Re: eph 3:20

Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Wed, 16 Jul 1997 07:02:09 -0400

At 4:02 AM -0400 7/16/97, Brian E. Wilson wrote:
>Andrew wrote (snip) -
>
>>Filloi,
>>Who does "Now to him" refer to in Eph 3:20? The Greek says:
>>TWi DE DUNAMENWi UPER PANTA POIHSAI UPEREKPERISSOU WN OUMEQA H NOOUMEN
>>KATA THN DUNAMIN THN ENERGOUMENHN EN hUMIN, AUTWi H DOXA EN TH
>>EKKLHSIA....
>>My translation: And to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than
>>all we ask for or can possibly imagine according to the power at work
>>within us, to Him be glory in the church....
>
>According to verse 7 earlier in the same chapter, THN ENERGEIAN THJ
>DUNAMEWJ AUTOU is KATA THN DWREAN THJ XARITOJ TOY QEOU. I would
>suggest that in verse 20 the word AUTWi therefore refers to God.
>
>Musing on Andrew's typo "Filloi" - for "Filoi" - I found myself
>wondering whether the Latin "Filius" and the Greek "Filos" are
>etymologically linked? Perhaps the Classicists on the list would like
>to comment on this?

I too would hold that the referent of TWi DUNAMENWi is God (the father),
primarily on grounds that DOXA in NT texts is generally given to God and
not to Christ (except in the special usage of DOXAZEIN in John's gospel
referring to the demonstration of God's glory in the crucifixion) nor to
the Spirit. My own sense is that the working out of trinitarian doctrine
and its liturgical implications is fundamentally a post-canonical
development, however much the seeds of trinitarian doctrine are implicit in
NT texts.

I don't think there is any DIRECT relationship between the Latin FILIUS
(son) and FILIA (daughter) and the Greek FILOS/PHILOS (friend), although
the two may ultimately be cognate, inasmuch as the older sense of the Greek
root FIL- seems to be "kindred."

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/