Ephesians 2:12

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dcurlee
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Joined: December 19th, 2013, 3:49 pm

Ephesians 2:12

Post by dcurlee »

ὅτι ἦτε τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ χωρὶς Χριστοῦ, ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς πολιτείας τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ξένοι τῶν διαθηκῶν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, ἐλπίδα μὴ ἔχοντες καὶ ἄθεοι ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ.

Question - is there any way possible that the word "strangers" within this context can be referring to an Israelite rather than a non-Israelite?

Dustin...
cwconrad
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Re: Ephesians 2:12

Post by cwconrad »

dcurlee wrote:ὅτι ἦτε τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ χωρὶς Χριστοῦ, ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς πολιτείας τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ξένοι τῶν διαθηκῶν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, ἐλπίδα μὴ ἔχοντες καὶ ἄθεοι ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ.

Question - is there any way possible that the word "strangers" within this context can be referring to an Israelite rather than a non-Israelite?

Dustin...
Not that I can see, since ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς πολιτείας τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ and ξένοι τῶν διαθηκῶν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας are pretty clearly characterizing the same addressees of the statement. These predications seem almost synonymous descriptions of Gentiles.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
dcurlee
Posts: 2
Joined: December 19th, 2013, 3:49 pm

Re: Ephesians 2:12

Post by dcurlee »

Mr. Conrad,

I tend to agree with you.

Added to that is that Paul calls what is happening a "mystery." The 10 Northern Tribes being brought back into the "fold" (2 sticks becoming one, Ezekiel 37) would not have been a mystery since their Scriptures clearly expressed what would happen.

Thank you for the response. I appreciate it.

Dustin Curlee
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