[b-greek] Re: 1 Cor. 1:25 and ellipsis (what I MEANT! ...)

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Tue Jul 17 2001 - 07:47:48 EDT


At 6:51 AM -0400 7/17/01, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>At 8:58 PM -0500 7/16/01, Nelson D. Kloosterman wrote:
>>I was unable to access the B-Greek archives, so I will regret it if this
>>question is redundant.
>>
>>The Greek of 1 Cor. 1:25 reads:
>>
>>hOTI TO MWRON TOU QEOU SOFWTERON TWN ANQRWPWN ESTIN KAI TO ASQENES TOU QEOU
>>ISXUROTERON TWN ANQRWPWN.
>>
>>Given the frequency within the preceding context of 1 Cor. 1:18-24 of
>>speaking about "wisdom" and "foolishness," may we properly understand an
>>ellipsis in 1:25, so as to mean:
>>
>>hOTI TO MWRON TOU QEOU SOFWTERON _THS SOFIAS_ TWN ANQRWPWN ESTIN KAI TO
>>ASQENES TOU QEOU ISXUROTERON _THS DUNAMEWS_ TWN ANQRWPWN.
>>
>>In both clauses, the genitive TWN ANQRWPWN without the ellipsis I take to
>>be a genitive of comparison, but with the ellipsis to be a genitive of
>>possession.
>>
>>Is it necessary, or simply permissible, to assume an ellipsis here?
>
>I think I would assume a conceptual ellipsis of "wisdom" and "power"
>without making any assumption that those genitives TWN ANQRWPWN are
>possessive genitives--I think that's what they really are.

I meant to say here that I think these genitives are in fact really
genitives of comparison.

> I guess I can't
>prove it, but it seems to me that there is clearly an idea expressed here
>such as, "God in his wisdom is greater than human beings (in their
>foolishness), etc., etc." To be sure, the positioning of TO MWRON and TO
>ASQENES makes them emphatic in the context, but I think that the strict
>grammatical construction is "sprung" here and that the meaning is clear
>even if the grammar seems a bit lax.

--

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
Most months: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad@ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/

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