RE: Simeon still

From: CWestf5155 (CWestf5155@aol.com)
Date: Mon Dec 01 1997 - 10:32:22 EST


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From: CWestf5155 <CWestf5155@aol.com>
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To: p.m.phillips@cliff.shef.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Simeon still
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 1997 10:29:52 EST
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Dear Pete,

In a message dated 97-12-01 04:17:38 EST, you write:

> The Greek text (in most manuscripts - sorry I am using UBS4 which fails to
> distinguish any textual problem here!) separates the noun from its
> adjective with the verb "EINAI". I know I will have a flood of e-mails
> telling me the exact grammatical distinction that is being made here. It
> may well be that Luke is simply emphasising the holy nature of Simeon's
> Spirit or spirit. But the fact is that it is emphasised. Why? Why didn't
> Luke simply say "the Holy Spirit was upon him" - why did he choose to say
> "The Spirit that was upon him was holy". If PNEUMA meant HS in any case
> then this is tautologous. Luke seems to me to be saying that the Spirit
> upon him was holy as opposed to unholy. Why would Luke do this and what
> implications does that have for other references to PNEUMA in the text of
> Luke-Acts. Does Luke use PNEUMA and hAGION separately elsewhere? This is
> where I wish I had a Greek search engine on my computer. Does Luke use
> PNEUMA with other adjectives separately or together?
>
> I am not calling into question the nature of the HS and those who wish to
> follow that track can make up a thread of their own. I want to get to
> grips with this passage. What does the Greek mean? And why does Luke put
> it this way round?
>

Nolland goes beyond the suggestion of emphasis in his analysis.

>From John Nolland, *Luke 1-9:20*, Word Biblical Commentary, p. 118-9:

*PNEUMA HN hAGION EP' AUTON (lit., "Spirit was holy upon him") is quite
distinctive and probably pre-Lukan. Only here in the infancy narratives is
the Holy Spirit not immediately the Spirit of eschatological fulfillment; and
Simeon's enduring possession of the Spirit is to be distinguished from the
filling of Elizabeth (1:41) and Zechariah (1:67). It is doubful, however,
whether Luke makes anything of the distinction."

Cindy Westfall
PhD Student, Roehampton



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