From: Jonathan Robie (jonathan@texcel.no)
Date: Wed Dec 31 1997 - 18:30:05 EST
At 06:10 PM 12/31/97 -0500, Michael S. Olszta wrote:
>I am new to the list here and after reading through several postings, I
>see I am not of the Greek proficiency that many of you are.
Well, there ain't no rankings on B-Greek, you can't earn a black belt here,
and people will challenge your opinions no matter how good you get, so I
wouldn't worry about it. I'm nowhere near as good as some of the people I'm
currently disagreeing with, and the opinion I offer here may not be as good
as their later correction of what I say.
So welcome to B-Greek! I hope you will feel welcome here.
>The dispute between my friend and myself is in essence the idea of
>"episkope" being a "position" in the church versus the idea of it just
>applying to everyone "elder" in general. Your responses are very much
>appreciated!
In Acts 1:20, it says "let another take his 'episcopacy'" (THN EPISKOPHN
AUTOU LABETW hETEROS). The NASB translates this "let another man take his
office". Louw and Nida make two points that I find helpful here:
"Though in some contexts EPISKOPH has been regarded traditionally as a
position of authority, in reality the focus is upon the responsibility for
caring for others, and in the context of Acts 1:20 the reference is clearly
to the responsibility for caring for the church."
and
"It is important to try to combine the concepts of both service and
leadership, in other words, the responsibility of caring for the needs of a
congregation as well as directing the activities of the membership. In some
translations an equivalent may be `helper and leader.'"
Hope this helps!
Jonathan
___________________________________________________________________________
Jonathan Robie jwrobie@mindspring.com
Little Greek Home Page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/koine
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