From: Peter Phillips (p.m.phillips@cliff.shef.ac.uk)
Date: Mon Dec 01 1997 - 03:54:53 EST
Rolf Furuli said:
I am not an expert on Luke, but I have some comments. F.L. Godet, Repr.
1971 "Commentary on Luke" says: "The separation of PNEUMA from hAGION by
the verb HN in the greater part of the MSS. gives prominence to the idea of
the adjective. An influence rested upon him, and this influence was holy."
I.H. Marshall, 1978 "The Gospel of Luke" agrees about the emphatic nature
of the construction.
Not only is the position of the verb interesting in your example but also
the lack of article.
In the book of Luke, 1:15,35,41,67; 2:25; 4:1; 11:13 are anarthrous and
without preposition, 3:16 is anarthrous with preposition and 2:26; 3:22 and
10:21 are articular.
A few points that have been raised by some of the comments over the weekend
based around this posting from Rolf. I still don't think that anyone has
answered my point about why the adjective is separated from the noun in
this instance. Rolf's data about the occurence of anarthrous Pneuma
hAgion and the like is interesting especially since every occurence of
anarthrous P.h. in Luke 1 follows the use of PLHREO or PLHRHS, however it
seems to miss the point - and I notice all the talk about whether this
posting calls into question the Spirit's nature and so on. That is not the
point, gentlefolk.
The Greek text (in most manuscripts - sorry I am using UBS4 which fails to
distinguish any textual problem here!) separates the noun from its
adjective with the verb "EINAI". I know I will have a flood of e-mails
telling me the exact grammatical distinction that is being made here. It
may well be that Luke is simply emphasising the holy nature of Simeon's
Spirit or spirit. But the fact is that it is emphasised. Why? Why didn't
Luke simply say "the Holy Spirit was upon him" - why did he choose to say
"The Spirit that was upon him was holy". If PNEUMA meant HS in any case
then this is tautologous. Luke seems to me to be saying that the Spirit
upon him was holy as opposed to unholy. Why would Luke do this and what
implications does that have for other references to PNEUMA in the text of
Luke-Acts. Does Luke use PNEUMA and hAGION separately elsewhere? This is
where I wish I had a Greek search engine on my computer. Does Luke use
PNEUMA with other adjectives separately or together?
I am not calling into question the nature of the HS and those who wish to
follow that track can make up a thread of their own. I want to get to
grips with this passage. What does the Greek mean? And why does Luke put
it this way round?
Pete Phillips
Cliff College
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