From: Jeffrey Gibson (jgibson@acfsysv.roosevelt.edu)
Date: Sat Dec 20 1997 - 19:00:02 EST
On Sat, 20 Dec 1997, Jonathan Robie wrote:
> Matt 4:3 EI hUIOS EI TOU QEOU
>
> I am still struggling with the omission of the article. To me, it seems
> that this same clause could be translated "if you are a son" in a different
> context, e.g. if it occurred in a passage that discusses our status as
> children of God. Is it true that the only reason this is "the" son is that
> Satan seems to be talking about one definite son of God, one who would be
> empowered to change stones into bread, etc.? Or is there something else
> that should tip me off?
>
Jonathan,
I do not think that your question can be properly answered without
evaluating (1) what the Devil is actually "up to" in the story that
contextualizes Matt. 4:3 (the wilderness temptation story), and (2)
whether the presupposition of the story is that Jesus possesses and
is being prompted to use "miraculous power". I am prepared to go
into this, but I hesitate because I think to do so would probably
take us beyond the scope of B-Greek.
But you should take note that there is no "the" in the Greek text. That it
keeps getting inserted in translations and by commentators seems to be
based not so much a grammatical consideration as it is on presuupositions
of what the temptations story is all about.
In any case, one thing, that needs to be considered here in explaining why
the title hUIOS TOU QEOU in Matt. 4:3 (and in Matt. 4:6) is anarthrous is
the possibility that there is an intention on the part of Matthew (and
Luke, and indeed the original author of the Wilderness temptations story)
to point out the equivalence of Jesus to Israel and *not*, as many
commentators argue or assume, to any known or expected messianic figure.
(Note how the wilderness temptation story is set up to recall the
"testing" of God's Son, Israel, as this was recounted in Deut. 6-8, and
the fact that Jesus responds to all of the Devil's promptings in the story
with quotations from Deut. 6-8 which delineate what in Deuteronomy Israel
owed its God).
Jeffrey Gibson
jgibson@acfsysv.roosevelt.edu
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