From: Dale M. Wheeler (dalemw@teleport.com)
Date: Thu Jan 29 1998 - 14:47:12 EST
John P Hayden wrote:
>It has occurred to me that the MEN . . . DE here might serve to
>distinguish the foundational apostolic office from three perpetual church
>offices: prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers.
>
>If this is valid, the further possibility exists that a set of parallel
>triplets is being introduced, the final triplet being chiastic:
>
>(a) PROPHETAS, (b) EUAGGELISTAS, (c) POIMENAS-KAI-DIDASKALOUS;
>
>(a) KATARTIZMOS, (b) ERGON, (c) OIKODOMHN;
>
>(a) HENOTHTA, (B) EPIGNWSEWS, (c) ANDRA TELEION;
>
>(c) NHPIOI, (b) ALHTHEUONTES, (a) SUMBIBAZOMENON.
>
>
>
>prophets . . . for arranging . . .until unity . . . in order to knit
>together
>
>evangelists . . . for ministry . . . until knowledge . . in order to
>truth-speak
>
>pastor/teachers . . . for edifying . . . until mature . . .that no longer
>children
Far be it from me to throw cold water on new ways to look at the text...
BUT...
1) Usually MEN...DE...DE...DE is simply a listing (cf., BAGD "MEN", 1.c);
so you'd need to find other clear examples where the contrast is clear to
make the suggestion for Eph 4.
2) As Dan Wallace in his grammar points out (quite rightly I'd say), there
are actually FIVE people/ministries here (because of the improprer G-S pl
construction): Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastor-Teachers, and
Teachers.
3) You'd need to try to find other places, esp., in Paul where these
minstries are discussed using these kinds of terms; the one which seems
especially suspect is:
>evangelists . . . for ministry . . . until knowledge . . in order to
>truth-speak
4) It is my impression that this is *very* much against Pauline style
(yes, I think Paul wrote this epistle; but regardless, it certainly
reflects his style, eg., Colossians); he often strings together
prepositional phrases which build upon one another...thus to break them
up into the kinds of groupings you suggest would need some clear examples
from elsewhere that he engaged in that sort of rhetoric.
My $.02 worth...for what its worth...
XAIREIN...
***********************************************************************
Dale M. Wheeler, Ph.D.
Research Professor in Biblical Languages Multnomah Bible College
8435 NE Glisan Street Portland, OR 97220
Voice: 503-251-6416 FAX:503-254-1268 E-Mail: dalemw@teleport.com
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