Eduardo Ortega wrote:
Hello Timothy,
Two things:
1) Anyone else agree (or disagree) with that?
2) What other dictionary do you suggest to use for biblical Greek (and better if it has also Hebrew)?
I agree with it, though "burn" is a bit strong. I would merely rip it to bits to save energy...
The problem with Strong's dictionaries is that they are tied to the original language texts underlying the KJV, that they reflect outdated scholarship, that they provide simple glosses rather than definitions, and that they are too often idiosyncratic (and so really in error). They also make it easy for those who don't understand the languages to pick and choose the meaning they want for a text, rather than the actual meaning in context. Avoid. As already noted, Bauer for the NT is the standard, though expensive (but worth in it, IMO). The classical lexicon, Liddell & Scott (LSJ) is available for free online. For Hebrew, Brown-Driver-Biggs (BDB) is available for free in various places online as well.
And what do you think about the two appearances in Ph 2:6, what's their meanings?
It is impossible to translate them in this way.
ὃς ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ, 7 ἀλλὰ ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσεν μορφὴν δούλου λαβών, ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων γενόμενος· καὶ σχήματι εὑρεθεὶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος 8 ἐταπείνωσεν ἑαυτὸν γενόμενος ὑπήκοος μέχρι θανάτου, θανάτου δὲ σταυροῦ· 9 διὸ καὶ ὁ θεὸς αὐτὸν ὑπερύψωσεν, καὶ ἐχαρίσατο αὐτῷ ⸀τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα, 10 ἵνα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων, 11 καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσηται ὅτι κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ πατρός.
1. Context makes it very clear that God in view is God the Father. One does not not have to read theology into the text to see that the point is Jesus' humility with respect to God. Vs. 9 specifies clearly that it is God in view with the articular usage.
2. Paul frequently omits the article with the oblique usages of θεός, and particularly the genitive and dative cases. I believe this is for syntactical reasons, not categorical or semantic, and particularly that these usages tend to refer to God in his activity, the noun used as an adverb, and the tendency is to omit the article in such contexts (and not just with the noun θεός).
3. As already mentioned, the use of the article in Greek can be somewhat complex, and it's difficult to make any rule which covers all circumstances and explains all the phenomena. For example, Ignatius regularly omits the article before θεός even in the nominative and accusative cases, contrary to the regular practice of the NT authors when he obviously means God. The use of the article can vary from author to author, and one must exercise caution.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter
Instructor of Classics
The American Academy