... may give you a Spirit of wisdom and of revelation ...
i.e., one could still interpret this as being "the Spirit," but
being referred to in a more general sense.
As an analogy, one could imagine a fragment of English that
refers to
... the wife of the President -- who has a wife of great insight
and intelligence ...
(No particular president -- or country -- in mind, of course).
Clearly, "a wife" in this context still refers to a particular wife.
>
> Paul has already declared they have the Spirit {I think although I am
> wondering about that construction in 1:13 as well} but now wants them
> to have a certain attitude (or am I reading a Western concept back
> into that word "pneuma"?)
>
> (What too of the unusual "en epignwsei autou" - "in a knowledge of
> him"? rendered as a purpose clause in the NIV - "that you might know
> Him")
EPIGNWSIS,
though often translated as "full knowledge," seems to me to refer
to a process of ongoing discovery, related to EPIGINWSKW (to find
out). Hence,
... a Spirit of wisdom and of a revelation in (or by means of)
an ongoing discovery of him ...
Regards,
Jim V.
James H. Vellenga | jvellenga@viewlogic.com
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