Re: James 2:9

Mary L B Pendergraft (pender@wfu.edu)
Wed, 13 May 1998 15:59:12 -0400

At 02:23 PM 5/13/98 -0400, Jim West wrote:
>I am interested in your views concerning the word <gk>parabatai</gk>. This
>word is a noun, and referred originally to "a warrior beside the charioteer,
>or a certain kind of foot soldier". But in the NT it means "transgressor".
>
>How does one move from a "warrior" to a "trangressor"? That is, what went
>on in the history of the language that the meaning of the word seems so
>drastically different? Is it that the word was used derogatorily about a
>soldier who would not get into the chariot and thus was a cowardly
>transgressor of the general's command?
>

This question follows so closely Carl's comments on the usefulness of LSJ
that it almost looks like a set up. What a trip to that lexicon tells us
is that both words are related to PARABAINW--BAINW "I go" and PARA
"beside" (as in the chariot, e.g.) or "beyond"--almost exactly equivalent
to "transgressor"--"one who goes beyond" laws, customs, vel sim. So the
difference comes from the various uses of the preposition and those many
uses, in turn, are why the entry for such a little word goes on for so long.

Furthermore, because LSJ cites examples, we can see that the two senses
overlap chronologically and that neither replaced the other: the
footsoldiers show up as late as Plutarch, and the transgressors as early as
Aeschylus.

As off-putting as it can appear, the lexicon is truly a wonderful tool.

Mayr

Mary Pendergraft
Associate Professor of Classical Languages
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem NC 27109-7343
336-758-5331 (NOTE: this is a new number) pender@wfu.edu