has
καὶ μὴ φοβούμεναι μηδεμίαν πτόησιν
KAI MH FOBOUMENAI MHDEMIAN PTOHSIN
and not to be fearing any intimidation
The verb PTOEW occurs 38 times in the LXX, and as with FOBEW, it normally occurs
in an MP form indicating the person who experiences the intimidation or
"terrification".
We do find active forms in
Prov 13:3 ὁ δὲ προπετὴς χείλεσιν πτοήσει ἑαυτόν
hO DE PROPETHS CEILESIN PTOHSEI hEAUTON
NETS: but he who is rash with his lips will bring terror upon himself
Jer 21:13 Τίς πτοήσει ἡμᾶς;
TIS PROHSEI hHMAS?
NETS: Who shall terrify us?
Jer 25:17 (49:37) καὶ πτοήσω αὐτοὺς ἐναντίον τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτῶν τῶν ζητούντων τὴν
ψυχὴν αὐτῶν
KAI PTOHSW AUTOUS ENANTION TWN EXQRWN AUTWN TWN ZHTOUNTWN THN YUCHN AUTWN
NETS: And I will terrify them before their enemies who seek their soul
Hab 2:17 καὶ ταλαιπωρία θηρίων πτοήσει σε
KAI TALAIPWRIA QHRIWN PTOHSEI SE
NETS: and the misery(/destruction) of (the) wild animals will terrify you (make
you tremble)
The question now is: does PTOHSIS refer to the active idea - to
intimidate/terrify or to the passive idea of being intimidated, terrified? It is
my understanding that the -SIS ending like -MOS normally refers to the active
idea (e.g. DEHSIS, QELHSIS, GENESIS, PTWSIS, TELEIWSIS, APOLUTRWSIS, ZHTHSIS,
AFESIS, KLHSIS, EKDIKHSIS, BRWSIS, POSIS, THRHSIS, GNWSIS, FANERWSIS, KAUXHSIS,
PARABASIS, METAQESIS, AQETHSIS, PROQESIS). My guess is that a noun for the
passive idea might be PTOA or PTOH (1Macc 3:25, 3Macc 6:17). However, according
to BAGD below, this distinction does not seem to be followed strictly for
PTOHSIS, but I would need to check the references cited to be sure. (Maybe
someone can do that for me?)
BAGD says the following:
"1. act., the act of terrifying, intimidation—2. pass. fear, terror (Philo, Rer.
Div. Her. 251, end). In MH FOBOUMENAI MHDEMIAN PTOHSIN 1 Pt 3:6 (Pr 3:25) both
mngs. are poss. In the case of mng. 2 PTOHSIN would be acc. of the inner obj."
Carl has rooted for meaning 2, while I prefer meaning 1, partly because of the
close parallel to Pro 3:25 above
and because it seems to fit the context better. A disrespectful wife is likely
to be intimidated or maybe even terrified by the (re)actions of her husband, but
a respectful (obedient) wife like Sarah will not need to fear such intimidation
(assuming the husband is not an unreasonable drunkard).
Of course, what Peter is saying her to the Christian wives is politically
incorrect in modern day Western society, but if it is possible to ignore Western
culture, I would say that Peter is asking the wives to submit to their husbands,
even if they are not believers (3:1a), because that might bring them to faith
(v. 1b-2). An outward beauty (v. 3) will not accomplish this, but an inward
beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit may do it (v. 4). In v. 5 he then cites
models from former times who did exactly what Peter advises in v. 1: submitting
themselves to their husbands. In v. 6 he gives a prime example, namely Sarah:
She obeyed her husband and called him "lord/master". And you wives have become
her "children" if you have the same attitude and do like her.
So, in the context I read 1 Pet 3:6 like this: If you wives have an attitude of
submission to your husbands, then you will show that attitude in doing good
deeds to them (with a gentle spirit rather than harsh words, complaints and
accusations). If you do that you have nothing to fear in terms of your husbands
intimidating you.
I am not satisfied with any English version because I do not agree with their
exegesis.
Iver Larsen
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Conrad" <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
To: "Oun Kwon" <kwonbbl at gmail.com>
Cc: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 1. maj 2010 02:37
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Fear of fear - 1Pe 3:6
> On Apr 30, 2010, at 7:05 PM, Oun Kwon wrote:
>> 1Pe 3:6b
>>
>> hHS EGENHQHTE TEKNA AGAQOPOIOUSAI
>> KAI MH FOBOUMENAI MHDEMIAN PTOHSIN
>>
>> It is hard to see what the phrase μὴ φοβούμεναι μηδεμίαν πτόησιν is
>> trying to tell. (BDAG p. 895 PTOHSIS gives several glosses -
>> 'terrifying' 'intimidation' 'fear' 'terror'.)
>> Most English translations do not help much, while some do smooth it over.
>>
>> Is it possible understand this phrase something like 'fear of fear'?
>
> I don't find it in BDAG but I do find "flutter" in LSJ for the verb PTOEW,
> which appears to be a denominative verb from the root PET/POT/PT whence we
> derive PIPTW (fall), PETAMAI (fly), PTWSIS (grammatical "case" from "falling",
> PTWMA (corpse), etc. I think that PTOHSIS really means the "quivering" or
> "shudder" that is a physical manifestation of fear. That being the case, I
> would understand MHDEMIAN PTOHSIN not as an object or complement of FOBOUMENOI
> but rather as an adverbial accusative: "and not being afraid even so much as a
> shiver" or we might say, "not even so much as a frisson."
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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