Re: Accusative absolute

Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Mon, 20 Jan 1997 14:01:31 -0600

At 12:33 PM -0600 1/20/97, Dale M. Wheeler wrote:
>Carl Conrad wrote:
>
>>My own understanding of the basic phrase here, PEFWTISMENOUS
>>TOUS OFQALMOUS, is that it is appositional to the primary object of the
>>verb DWHi in vs. 17: "eyes of your heart(s) illuminated so that you know
>>=3D2E.." is an appositive to PNEUMA SOFIAS KAI APOKALUJEWS EN EPIGNWSEI AU=
TOU,
>>an alternative way of saying the same thing. So: "May God ... grant you a
>>spirit (that is) wise and enlightened (by revelation) in understanding him=
,
>>(that is) eyes of your heart (that are) illumined so that you know what is
>>the hope ..."
>>
>
>Let me suggest that PEFWTISMENOUS is in fact an accusative absolute in
>Eph 1:18. The two reasons I wouldn't construe this the way Carl has above
>are: (1) the ptc is perfect, and my "feel" for this passage tells me that i=
t
>has to have happened BEFORE the time of the main verb DWHi, which is Aorist=
,
>thus it cannot be another way of saying the same thing as "God grant you
>a/the s/Spirit of wisdom..." My suspicion is that if they were to be
>understood as the same thing, then the ptc would have been aorist as well
>(cf., a similar situation in Eph 3:17-18, "rooted and grounded"); (2)
>FWTIZW and FWS are in Ephesians terms used to describe the new birth (cf.,
>5:8ff., cmp., 3:9; John 3:18ff) and thus the enlightenment of new birth
>provides the foundation for Paul's subsequent request that they mature in
>their spiritual understanding of God's plan.

To "beat a dead horse," I don't quite see the cogency of this understanding
of what I agree is a perfect participle. I don't think the TIME of
illuminating the eyes in relationship to DWHi is relevant; the sense of
PEFWTISMENOUS is "light-filled" as a present state. What would you say of a
construction such as QELW PAR' hUMAS PARWN IDEIN hUMAS hESTHKOTAS EN THi
ALHQEIAi? That the people to whom the speaker comes must have reach a
standing position prior to his seeing them? Of course, the writer of
Ephesians could have written FWTIZHi hO QEOS TOUS OFQALMOOUS THS KARDIAS
hUMWN, but I think that what he is really praying for is that they may be
graced with eyes fully illuminated for discernment.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/