Re: Rev 2:20 - "the adultery of eating food"
Revcraigh@aol.com
Mon, 29 Sep 1997 14:50:58 -0400 (EDT)
This may seem elementary, but I suppose the answer may lay (lie?) in the mind
of the translating committee who were probably asking something like: Was
Jezebel teaching and enticing the Thyatiran Christians to actual (physical)
sexually immoral acts along with eating that which had been offered at the
altar of some other god, or to metaphorical (spiritual) adultery (congress
with gods other than the true God) by teaching and enticing them to eat that
which had been offered at the altar of some other god? As I recall from my
(long ago) NT Greek classes, KAI can be used to join two concepts which
really belong together (see BAG sub KAI I, d). Perhaps the committee felt
that Christians would not be enticed so far as to actually join themselves
ritually/sexually with priestesses/prostitutes in the temples of other gods,
but that they might be enticed to disregard the first clause of the First
Jerusalem Council's edict (Acts 15:29) APEXESQAI EIDWLOQUTWN, which might
clearly be seen as spiritual adultery, especially by those among them that
were less mature. This reminds me of Paul's statement that he would never eat
meat again rather than cause a weaker brother to stumble and fall because of
his (Paul's) exercise of Christian liberty.
Anyway, I'm thinking that the translators took PORNEUSAI KAI FAGEIN
EIDWLOQUTA as an example of hendiadys and translated it as they did. I don't
know that I agree with that assessment, but it seems to be a legitimate
possibility.