With the correction of DEOMENOU to the nom. plural DEOMENOI--and of course
your version alters the participle to a finite verb; the subject being
members of the churches of Macedonia.
>As I read this, it says something like "they insistently begged us for the
>grace and the fellowship of serving the saints". I see that and say to
>myself that there is a grace that comes from serving the saints, and a
>fellowship in serving the saints. Yet none of the English translations I
>look at would really support those two points. Here's the RSV, for instance:
>
>2 Cor 8:4 (RSV) "begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the
>relief of the saints"
>
>Am I overinterpreting this?
I don't think so. I suppose that the problem is the latitude with which the
word DIAKONIA is to be interpreted. But I think that Paul is wholly
committed to this conception that you pinpoint here. It is certainly, if
the evidence of Acts is to be trusted, the reason why he risked his life
(and lost it) in a return to Jerusalem after his work in the Balkan
peninsula was finished. Isn't this precisely the conception of a single
Christendom comprising both Jewish and Gentile Christians (of all stripes
and sub-persuasions?) that is central to Paul's understanding of Christian
community?
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(704) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/