ὡς/εἰς Mt.14:5 etc. ἔχειν + 2 acc. hold the view that x is y

Semantic Range, Lexicography, and other approaches to word meaning - in general, or for particular words.
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Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

ὡς/εἰς Mt.14:5 etc. ἔχειν + 2 acc. hold the view that x is y

Post by Stephen Hughes »

BDAG ἔχειν (6) can be broken up structurally into three different patterns.
  1. Three are constructed with nouns:
    Matthew 14:5 wrote:Καὶ θέλων αὐτὸν ἀποκτεῖναι, ἐφοβήθη τὸν ὄχλον, ὅτι ὡς προφήτην αὐτὸν εἶχον.
    Matthew 21:26 wrote:πάντες γὰρ ἔχουσιν τὸν Ἰωάννην ὡς προφήτην.
    Matthew 21:46 Byz wrote:ἐπειδὴ ὡς προφήτην αὐτὸν εἶχον .
    Matthew 21:46 NA-UBS wrote:ἐπειδὴ εἰς προφήτην αὐτὸν εἶχον.
  2. One is constructed with a subordinate clause:
    Mark 11:32 wrote:ἅπαντες γὰρ εἶχον τὸν Ἰωάννην, ὅτι ὄντως προφήτης ἦν.
  3. And two (three) are constructed with with adjectives:
    Luke 14:18,19 wrote:ἐρωτῶ σε, ἔχε με παρῃτημένον
    Philippians 2:29 wrote:καὶ τοὺς τοιούτους ἐντίμους ἔχετε·
BDAG ὡς 3(a)γ, states that it is used before a predicate accusative. The verses given for comparison there (the reference to Phil.2:7 in the print edition at least is presumably a typo for 2:8), are:
Luke 16:1 wrote:καὶ οὗτος διεβλήθη αὐτῷ ὡς διασκορπίζων τὰ ὑπάρχοντα αὐτοῦ.
1 Corinthians 4:1,2 wrote:Οὕτως ἡμᾶς λογιζέσθω ἄνθρωπος, ὡς ὑπηρέτας χριστοῦ καὶ οἰκονόμους μυστηρίων θεοῦ. 2 Ὃ δὲ λοιπόν, ζητεῖται ἐν τοῖς οἰκονόμοις, ἵνα πιστός τις εὑρεθῇ.
2 Corinthians 10:2 wrote:δέομαι δέ, τὸ μὴ παρὼν θαρρῆσαι τῇ πεποιθήσει ᾗ λογίζομαι τολμῆσαι ἐπί τινας τοὺς λογιζομένους ἡμᾶς ὡς κατὰ σάρκα περιπατοῦντας.
2 Thessalonians 3:15ab wrote:καὶ μὴ ὡς ἐχθρὸν ἡγεῖσθε, ἀλλὰ νουθετεῖτε ὡς ἀδελφόν.
Philippians 2:8 wrote:καὶ σχήματι εὑρεθεὶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ἐταπείνωσεν ἑαυτόν, γενόμενος ὑπήκοος μέχρι θανάτου, θανάτου δὲ σταυροῦ.
James 2:9 wrote:εἰ δὲ προσωποληπτεῖτε, ἁμαρτίαν ἐργάζεσθε, ἐλεγχόμενοι ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου ὡς παραβάται.
The force of "being" or "to be" seems workable in most cases. That is to say that it seems to function as a marker of predication - and we express predication verbally as "being" or "to be" in English.

My question is whether when εἰς is used with ἔχειν (as used in the NA-UBS text-form) in this type of construction it has the same sort of "to be" sense?


