From: Rolf Furuli (furuli@online.no)
Date: Fri Dec 12 1997 - 04:18:00 EST
Craig R. Harmon wrote:
<Dear b-greekers
<I have been trying to follow particularly Rolfs understanding of this verse
<and I am having a hard time sorting out what the actual effect of what he
<contends about hOLOKLHRON is upon the translation/interpretation of this
<verse. Could Rolf, or someone who gets what he is saying, help me out?
<If the point of the prayer is that God keep the Church (the body of Christ)
<complete in its entirity (without loosing any of its members along the way)
<until the day of the presence or coming of our Lord (is that whats being
<said?), then to what do TO PNEUMA, hH YUCH refer? I take it that TO SWMA
<refers to the body of Christ = the Church (do I have that right?), but what
<about the other two? Or don't they have individual referents? I'd really like
<to understand this.
Dear Craig,
In my postings I try primarily to give a lexical, grammatical and
syntactical analysis and leave the interpretation of the result to the
readers. Regarding 1 Thess 5:23, I will however, try to draw some
conclusions because you ask.
The original question was whether the grammar of 1 Thess 5:23 supports the
view that man consists of three parts, spirit, body and soul (modern
Christian view) in contrast with two parts, body and soul (modern Christian
view) and one part, soul (the OT view). I have argued that the singularity
of TO SWMA in contrast with the plurality of hUMON strongly argues against
a tripartite understanding. I am not aware of any other Greek passage where
a similar construction would give a distributive meaning.
One suggested translation of the verse if my target group consisted of
interested students would be: "May the God of peace sanctify you entirely,
Yes, may your spirit, soul and body be preserved complete, in a blameless
manner at the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ." I would have a footnote
telling that "your" is plural and "spirit, soul and body" is singular in
the Greek text.
How can these words be understood? In 1 Cor 12:13-27 the Church i likened
to a body, and if TO PNEUMA, hH YUCH and TO SWMA in 1 Thess 5:23 is taken
in a collective sense, they must signify the same. Paul viewed the
congregation in Thessalonika as an organism and "the spirit, soul and
body" need not represent different parts of the congregation but is simply
an expression of completeness, as is also the case with the words in Mark
12:30. No part of the congregation was left out in Paul`s prayer, but it
does not mean that each individual member must be preserved or that the
body of Christ must be preserved, but that the Thessalonian Church, as a
church, regardless of who was its members must be preserved. The
congregation did already function as an organism, and Paul prays that this
state must continue to hold until the PAROUSIA, and do so in a blameless
manner. This means that while hOLOKLHRON functions as a
predicative,qualifying TO PNEUMA, hH YUCH and TO SWMA, AMEMPTWS functions
as an adverb defining hOLOKLHRON.
I hope this will make the case more clear but if something still is
difficult to understand, please let me know.
Regards
Rolf
Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo
furuli@online,no
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