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Re: Undeliverable Mail
CARL W. CONRAD wrote:
>In its context in Titus 2:4 the verb swphronizw can mean nothing other than
>"be chaste." To be sure, the verb always means fundamentally "control one's
>self", "be temperate," "be continent"--or, when putting greater emphasis on
>the intellectual side, "be sound-minded," "be healthy-minded." Even though
>there is an intellectual aspect to the roots *phren-/*phron-, the emphasis
>is usually not on being rational but rather on exercising one's rationality
>in a morally self-preserving manner.
>
>For all that, however, whenever this verb or its cognate adjective and
>noun swphrwn, swphrosune is used with reference to women, the emphasis is
>on sexual restraint. I've never seen an exception to this in Greek of any
>period. If someone else has, I'd like to see the passage.
Thank you. Could I impose upon you for a couple of more questions?
1. swphrwn, etc., are used in several places in Titus, referring to
qualifications of elders, character traits of older men, "sober-minded"
younger men, and we ourselves in 2:12, where we are exhorted to live
soberly. The flavor seems to be more general in these other cases with
respect to godly living and character that proceeds from edification. That
is, the teaching of Titus, or his appointed elder, is to have this result
in people's lives. Could not all of this suggest to us that more than
chastity was intended for the younger women?
2. What do you make of the fact that the NIV and NAS both leave out any
reference to chastity in translating swphrwn, to say nothing of any
possible further meaning?
I appreciate your help.
Warren Doud