Some of the other seemingly similar uses of εἰς with ἔχειν are:
Luke 14:28 wrote:εἰ ἔχει τὰ εἰς ἀπαρτισμόν;
Mark 3:29 wrote:ὃς δ’ ἂν βλασφημήσῃ εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, οὐκ ἔχει ἄφεσιν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ἀλλ’ ἔνοχός ἐστιν αἰωνίου ἁμαρτήματος.
Mark 10:23 wrote:Πῶς δυσκόλως οἱ τὰ χρήματα ἔχοντες εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ εἰσελεύσονται.
John 3:36 wrote:Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς τὸν υἱὸν ἔχει ζωὴν αἰώνιον·
John 6:40 wrote:πᾶς ὁ θεωρῶν τὸν υἱὸν καὶ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτόν, ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον,
John 13:29 wrote:Ἀγόρασον ὧν χρείαν ἔχομεν εἰς τὴν ἑορτήν·
Acts 24:15 wrote:ἐλπίδα ἔχων εἰς τὸν θεόν,
Romans 6:22 wrote:ἔχετε τὸν καρπὸν ὑμῶν εἰς ἁγιασμόν
1 Corinthians 11:22 wrote:Μὴ γὰρ οἰκίας οὐκ ἔχετε εἰς τὸ ἐσθίειν καὶ πίνειν;
2 Corinthians 2:4 wrote:ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀγάπην ἵνα γνῶτε ἣν ἔχω περισσοτέρως εἰς ὑμᾶς.
Galatians 6:4 wrote:καὶ τότε εἰς ἑαυτὸν μόνον τὸ καύχημα ἕξει,
Philippians 1:23 wrote:Συνέχομαι δὲ ἐκ τῶν δύο, τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἔχων εἰς τὸ ἀναλῦσαι καὶ σὺν χριστῷ εἶναι, πολλῷ μᾶλλον κρεῖσσον·
Hebrews 10:19 wrote:Ἔχοντες οὖν, ἀδελφοί, παρρησίαν εἰς τὴν εἴσοδον τῶν ἁγίων ἐν τῷ αἵματι Ἰησοῦ,
Of course they are not the same kettle of fish.

The papyrus reference given in LSJ is adjectival (ie. without ὡς)
[url=http://papyri.info/ddbdp/p.oxy;2;292?rows=3&start=56&fl=id%2Ctitle&fq=series_led_path%3Ap.oxy%3B2%3B*%3B*&sort=series+asc%2Cvolume+asc%2Citem+asc&p=57&t=113]P.Oxy. 292[/url], a letter wrote:AD25 Oxyrhynchus
r
Θέων Τυράννωι τῶι τιμιωτάτωι
πλεῖστα χαίρειν.
Ἡρακλείδης ὁ ἀποδιδούς σοι τὴν
ἐπιστολὴν ἐστίν μου ἀδελφός·
5διὸ παρακαλῶ σε μετὰ πάσης δυνά-
μεως ἔχειν αὐτὸν συνεσταμέ-
νον. ἠρώτησα δέ καὶ Ἑρμί[α]ν
τὸν ἀδελφὸν διὰ γραπτοῦ ἀνηγεῖ̣[σθαί]
\σοι περὶ/ τούτου. χαριεσαι(*) δέ μοι τὰ μέγιστα
10ἐάν σου τῆς ἐπισημασίας τύχηι.
πρὸ δὲ πάντων ὑγιάνειν(*) σε εὔχ[ο-]
μαι ἀβασκάντως τὰ ἄριστα
πράττων. ἔρρω(σο).
——
v
Τυράννωι διοικ(ητῇ).
It seems that sometimes εἰς has the force of "to be" + noun. as in Revelations 11:6 στρέφειν αὐτὰ εἰς αἷμα "turned the waters into (to be) blood". The use of the stationary or unchanging verb ἔχειν with εἰς this might be by analogy or extension in this
Matthew 21:46 NA-UBS wrote:ἐπειδὴ εἰς προφήτην αὐτὸν εἶχον.
Are there any parallels for ἔχειν with εἰς on the sense of "hold to be". Was Matthew using a common idiom or did he diverge from the standard grammar of Greek?

The BDAG entry for ὡς mentions Semitic influence, and the entry for ἔχειν mentions a Latin parallel. LSJ ἔχειν II.14, seems to say that only Koine references are available. Is there cross-linguistic interference going on?
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Re: ὡς/εἰς Mt.14:5 etc. ἔχειν + 2 acc. hold the view that x

Post by Stephen Hughes »

Just looking quickly through the DDbDP, the closest to any sort of parallel to ἔχειν with εἰς in the sense Matthew 21:46 in some manuscripts, might be this.
P. Giss. Univ. 3 31 wrote:οἶδ[ας]
δὲ ὅτι οὐκ ἀλλάσσω ἐμαυτὸν πώποτε οὐδὲ δ̣[ύο]
ψυχὰς ἔχω εἰς σέ.
but that only perhaps a little parallel, when looked at with one eye closed and the other one squinting. :P :shock: :o

Never-the-less, there was a nice parallel to Luke 14:28 among them.
Luke 14:28 wrote:εἰ ἔχει τὰ εἰς ἀπαρτισμόν;
PSI 4 408 wrote:οὐ
\γὰρ/ ἔχω εἰς ἀνήλωμα ("cost", "expense", cf. ἀναλῶσαι "to spend").
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
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