[b-greek] Re: Ephesians 3:13

From: Dave Reigle (reigles@paonline.com)
Date: Mon Mar 26 2001 - 16:04:14 EST


Thank you for the thoughtful response. I do see that this is a good example
of focusing too closely on a small piece of text. Taking it in terms of the
larger text does open up and clarify the possibilities for interpretation.
Is that what discourse analysis is about?
Dave Reigle
Elizabethtown, PA


> You know, I sometimes think we're too picky.
>
> James 3:4
> IDOU KAI TA PLOIA, THLIKAUTA ONTA KAI hUPO ANEMWN SKLHRWN ELAUNOMENA,
> METAGETAI hUPO ELACISTOU PHDALIOU hOPOU hH hORMH TOU EUQUNONTOS BOULETAI
>
> James refers to a pile of ships being blown around the sea, but his
> topic is the tongue (singular). So it is quite natural, and in fact
> gives the reader a linguistic clue, when he uses METAGETAI (singular).
> I think the original reader would have noticed the singularity, too,
> and would have quite naturally accepted James singling out a single
> ship for discussion. It all makes sense as soon as James gets to
> PHDALIOU. Now, we English speakers stumble over that. We want James
> to make explicit his referents. But it's linguistically wrong to read
> English grammar back onto the Greek text--something extremely easy to
> do.
>
> I guess what I'm saying is that if you're the type of person who
> believes in a closed system of grammatical rules and good authors stay
> within the lines, then, sure, this is awkward. However, if you
> believe authors communicate in the language of people, a language
> which is rather fluid and partially open ended, then the above flows
> quite happily. The ironic thing is this: the fuzziness of the
> apparent lack of number agreement helps to more precisely focus the
> reader (just like some split infinitives do <chuckle>) on the topic.
>
> Eph 3:13
> DIO AITOUMAI MH EGKAKEIN EN TAIS QLIYESIN MOU hUPER hUMWN, hHTIS ESTIN
> DOCA hUMWN
>
> I take this in much the same way: "This glory is your glory." And the
> `glory' refers back to the topic of the previous clause. In fact, my
> opinion is it refers back to the topic of 3:2-12. Paul's suffering,
> on the face of things, appears as something not quite right. Paul
> says, "No, you got it wrong. This is glory. My whole vocation, the
> administration of God's grace (THN OIKONOMIAN THS CARITOS TOU QEOU)
> was given me for you (DOQEISHS MOI EIS hUMAS) (3:2). This whole
> administration (OIKONOMIA) is a glorious thing. And it's your glory,
> too." Paul's whole focus is on their benefit. They need to see that
> sucking in the suffering for other's benefit, especially for the
> Messiah, creates unity and THAT type of unity is a good thing (cf
> 4:1ff).
>
> So, the singularity appears somewhat jolting, but that is because our
> English ears want the connections all nice and neat and tidy. When
> you realize the whole paragraph (from 3:2 to 3:13) is Paul talking
> about his vocation, then to finish the paragraph with "This glory is
> your glory," well, it's a beautiful and terse capstone. Terse
> statements are meant to jolt us; Greek just handles them a little
> differently than we do.
>
> This also fits quite nicely with the parenthetical way in which the
> section (3:2-21) was introduced. "I'm a prisoner..., now wait a
> minute, perhaps you think that is a bad thing, well, let me tell ya
> something. In order for you to understand how unity works, you've got
> to get that idea outta your head."
>
> That's about as far as I am going to push this. I think sometimes
> when we focus on the Greek we become micro-optic. A fluent
> speaker/hearer doesn't do that. It's important for students (and
> scholars) of the GNT to step back sometimes and get the flow. These
> questions regarding number and gender (typically neuter) agreement are
> the type of questions that should force us to ask, and seek to answer,
> these much larger textual questions.
>
>
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