[b-greek] Re: ELPIZW... EN KURIWi

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Tue Jan 02 2001 - 09:40:18 EST


At 4:08 AM +0000 1/2/01, Mark Wilson wrote:
>Phil. 2:19
>
>ELPIZW DE EN KURIWi IHSOU TIMOQEON TACEWS PEMYAI hUMIN
>
>
>This expression seems slightly awkward to me. I guess I am
>not quite sure what hoping "IN" the Lord Jesus means in this
>context.
>
>Elsewhere, Paul uses qualifying phrases for ELPIZW, such as
>
>EAN hO KURIOS EPITREYHi (1 Cor. 16:7) or,
>
>EAN hO KURIOS QELHSHi (1 Cor. 4:19)
>
>
>Without such a qualifying conditional,
>how would you understand this ELPIZW DE EN KURIWi IHSOU
>in Phil 2:19?
>
>Looking at Wallace's Basic uses of EN, I can't seem to find
>one that makes a whole lot of sense here:
>
>"in the sphere of the Lord"
>"because of the Lord" (for the sake of the Lord???)
>"with respect to the Lord"
>"in accordance with the Lord"

I don't think that EN KURIWi is essentially different in construction and
meaning from EN CRISTWi, but of course that is itself an item subject to
considerable range of interpretation, although I think that the single most
commonly held view of it is "in corporate union with Christ." Recently
there has been considerable discussion on the B-Translation list about the
proper understanding and translation of EN CRISTWi and whether, despite its
long-standing traditional use in English, the phrase "in Christ" really
communicates any clearly-understood meaning, insofar as it really is a
unique phrase and not really parallel to any other common English
prepositional phrase with the preposition "in."

As for the phrase and context originally questioned here, my own guess
would be that EN KURIWi ought to be understood in an instrumental sense and
that it is indeed equivalent to the phrases cited from 1 Cor 16:7 and 4:19,
i.e. that they are essentially equivalent to DEO VOLENTE or our own
nominative absolute expression, "God willing." It's just that inasmuch as
for Paul it is the Lord Jesus Christ through whom the will of god uniquely
comes to fulfillment, he prefers to say "Christ willing" rather than "God
willing."

--

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu
cwconrad@ioa.com
http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/

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