From: Stephen C. Carlson (scarlson@mindspring.com)
Date: Sun Apr 02 2000 - 18:30:56 EDT
At 10:27 AM 3/31/00 -0600, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>The text: ASPASASQE ANDRONIKON KAI IOUNIAN TOUS SUGGENEIS MOU KAI
>SUNAICMALWTOUS MOU, hOITINES EISIN EPISHMOI EN TOIS APOSTOLOIS, hOI KAI PRO
>EMOU GEGONAN EN CRISTWi.
>
>For my part, I can only say that readers of this text who come to it
>already convinced that a woman could not have been an APOSTOLOS will find a
>way to make EPISHMOI EN TOIS APOSTOLOIS function as the grammatical
>equivalent of TIMHQEISAI hUPO TWN APOSTOLWN, while readers who are
>open-minded to the possibility that a woman MAY have been an APOSTOLOS will
>find it most natural to understand the phrase EPISHMOI EN TOIS APOSTOLOIS
>as "distinguished among the apostles." I have more sympathy (just a little
>bit--not very much) for those who still want to believe that IOUNIAN is
>masculine than for those who want to understand EPISHMOS EN TOIS APOSTOLOIS
>to mean "CONSIDERED prominent BY the apostles."
Well, I have the opposite opinion. The masculine IOUNIAN
is untenable, but the view EPISHMOI EN TOIS APOSTOLOIS =
"prominent among (= in the opinion of) the apostles" is
quite defensible.
First, other examples of the phrase EPISHMOI EN ... support
this construction. For example, Euripides, Hippolytus 106,
refers to Aphrodite as KAPISTHMOS EN BROTOIS "prominent among
mortals." The goddess Aphrodite was not, of course, a mortal,
but merely well thought of my mortals.
Second, other examples of EN shows a primary locative, but
secondary agentival, sense. For example, Rom 2:24 TO GAR
ONOMA TOU QEOU DI hUMAS BLASFHMEITAI EN TOIS EQNESIN. "For
the name of God because of us is blasphemed among (by)
the Gentiles." Other examples include Luke 16:15 TO EN
ANQRWPOIS hUYHLON "what is exalted among (by) people"
and John 7:12 KAI GOGGUSMOS PERI AUTOU HN POLUS EN TOIS
OCLOIS "and there was much murmuring about him among (by)
the crowd."
Finally, if Paul intended to mean that Andronicus and
Junia were prominent apostles, he should have used a
partitive construction as in: 3 Macc. 6:1 ELEAZAROS DE
TIS ANHR EPISHMOS TWN APO THS CWRAS hEIRWN "And Eleazar,
who was a prominent man of the priests from the country"
and Mart. Poly. 14:1 KRIOS EPISHMOS EK MEGALOU POIMNIOU
"a prominent ram from a great flock."
For these reasons, I conclude that Rom 16:7 means that
Andronicus and Junia were well thought of among (by)
the apostles.
Stephen Carlson
-- Stephen C. Carlson mailto:scarlson@mindspring.com Synoptic Problem Home Page http://www.mindspring.com/~scarlson/synopt/ "Poetry speaks of aspirations, and songs chant the words." Shujing 2.35--- B-Greek home page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-329W@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu
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