1 cor 12:2
Posted: February 27th, 2013, 7:46 pm
I'm having difficulty with 1 cor 12:2.
Οἴδατε ὅτι ὅτε ἔθνη ἦτε πρὸς τὰ εἴδωλα τὰ ἄφωνα ὡς ἂν ἤγεσθε ἀπαγόμενοι.
I understand that ἦτε needs to be understood in the verse to make sense of the participle, but why does Paul include ὡς ἂν ἤγεσθε? Whats the point that he is advancing?
BDAG says,
Οἴδατε ὅτι ὅτε ἔθνη ἦτε πρὸς τὰ εἴδωλα τὰ ἄφωνα ὡς ἂν ἤγεσθε ἀπαγόμενοι.
I understand that ἦτε needs to be understood in the verse to make sense of the participle, but why does Paul include ὡς ἂν ἤγεσθε? Whats the point that he is advancing?
BDAG says,
Robertson in his grammar says (page 974):1 Cor 12:2 is difficult: ὅτι πρὸς τὰ εἴδωλα τὰ ἄφωνα ὡς ἂν ἤγεσθε ἀπαγόμενοι may be transl. how you were attracted, carried away again and again to mute idols, where ἄν denotes repetition, and ὡς takes up the preceding ὅτι; for another expl., presupposing the rdg. ὡς ἀνήγεσθε, s. JWeiss ad loc.; s. also ICC ad loc.
Is Paul saying that they were habitually being carried away by mute idols?In 1 Cor. 12:2, ὡς ἂν ἤγεσθε, we have the imperfect ind. with ἄν for the notion of repetition (cf. ὅταν).