From: Dan Parker (stoixein@sdf.lonestar.org)
Date: Sun Oct 22 2000 - 21:32:00 EDT
> I have never heard anyone else say that he is addressing 2 people.
>
> David McKay
> musicke@ozemail.com.au
David, I don't think the rule says anything about address. As for whether one
or two persons are in view, consider Augustine in "Tractate CXXI":
"Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my
God." He saw and touched the man, and acknowledged
the God whom he neither saw nor touched; but by the
means of what he saw and touched, he now put far
away from him every doubt, and believed the other."
Also, from a more modern commentator:
"Naturally, the interpretation of Thomas's words
was hotly debated by early church theologians
who wanted to use it in support of their own
christological definitions. Those who understood
'My Lord' to refer to Jesus, and 'my God' to refer
to God were suspected of christological heresy
in the fifth century CE. Many modern commentators
have also rejected that interpretation and instead
they understood the confession as an assertion
that Jesus is both Lord and God. In doing so they
are forced to interpret 'God' as a reference to
logos [logos]. But it is perfectly appropriate for
Thomas to respond to Jesus' resurrection with a
confession of faith both in Jesus and his Lord and
in God who sent and raised Jesus. Interpreting the
confession in this way actually makes much better
sense in the context of the Fourth Gospel. In 14.1
belief both in God and in Jesus is encouraged, in
a context in which Thomas is particularly singled
out ... If we understand Thomas's confession as an
assertion that Jesus is God, this confession in
20.31 becomes an anti-climax. (Margaret Davies,
Rhetoric and Reference in the Fourth Gospel"
(JSNTSup69; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press,
1992), 125-126)
But more importantly, so as not to get into a theological debate, I am
more interested in whether "Smart's rule" has exceptions to it in
the GNT.
Sincerely,
Dan Parker
---
B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [jwrobie@mindspring.com]
To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-327Q@franklin.oit.unc.edu
To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:36:39 EDT