Re: PAIDAGWGOS -Gal. 3:24, 25

From: Edgar Foster (questioning1@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Jul 15 1998 - 20:31:29 EDT


Dear B-Greekers,

I give my thanks to all forum members who gave me some input on the
denotations and
connotations of PAIDAGWGOS. After surveying some of the information on
this
fascinating Greek sign, I would say that the image of hO PAIDAGWGOS is
in the
eyes of the beholder.

It is of interest to note that Plutarch wrote: "And yet what do hOI
PAIDAGWGOI
teach? To walk in the public streets with lowered head; to touch
salt-fish but with
one finger, but fresh fish, bread, and meat with two" (Plutarch, Mor.
439f-440).

That's not so bad. So a PAIDAGWGOS teaches manners. So what? As opposed
to the description by Plutarch, It has been reported (by Theodoret and
Libanius)
that some PAIDAGWGOS could be very severe (harsh) in their discipline,
and even
provoked great fear in their charges. Did Paul have such images in
mind when he
wrote Gal. 3:24ff?

Another concern I have is the use of SUNKLEIO. In the LXX, it is used
to refer to
an enclosed, tightly guarded city (Josh. 6:1; 45:1); to those bound in
chains. Luke uses it to describe enclosed fish. The
word (in Gal. 3) seems to provoke images of a prison guard, not a
kindly "tutor."
This also makes me wonder if Paul was actually focusing on the
harshness of the
Law (i.e., its disciplinary and condemnatory nature). Maybe, but I
know that Paul was
no Marcionite. He himself said that the Law is holy and good (Rom.
7:12). It is the
sinful human that makes the Law futile. If it had not been for the
Law, humans
would neither have known sin, nor the roots of sin (i.e.,
covetousness). So, the Law
seems somewhat applicable today.

Regards to all,

Edgar Foster

Classics Major

Lenoir-Rhyne College

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