On Mon 9 Apr 2001 (21:42:05), ctripp@ptialaska.net wrote: > Now I can readily that a father daughter relationship would clear up > the PARQENOS AUTOU thing that I found odd, but it sure does not clear > up some other things I see in the passage. For one thing, neither > father nor daughter appear explicitly in the text, so right away, it > seems to me an uphill battle to arrive at that interpretation. > Secondly, it seems more difficult to read ASCHMONEIN EPI THN PARQENON > AUTOU from v. 36 and especially EXOUSIAN DE ECAI PERI TOU IDIOU QELHMATOS > in v. 37 in a father daughter context than in a 'boyfriend-girlfriend' > context. It just seems that the sexual temptation aspect falls out more > readily from from what I am reading. I note also that GAMEITWSAN is plural > which again goes with the boyfriend-girlfriend interpretation. > > Anyone have any thoughts or insights that might clarify this one why or > the other? Is Paul advising people to remain in a non-physical, > non-married relationship indefinitely in v. 37. Was there a sense of > someone having a virgin that was 'his.' In a modern context, such an > intepretation does not seem so bizarre, but I don't know if people had > girlfriends before getting married in Corinth at that time. Then > against the backdrop of the pagan practices of that time and place > maybe they did. Dear Chuck, Our society goes with freedom to choose and marry one's own partner; but in other cultures 'arranged marriages' are the norm. Corinth was a Roman Colony /Colonia Julia Corinthus/; the Roman law of /Patria Potestas/ applied. A devout Christian father would maybe want to keep his daughters at home for the reasons proposed by Paul in 1 Cor 7:25-35. But if things got out of control, and the daughters were afraid of getting past their "sell-by date" hUPERAKMOS, then GAMEITWSAN, the virgin and her young male swain. Plural, because getting married has to be done by two. Some think that the plural applies to more than one maiden daughter, each getting married to her respective beloved. hH PARQENOS AUTOU is perfectly understood as a maiden daughter: compare Sophocles' Oedipus, where the daughters of Oedipus are described by their father as PARQENOIN EMAIN (sic; Oed. Tyr. 1462). Some 'heavy fathers' would insist on their daughters remaining single at home (verse 37). From Paul's point of view, this is the better course (v 38). Some MSS (Aleph2; Psi; Majority Text) have EKGAMIZW "to marry off" in place of GAMIZW in verse 38. Danker in BDAG gives "to cause a woman to become married, give (a woman) in marriage" as the prime meaning of GAMIZW, and cites particularly 1 Cor 7:38. Corinth was renowned as a free-wheeling permissive society. Christians saved out of this culture would want to resist this, and insist on their traditional /Patria Potestas/. This would also agree with Jewish marriage and betrothal customs. For these, see A Edersheim, /The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah/, London, 1900, vol 1, pp 148, 352-354, 663, 664. ERRWSQE Ben -- Revd Ben Crick, BA CF 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK) http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm --- 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