1 cor 12:2

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Justin Cofer
Posts: 47
Joined: October 20th, 2012, 12:25 pm

1 cor 12:2

Post by Justin Cofer »

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,
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.
Robertson in his grammar says (page 974):
In 1 Cor. 12:2, ὡς ἂν ἤγεσθε, we have the imperfect ind. with ἄν for the notion of repetition (cf. ὅταν).
Is Paul saying that they were habitually being carried away by mute idols?
cwconrad
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Re: 1 cor 12:2

Post by cwconrad »

Justin Cofer wrote: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,
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.
Robertson in his grammar says (page 974):
In 1 Cor. 12:2, ὡς ἂν ἤγεσθε, we have the imperfect ind. with ἄν for the notion of repetition (cf. ὅταν).
Is Paul saying that they were habitually being carried away by mute idols?
That would appear to be so. As I discern the context, Paul is trying to draw a distinction between the pre-conversion religious experience of his addressees and how they should understand the χαρίσματα, the "spiritual endowments" which they enjoy now as Christian believers. He reminds them of how they used to feel in their religious experience of the speechless idols that they worshiped previously, how they were "carried away" or experienced a sort of "rapture."

As BDAG indicates, the phrase, ὡς ἂν ἤγεσθε, doesn't conform to any commonly-attested pattern. You may -- or may not -- find helpful some earlier discussion of this phrase in our old mailing-list archives of February 2011:
“The force of ὡς ἃν in 1 Corinthians 12:2” Feb 24-25, 2011,
beginning with http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-gr ... 55662.html
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Justin Cofer
Posts: 47
Joined: October 20th, 2012, 12:25 pm

Re: 1 cor 12:2

Post by Justin Cofer »

Thanks Carl!
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