Henry: An assumption often made in this passage (1 Cor 15:29) is that Paul must be condoning baptism for the dead, since he does not take time to condemn it. This assumption, however, falls on its face. In this chapter Paul has already assumed several things for the sake of argument, things which he clearly does not endorse, even though not explicitly saying so. Consider: if there is no resurrection of the dead (13a), if Christ has not been raised (14a), if the dead are not raised (16), if Christ has not been raised (17), if we have hoped in Christ in this life only (19), and even closer, if the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them (29). The point is the whole context is that of argumentation by the sake of argument, or assuming to the opponent's position to be true for the sake of argument in order to show such leads to a contradiction. Hence, when in v. 29 Paul assumes the opponents position for the sake of argument, if the dead are not raised at all, this leads to a conclusion which apparently contradicts the position held to by the same. Paul's argument is simply that they cannot both deny the resurrection of the dead and also practice baptism for the dead, which apparently implied a belief in the resurrection of the dead. This, of course, is not to condone baptism for the dead, but to show those who practice such must also believe in the resurrection of the dead. A solid argument, indeed. That being said, we are off the hook to try to find some explanation of hUPER TWN NEKRWN other than "on behalf of" or "for the dead" which comports with the rest of scripture. Paul Dixon On Fri, 9 Mar 2001 06:10:18 +0100 "HARRYJ" writes: > 1 Cor. 15:29 speaks of 'hOI BAPTIZOMENOI hUPER TWN NEKRWN'. The > preposition > is usually translated as 'on behalf of' or 'for the dead'. Well, I > know it > DOES have this meaning, too; yet I doubt if this is the correct > translation > here, and the reason is that you cannot be baptized in lieu of > another > person - everybody must do it themselves; as for the dead ones > before Christ > came, it is God's concern, not ours. Theologians are usually puzzled > by > this, as they find no records in history of such a rite. > Seeing that Christian Baptism is explained in some other places as > immersion > into Christ's death (death to sin and to the world), it seems to me > 1 Cor. > 15:29 means that the person baptized is henceforth considered as > 'dead', in > the special sense explained above of course. Therefore, translations > like > 'on behalf of', like in the New English Bible, are to be rejected it > seems, > but what is the best alternative suggestion? 'Baptism for the dead' > is > ambiguous. I do not know enough English translations of the Bible, > living as > I do in surroundings where other languages predominate. I see a > good way of > translating it into Polish, where the ambiguity might be sidestepped > (any > Polish readers may contact me off-list about this), but I do not see > this > possibility in English, although in the majority of cases it is a > much > richer language than Polish. Perhaps some native speakers of English > (who > make up the majority of b-Greek members) see such a possibility. > Unless of > course they think that it is possible to be baptized on behalf of > another > person, but that is a different matter. > > Henryk Jedraszczak > harryj@poczta.onet.pl > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > --- > B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek > You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [dixonps@juno.com] > To unsubscribe, forward this message to > leave-b-greek-327Q@franklin.oit.unc.edu > To subscribe, send a message to > subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu > > Dr. Paul S. Dixon, Pastor Evangelical Free Church Iowa Falls, IA http://members.aol.com/dixonps --- B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [jwrobie@mindspring.com] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-327Q@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu