Re: 1Thess. 4:14, what about dia?

Jonathan Robie (jwrobie@mindspring.com)
Tue, 07 Oct 1997 10:12:25 -0400

At 08:59 AM 10/7/97 -0500, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>At 7:58 AM -0500 10/7/97, JAdkins264@aol.com wrote:
>>Is it possible or likely that dia is used to show purpose in 1 Thess. 4:14?
>> This much debated passage would be easy to understand if we could say "even
>>so those who died for the sake of Jesus God will bring with Him."
>
>What we have is DIA TOU IHSOU--a genitive case. I really think that if the
>sense were "for the sake of Jesus" we'd have to have hUPER TOU IHSOU or, if
>DIA is used, DIA with the accusative: DIA TON IHSOUN.

Oops! I missed that! So disregard half of my earlier response, which was a
sloppy mistake...but I still don't understand the interpretation "who have
fallen asleep in Jesus", and it still makes sense to interpret DIA TOU IHSOU
as "through the agency of Jesus". This is the interpretation of NAB, NRSV,
Luther, and RSV:

1The 4:14 (RSV) For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even
so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

Jonathan

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