From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Sun Jan 21 2001 - 11:21:09 EST
At 8:35 PM -0800 1/20/01, Blair Davis wrote:
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: RUSSELL RANKIN <rrankin@isd.net>
>> To: Biblical Greek <b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
>>
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: Carlton Winbery [mailto:winberyc@speedgate.net]
>> > >>
>> > "Life of the age" would have to be written ZWH TOU AIWNOS. I
>> > don't think that that appears in the NT. I did not check.
> >>
>>
>> No listing of ZWH TOU AIWNOS found in the following lexical concordance:
>>
>> Analytical Concordance of the Greek New Testament
>
>> The phrase "life of the coming age" is found in Rabbi Hillel's writings,
>> "HeYeY HaOLaM HaBa" [20 B.C.] OLam is translated AIWN in the LXX.
>
>Professor Driver in his commentary on Dan 12:2 says:
>
> "zoe aionios" is frequently found in postbiblical Jewish literature (Enoch
>37:4; 40:9 58:3; 62:14. Ps. Solomon 3:16; 13:9; 4 Macc 15:3. A more common
>synonym is Life of the Age to come.' "
>
>My question is can we replace ZWE AIWNIOS with "life of the age to come". Do
>they mean the same thing? Is the meaning of Greek words affected by Jewish
>literature? Is "life of the age to come" truely a synonym?
It is not altogether clear that the phrase ZWH AIWNIOS IN JOHN'S GOSPEL is
quite synonymous with the Rabbinical term, "life of the age to come,"
although it may very well be (I think it's probable) that it is synonymous
with that expression in those citations you've offered from post-biblical
Jewish literature.
What makes the usage in John's gospel a bit more tricky is that there are
some indications that John has collapsed the "already" and "not-yet"
aspects of the believer's state of salvific communion with God through
Christ into a conception of ZWH that begins when belief begins in the
believer and that never ends. I think that Paul expresses a similar notion
when he speaks of how faith-justification is already at work in the
believer while he yet lives, transforming him/her into what he/she will be
when "fully ripe" "on the day of Christ."
BUT this is a rather complex matter as is NT Eschatology in general; I
personally think one ought to be very wary about assuming a single, clear
conceptual framework of eschatological notions beyond relatively narrow
contexts within the NT (I realize, of course, that on this matter,
list-members hold widely-ranging and different hermeneutical conceptions
which it is wise not to attempt discussing in this forum). By that I mean
simply that John DOES speak at least once of a FUTURE resurrection,
although he more frequently speaks of resurrection as something that
happens or that begins when one comes to belief. And it is also true that
Paul sometimes speaks of salvation as something that has already been
experienced by believers while they live, though he more often speaks of
the fruition of faith as something occurring in the future, at Christ's
return.
I really don't mean to or want to discuss NT Eschatology as such on
B-Greek; I have offered my comments in the preceding paragraph ONLY to
indicate why I think that John's usage of ZWH AIWNIOS is not a simple
matter of equation with rabbinical notions or necessarily even with other
NT notions.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
---
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