Re: A question from a novice!

From: Mike Sangrey (mike@sojurn.lns.pa.us)
Date: Sun Mar 19 2000 - 15:38:54 EST


cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu said:
> At 2:15 PM -0500 3/19/00, Mike Sangrey wrote:
>> On the one hand, it is usually prudent to be as precise as we
>> can; so to say "ALWAYS in the sense of self giving love" is perhaps
>> too strong. And yet, in the context of the NT, it would be very
>> hard to separate the two ideas of 'self giving' and 'high regard'
>> in any given occurrence.

> Particularly as Alexander Kyrychenko has just called attention to:

> 'DHMAS GAR ME EGKATELIPEN AGAPHSAS TON NUN AIWNA (2Tim 4:10)

> 'This is neither LXX nor "self giving love which requires and expects
> nothing in return."'

> Unless, of course, one really wants to be heavy-handedly ironic, and
> claim that Demas' love 'this present age' is something for which he
> sacrificed himself.

I certainly wouldn't say Paul was focused on self-sacrifice when he
penned those words. However, I don't think it "heavy-handed" or even
a stretch to say Demas' highly valuing 'this present age' results in
his sacrifice of something else he rightly or wrongly values less.

That really is all I was saying, not to push the point too far.
I appreciate your comment, I just don't want to be misunderstood.

To illustrate, and NOT to poke: Perhaps I should sacrifice my
sensitivity for the good of the list. I do value the list highly.
But, I value even more, the careful nuances of meaning which interact
in a text. So, I risk being misunderstood, so as to in some way
benefit others.

You see, you can't really separate 'self-sacrifice' from 'highly
value'. At least not practically, perhaps in some theoretically sense,
but not where people live.

Language is not mathematical, though we can use mathematics to help us
get at the meaning.

Thanks again for your response.

---
B-Greek home page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/bgreek
You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu]
To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-329W@franklin.oit.unc.edu
To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu


This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:41:02 EDT