From: Rolf Furuli (furuli@online.no)
Date: Mon Dec 15 1997 - 15:23:52 EST
Thomas Biddy wrote:
>> 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 to ask -
>What of 1) heart - 2) soul - 3) strength - 4) mind in Lk 10:27? Does the
>Greek here shed any light at all on the subject?
Dear Thomas,
In the words of Luke 10:27 and the corresponding words of Mark 12:30 there
is an agreement in number between the subject "you" (singular) and "your
whole heart", "your whole soul", "your whole strength" and "your whole
mind" (all singular), so we do not have the problem of 1 Th 5:23, namely
whether the words denote a collective "person" or individual persons.
Luke`s words evidently are adressed to individuals. If we, however, look at
the OT words which are quoted, their reference seem to be collective.
Both in Deut 6:5 (the primary source) and in 10:12 the antecedent of the
subject "you" (singular) is "Israel", a word used in a collective sense.
This would mean that "heart, strength, soul and mind" do not refer to the
individual members of the nation, but collectively to the nation as a
whole. This may be corroborated by Joshua 22:5 (LXX), giving a similar
address, where hUMWN qualifies DIANOIA and YUCH (both singular). By
implication, each member of Israel should also love YHWH in a complete way,
and this was evidently what was stressed by Jesus when he quoted the words
of Deut. Thus the collective interpretation of 1 Th 5:23 may have a
counterpart in the OT.
Because of your question I have looked at all the occurrences in the NT of
hUMWN qualifying a noun which both is a count-noun and a "part of man". The
result is listed below and may give food for your thoughts regarding 1 Th
5:23. When working on singularity versus plurality, do not forget how
crucial the difference between count nouns and non-count nouns is, and that
some Hebrew nouns, such as NEPESH (YUCH) by nature are collectives even
though they have a plural form (as NAPSHOT).
(1) The common pattern is hUMWN preceded by a plural noun, the construction
being used distributively (53 cases):
Matt 7:6(POUS);9;4(KARDIA); 10:14(POUS);11:29(YUCH); 13:16(OUS);
18:35(KARDIA); Mrk 2:8(KARDIA); 6:11(POUS); Luke
4:21(OUS);5:4(DIKTOUON),22(KARDIA); 9:5(POUS);,44(OUS); 11:46(DAKTULOS);
16:15(KARDIA)21:14(KARDIA),19(YUCH),28(KEFALH); JOHN 4:35(OFQALMOS); ACTS
14:17(KARDIA); 15:24(YUCH); ROM 6:13(MELOS,2); 6:19(MELOS,2); 8:11(SWMA);
12:1(SWMA); 16:20(POUS); 1 COR 6:15(SWMA); 12:21(POUS); 2 COR 11:3(NOHMA);
12:15(YUCH); GAL 4:15(OFQALMOS); EPH 3:17(KARDIA); 6:22(KARDIA); PHIL
4;7(KARDIA); 4:7(NOHMA); COL 3:15(KARDIA), 3:16(KARDIA); 4:8(KARDIA); 1 Th
4:11(CEIR); HEB 3:8(KARDIA); 3:14(KARDIA); 4:7(KARDIA);
12:3(YUCH),13(PUOS); 13:17(YUCH)); JAMES 1:21(YUCH); 4:1(MELOS);
5:5(KARDIA),8(KARDIA); 1 Pet 1:22(YUCH); 2:25(YUCH); 3:15(KARDIA): 2 PET
1:19(KARDIA)
(2) hUMWN followed by plural a noun, the construction being used
distributively (13 cases):
Luk9:5(POUS); 12:35(UOS); 21:34(KARDIA); JOHN 13:14(POUS); Rom
6:13(MELOS),19(MELOS,2); 1 Cor 6:15(MELOS); Col 3:16(KARDIA);1 TH
3:13(KARDIA); 2 TH 2:17(KARDIA); 3:5(KARDIA); Heb 13:17(YUCH).
(3) hUMWN preceded by singular noun, the construction being used
collectively (6 cases):
1 Cor 6:19(SWMA),20(SWMA); Gal 6:18(PNEUMA);Eph 4:23(PNEUMA,NOUS); PHIL
4:23(PNEUMA);Philem 1:25(PNEUMA);
(4) hUMWN preceded by singular noun, the construction being used
distributively (15 cases):
Matt 6:25(SWMA)(YUCH); Luk
6:38(KOLPOS);12:7(KEFALH),34(KARDIA);21:18(KEFALH);24:38(KARDIA);Acts
18:6(KEFALH) Eph 1:18(KARDIA); 4:29(STOMA): 5:19(KARDIA);
6:5(KARDIA),14(UOS); 1 Th 2:17(PROSWPON); James 3:14(KARDIA).
(5) hUMWN followed by a singular noun, the construction being used
distributively (6 cases):
Joh 14:1(KARDIA),27(KARDIA); 16:6(KARDIA),22(KARDIA); Acts 27:34(QRIX);Rom
6:12(SWMA);
(6) hUMWN followed by singular noun, the construction being used
collectively ( 0 cases).
(7) hUMWN preceded by singular, non-count noun (1 case):
James 5:3.
Regards
Rolf
Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo
furuli@online.no
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