From: Mary Pendergraft (pender@wfu.edu)
Date: Mon Sep 06 1999 - 16:16:27 EDT
Brian & Tina Perkins wrote:
> Hello friends and acquaintances!
>
> Who did the voting in the following?
> CEIROTONHSANTES DE AUTOIS PRESBUTEROUS KAT EKKLHSIAN PROSEUXAMENOI META NHSTEIWN PAREQENTO AUTOUS TW KURIW EIS ON PEPISTEUKEISAN
>
> Why is CEIROTONHSANTES never considered to be an 'appointment' outside of scripture?
>
> Could Luke simply have used CEIROTONHSANTES to mean, "in agreement"?
> In other words...
> "In agreement then all the mature of the called-out ones offered prayers along with fastings [and] they entrusted [Paul and Barnabas] to the Lord on whom they (the new believers) had believed."
>
> The traditional rendering seems very difficult to me in view of the Westcott-Hort:
> CEIROTONHSANTES DE AUTOIS KAT EKKLHSIAN PRESBUTEROUS PROSEUXAMENOI META NHSTEIWN PAREQENTO AUTOUS TW KURIW EIS ON PEPISTEUKEISAN
>
> But, "In agreement then all of the called-out ones [who were] mature offered prayers ..." seems to flow pretty good.
>
> Awaiting your reply,
> Brian
>
> p.s. Let's not go through the EKKLHESIA thread again. Let's just stick to CEIROTONHSANTES, okay?
>
CEIROTONEW is a compound verb with as a most basic meaning, "I stretch out my hand." It seems to apply specifically to voting by a show of hands, and then to voting in general, and then very
generally it means appoint or to choose. It does show up in many Greek writers outside the NT.
I'd like to walk through that verse again watching the grammar:
CEIROTONHSANTES DE AUTOIS PRESBUTEROUS
"having chosen/appointed" (aorist participle) for themselves (dative) elders (accusative)"
KAT EKKLHSIAN
"throughout the church..."
PROSEUXAMENOI META NHSTEIWN
"having prayed with fasting"
PAREQENTO AUTOUS TW KURIW EIS ON PEPISTEUKEISAN
"they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had placed their faith."
That is, PRESBUTEROUS is the object of the first participle. There's only one finite verb, PAREQENTO, and I prefer either to translate both participles as participles or both as clauses, a
preference that probably reflects a concern to make sure my students understand the grammar.
Mary
Mary Pendergraft
Associate Professor of Classical Languages
Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem NC 27109
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