Re: EPISTEUSAN with HSAN TETAGMENOI

From: dixonps@juno.com
Date: Sat May 13 2000 - 18:32:23 EDT


On Sat, 13 May 2000 14:22:48 -0500 "Bill Ross" <wross@farmerstel.com>
writes:
>
> * the semantic range of this verb is not limited to being "slated":
> it is commonly translated in 1 Cor 16:15 as "devoted"
>
> NIV
> You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in
> Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints.
I
> urge you, brothers,
>
> * this occurrence could be construed as being either middle or
> passive - the form is identical; hence it could read "...they believed,
all those
> having devoted themselves to eternal life" (or as Carl said the words
beg a
> stative sense, "all those being devoted into eternal life"

<snip>

> * the words "word of the Lord" here does not, in the context given,
> refer to the Gospel, and thus "believed" does not, in this context,
refer to
> saving faith. Rather, the "word of the Lord" refers to the dictum that
the
> Gentiles were partakers in the Gospel. It is specifically the
*Gentiles* who
> heard this dictum, that are the ones recorded as rejoicing and
glorifying
> and believing
>
> What think ye?

Hi Bill:

I believe both the immediate context and the broader context require that
TON LOGON TOU KURIOU refer not to the news of v. 47, that salvation
has been brought to the Gentiles, but to the word of the Lord regarding
salvation, that is, the good news of the gospel.

The phrase LOGON TOU KURIOU occurs 6 times in Acts (8:25, 13:44,
13:48, 15:35, 16:32, and 19:10). Everywhere else in Acts, including
4 verses earlier (13:44 where B and the majority have KURIOU), the
meaning is clearly the word of the Lord regarding salvation. It means
nothing else in Acts.

If so, then what was believed (EPISTEUSAN, v. 48) was the good news
regarding eternal life. This causes problems for your view inasmuch as
belief in the gospel then is the result of their having devoted
themselves
into eternal life. But, such is foreign to the text of Acts, let alone
the rest
of the NT.

Paul Dixon

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