At 08:25 AM 7/11/97 +0100, Peter Phillips wrote:
>How do you parse PAN GAR TO PHANEROUMENON PHWS ESTIN? I think it is
>something like this:
>PAN - nom/acc sing neut noun/adjective "every"
>GAR - particle
>TO - nom/acc sing neut def.art. "the"
>PHA... - nom/acc sing neut pres. midd/pass participle "being made manifest"
>PHWS - nom sing neut noun "light"
>ESTIN - 3rd sing pres indic EINAI "is"
First off, for the meaning of PHANEROW, I prefer Louw and Nida's 24.19 'to
make appear, to make visible, to cause to be seen' and 28.13 'to make known,
to make plain, to reveal, to bring to the light, to disclose, revelation'.
BAGD adds the gloss 'to show'. "Manifest" can have this meaning, but I think
it also has other meanings, and can be confusing.
It is also important to note that PHANEROUMENON is parallel to PHANEROUTAI
in verse 5:13: TA DE PANTA ELEGCOMENA hUPO TOU PHOTOS PHANEROUTAI, PAN GAR
TO PHANEROUMENON FOS ESTIN.
Carl Conrad has posted some interesting things on the interpretation of the
middle/passive. He suggests that it generally should be taken as middle
unless the agent is clearly indicated by the context. I see two possibilities:
(1) PHANEROUTAI is passive, with the agent expressed by the phrase hUPO TOU
PHOTOS. PHANEROUMENON is middle. In that case my translation would be: "But
all things that are exposed are made visible by the light; whatever makes
itself visible is light."
or
(2) Both PHANEROUTAI and PHANEROUMENON are passive. In that case my
translation would be: "But all things that are exposed are made visible by
the light; for whatever is made visible is light."
I do *not* agree with the King James translation of this verse, which reads
"But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for
whatsoever doth make manifest is light." This seems to imply that
PHANEROUMENON means to make something *else* visible, and that is neither
middle nor passive.
So now I see two possible meanings, and it is time to go to the context ("a
text without a context is only a pretext"). This passage talks about the
shameful things people do in secret, calls us to avoid them and expose them
(verse 11: "Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead
expose them."), and talks about the light that Christ brings to us (verse
14: "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you
light."). Light here seems to have a double meaning: we are called to walk
in the light of Christ, and we are called to walk in the open with each
other, not in secret like those whose deeds are shameful. Incidentally, it
is important to notice this context when interpreting the verses which
follow starting with verse 21, "submitting yourselves to one another in the
fear of God".
In this context, I don't think that PHANEROUMENON can be taken as passive -
that which is exposed *passively* isn't light, it just got caught. That
which reveals itself, which walks in the open, is light. This is one way you
can identify the children of light (excuse me for slipping into Johannine
thought, but the use of light here seems a lot like John's use of the term,
and I'm pretty familiar with John, since he writes easy Greek ;->).
One more thought: the first time I read this, I thought of it in terms of
God exposing the deeds of darkness in the time of judgement, but in verse
11, *we* are called to expose the deeds of darkness: MH SUGKOINWNEITE TOIS
ERGOIS TOIS AKARPOIS TOU SKOTOUS, MALLON DE KAI *ELEGCETE*.
Hope this helps...
Jonathan
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Jonathan Robie jwrobie@mindspring.com http://www.mindspring.com/~jwrobie
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