From: David Moore (dvdmoore@dcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us)
Date: Mon Dec 11 1995 - 16:55:14 EST
On Sun, 10 Dec 1995, Carlton Winbery wrote:
> >While studying Ephesians 1:1 I came across three words that I am not
> >familiar with and I could not find them in either "Mastering Greek
> >Vocabulary" by Thomas A Robinson or "Lexical Aids For Students of New
> >Testament Greek" by Bruce M. Metzger. I am hoping that someone will be
> >able to help me translate/define the following words:
> >
> > TOIS
> > hAGIOIS
> > OUSIN
> >
> >Thanks ahead of time for the help.
>
> TOIS is the article in the masculine dative plural found in the lexicon as hO.
>
> hAGIOIS is the adjective in the masculine dative plural. With the article
> refers to "the saints."
>
> OUSIN is the masculine dative participle from EIMI. With the article TOIS
> means "to those who are . . ." If the words in brackets (EN EFESWi) are
> original, then "to those who are in Ephesus." If not then "to those who
> are also faithful."
Another possibility is that the name of the recipients was left
blank in the original of this letter (from which our MS tradition would
descend according to this theory) since it was to be sent to several
cities in the area of Ephesus. In copying the letter, the name of the
recipients in each city to whom it was to be sent would be filled in. It
would have been called the Epistle to the Ephesians because Ephesus was
the principal city to which it was sent. Some have suggested that this
may be the letter to the Laodiceans that the Colossian Christians were to
read. Cf. Col. 4:16. The Colossians supposedly got their own specific
letter since theirs was a somewhat unique situation.
An interesting note is that Origen had MSS that supported the
omission of the recipients' name and suggested that it might be
understood as a letter to *the saints that are*, taking OUSIN in an
absolute sense.
David L. Moore Southeastern Spanish District
Miami, Florida of the Assemblies of God
dvdmoore@dcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us Department of Education
http://members.aol.com/dvdmoore
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