From: Will Wagers (hyle@e-denton.com)
Date: Wed Jan 24 2001 - 10:28:37 EST
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Rolf Furuli writes:
>To understand ARCH and Rev 3:14 we *must* take our own presupposition pool
>and our present situation of communication as our point of departure - but
>this is very dangerous. We have no other choice, but to avoid the pitfalls,
>or worse, to deceive others to fall into the pits, we should always be
>conscious of what we are doing and think in terms of the two presupposition
>pools and the two situations of communication. Much of the modern
>literature leads the reader in a completely different way, such as for
>instance Louw & Nida, whose principles in part are misleading and whose
>entries at times can be very misleading. A good example of a pitfall in
>connection with Rev 3:14 is the approach that Jesus is no creature and
>therefore the construction with ARCH in this verse cannot be translated as
>"the beginning of God's creation". Such a reasoning is not wrong only
>because it uses the English presupposition pool as its base, but because it
>is based on the extra-linguistic and foreign element theology.
The correct "presupposition pool" is, of course, Hellenistic Greek philosophy
including its roots stretching back to Plato and beyond, and, in which, *logos*
is the agent of creation, the creator, the first creation, *and* the Creation.
To see how this is not only possible but necessary, one must become
familiar with Greek theories of creation, which are fathers to modern
scientific creation theories. Logos creates by *incarnating* itself--taking
physical form by *binding* Form and Matter together, something forbidden
to God by its perfect *nature*. In this system of thought, "creator" and
"created" are not mutually exclusive when referring to Logos, which is both
by definition: This is its unique role.
As such, a choice of "beginner" or "beginning" or "ruler" of God's creation
are equally valid and equally meaningful and all refer to the same concept.
"Beginner" because Logos creates by joining Form and Matter, becoming a
part of the creation. "Beginning" because Logos is present in the very first
--and all subsequent--created things. "Ruler" because it is philosophically
prior to creation, and because it is the *life* of the thing.
The perfect analogy is sperm. It was thought to carry the *movements*
which animated Matter by reproducing Form creating Life. It is prior to
creation (the baby) yet becomes the creation. It *rules* the creation in
the sense that it is prior to it and in that it determines the form of it and
in that it is *the life*--the animation and the continuity--of the baby.
These same sorts of problems--apparent inconsistencies and contradictions
--occur when trying to express the mathematics of modern, scientific
creation theories in English.
Will Wagers "Reality is the best metaphor."
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