Re: EKKLHSIA

From: Michael Sigurd Olszta (olszta@netway.com)
Date: Mon Nov 29 1999 - 00:11:37 EST


"Carl W. Conrad" wrote:

> I really don't think there's any question of the EKKLHSIA here being used in
> the older Greek sense of "assembly" of commons where the business of the
> community was voted upon.

OK. That is how I would naturally read the passage based upon the context and
definition of EKKLHSIA. Now, I need to address another question and this may
revert back to the hUMWN of verse 34 which, as you correctly point out is in
the textus receptus I have in front of me:

Does the word ADELPHOIS as in 1:10,11,26, 2:1, 3:1, 4:6, 6:5,8, 7:24, 8:12,
9:5, 10:1, 11:2,33, 14:6,20,26,31, 15:6,50,58, 16:11,12,15,20 in 1 Corinthians
and many places elsewhere throughout Paul's epistles refer to the men AND women
or just the men? For myself, if I wrote a letter to a church of men and women
and wanted it equally addressed to both, I would use "brothers and sisters" to
indicate that I was speaking to both. Perhaps Greek can use ADELPHOIS as
pertaining to both "men and women" and this is the question I have. But again,
assuming that hUMWN in verse 33 is correct, it would seem impossible for Paul
to be saying to both men and women:

AI GUNAIKES hUMWN EN EKKLHSIAS SIGATWSAN.

Liddell, Scott, Jones give the following definition of brother and sister with
a cited reference:

ADELPHOI - brother and sister, Eur. El. 536;

EI D' ESTIN TODE, DUOIN ADELPHOIN POUS AN OU GENOIT' ISOS ANDROS TE KAI
GUNAIKOS, ALL' HARSEN KRATEI.

ADELPHOIN (I assume) is in the dual person above? If it is, is this the reason
that it is understood as "brother and sister"? If such is the case, then would
not Paul's near 100% usage of the term ADELPHOIS (not ADELPHOIN) in his
epistles make the reader to understand by Greek structure that he indeed was
writing to TOIS ADELPHOIS (the brothers), not TAIS ADELPHAIS (the sisters)?

> We had a thread not all that long ago on the usage of EKKLHSIA; you might
> want to consult the archives for July 26-29 of 1999 at the web site for a
> discussion of the range of NT usage of this noun.

Thank you. A most interesting thread.

Michael



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