>Is it possible that "TO DOKIMION hUMWN THS PISTEWS" might be
>translated "the testing of YOU of the faith," or "the testing
>of you Christians" rather than the typical "the testing of
>your faith"? Granted, it seems unlikely, but I'm just curious.
Hello Jim,
provided that I rightly understood what you meant, I conclude, that
your problem arouse with the order (sequence) of words in the
sentence. The order is
noun (nom.) + pronoun (gen.) + def. article (gen.) + noun (gen.)
(The first noun may be an adjective as well.)
In your suggested translation ("the testing of you, of the faith")
you created a similar construction as it is valid in Mat 26:28 (cf.
Mrc 14:14), where
TO hAIMA MOU THS DIAQHKHS is
"my blood of the covenant"
(and not: "the blood of my covenant")
But in 1 Peter 1:7 this interpretation is, I think, not very
appropriate.
In TO DOKIMION hUMWN THS PISTEWS we would have TWO classifications
of the DOKIMON:
1) the DOKIMION "of you"
2) the DOKIMION "of the faith".
Now it is not very likely, that Peter wrote in such a vague manner,
connecting the DOKIMION of persons with the DOKIMION of an abstract
term (faith). (More likely, Peter would have written TO DOKIMION
hUMWN, TO THS PISTEWS in this case.)
It is not unusual , that hUMWN is before the rest of the genitive.
Compare e. g. 1 Peter 3:16 hUMWN THN AGAQHN EN CRISTW ANASTROFHN,
where hUMWN refers to ANASTROFHN. Or 1 Cor 1:24 hUMWN THS PISTEWS =
your faith.
With greetings
______________________________
| |
| Martin Arhelger |
| D-53121 Bonn |
| Germany |
| martin.arhelger@metronet.de |
|______________________________|