Re: James 1:13
James H. Vellenga (jhv0@viewlogic.com)
Thu, 10 Jul 97 10:40:41 EDT
> Date: Thu, 10 Jul 1997 09:30:04 -0400
> From: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu>
>
> At 9:13 AM -0400 7/10/97, James H. Vellenga wrote:
> >>
> >I will cavil with the last phrase. James 1.14 doesn't necessarily say
> >that we are being tested _by_ our lusts and desires. It seems
> >to me that the hUPO goes better with the present passive
> >participles, so that it's better to read
> >
> > each [person] gets tested [while] being dragged away and
> > seduced by his own longings.
> >
> >One can then draw a distinction between the longings, which
> >are dragging us away and seducing us, and whoever or whatever
> >is testing us in the midst of that process -- perhaps God.
>
> I'm no careful student of Jacobean syntax, but it just occurred to that
> this hUPO is odd with EPIQUMIAS; I would expect not a Personal agent but
> rather an instrumental. Is EPIQUMIA here personified, as Paul does with
> hAMARTIA?
>
Hmmm, that's probably exactly what's going on. After the longing(s)
drag us away and seduce us (I have chosen the translation of
DELEAZOMENOS because of the personified context), the longing
conceives and gives birth to "a sin," and the sin then grows
up and produces death. James seems to creating an elaborate
metaphor here with both "longing" and "sin" personified.
Regards,
j.v.
James H. Vellenga | jvellenga@viewlogic.com
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