From: Shaughn Daniel (shaughn.daniel@student.uni-tuebingen.de)
Date: Thu Feb 01 1996 - 12:59:30 EST
Kevin,
A big part of the problem lies in this: if ANAQEMA is equivalent to
KATAQEMA (as TDNT suggests: "Equivalent to ANAQEMA is the KATAQEMA of Rev.
22.3" I.355), then we have got some problems to solve. Jesus cannot be
called ANAQEMA (1Co 12.3) according to the majority of NT interpreters
(unless you want to render the verse: "Therefore I tell you that no one can
say in the spirit ANAQEMA IHSOUS, just as no one can say KURIOS IHSOUS,
except by the Holy Spirit"), so why would a title of KATAQEMATOS (Did
16.5) not also be taboo, if it was 'equivalent' with ANAQEMA? This makes
Ps.-Just. look like an "artificial distinction" (TDNT, ha!) between ANAQEMA
and KATAQEMA, something, of course, very foolish, indeed <grin>. And why do
Lightfoot & Co. not give any references to Rev. in their fine volume at
this place in the Did.? I thought John was included as one of the DWDEKA
APOSTOLWN, no? Do they think that KATAQEMATOS can only refer to Gal. 3.13?
That's somewhat jumping the gun, IMO, since the vocabulary for Jesus being
the curse for us is wrapped up in LXX's KEKATHRAMENOS and Paul's
EPIKATARATOS: "Christ redeemed us from the KATARAS TOU NOMOU by becoming
KATARA for us, for it is written: 'EPIKATARATOS is everyone who is hung on
a tree'", and LXX Dt. 21.23 "KEKATHRAMENOS by God is everyone who is hung
on a tree". IMO, KATAQEMA and ANAQEMA are NOT 'equivalent' (KATAQEMA is
more general, IMO, and ANAQEMA is most specific; but I'm still deciding, so
no stones, please!) AND KATAQEMATOS as an intensified ANAQEMATOS, deriving
from KATANAQEMATOS, does NOT make sense as a title for Jesus in early
christianities anyway! KATAQEMATOS is a title for Satan, AUTOU refers to
the KOSMOPLANHS, the ANTIXRISTOS in the context of both Rev. and Did. The
problem shifts to the preposition (or is that what created this whole
problem in the first place?): whether AP' or UP' belongs. Are we saved BY
the curse or FROM the curse. And I don't even know where to start to prove
which is better (should we go with Hellenistic Greek of the fathers, or
Septuagintal Greek, a Semitis-izing of Classical Greek, or what?). =( But
I do think that Rev. 22.3 is much bigger than appreciated in this area of
"curses". Rev. 22.3 makes such a large statement: "KAI PAN KATAQEMA OUK
ESTAI ETI" = NIV "No longer will there be any KATAQEMA". If that is true,
and if Rev. is before Did. and a source for the thoughts of the Did., then
Jesus cannot be KATAQEMATOS, for KATAQEMA OUK ESTAI implies that
KATAQEMATOSes won't be hanging around in the new heavens and earth.
>(3) Didache 16:5
>
>TOTE hHXEI hH KTISIS TWN ANTHRWPWN EIS THN PURWSIN THS DOKIMASIAS, AND
>SKANDALISTHHSONTAI POLLOI AN APOLOUNTAI, hOI DE hUPOMEINANTES EN THi PISTEI
>AUTWN SWTHHSONTAI hUP' AUTOU TOU KATATHEMATOS.
>
>My question concerns the very last phrase, hUP' AUTOU TOU KATATHEMATOS. The
>Loeb translation (Kirsopp Lake) has, " . . . but 'they who endure' in their
>faith 'shall be saved' BY THE CURSE ITSELF." Lake also provides a note
>indicating that the meaning here is obscure. But I was wondering if, by any
>stretch of the imagination, one could take TOU KATATHEMATOS as an ablative of
>separation, thereby providing a more sensible translation such as, "they . .
>. shall be saved by him from the curse." The trouble here, however, may be in
>tracking down an antecedent for AUTOU.
Georg. solves it with AP' instead of UP'. I like Riddle in ANF 7.382 n 14:
"UP' AUTOU TOU KATAQEMATOS, "from under the curse itself;" namely, that
which has just been described [i.e., lawlessness and the world-deceiver].
Bryennios and others render "by the curse Himself;" that is, Christ, whom
they were tempted to revile. All other interpretations either rest on
textual emendations or are open to grammatical objections. Of the two given
above, that of Hall and Napier seems preferable."
>Of course, part of the whole problem lay in the precise meaning of KATATHEMA,
>which I have not adequately researched.
Even if you were to have adequately researched it, there would still be
confusion, I assume. I've spent some 3 years on "curses" in Paul and his
backgrounds and still am confused like the dickens. =(
[]______________________________________________________________.
| |\
| Shaughn Daniel shaughn.daniel@student.uni-tuebingen.de | |
| Tuebingen, Germany | |
| ~~~~~ | |
| I put tape on the mirrors in my house so I don't accidentally | |
| walk through into another dimension. --Steven Wright | |
|_______________________________________________________________| |
\_______________________________________________________________\|
The sagacious reader who is capable of reading between these lines
what does not stand written in them, but is nevertheless implied,
will be able to form some conception.
Goethe. Autobiography. Book xviii. Truth and Beauty.
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: 2.6.2
mQBvAzDc/HIAAAEDAOzYZqopFN4y2pp8h4ZkpLXqjsvvqCTHC9wdLqCun7NnkQX7
cUELX+uCVNY/d/+hBnjeZKVe5JGOeNIt31+tHq24rcRw6p1prrFEbHlQnpxwJVbm
QDpdj3PV5vcwaT61tQARAQABtCxTaWJPcmFjbGUgPHp4bWxpMDVAc3R1ZGVudC51
bmktdHVlYmluZ2VuLmRlPg==
=s6sO
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:37:37 EDT